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The heck with the nanny state; what about the protective-custody state?
So there I was, a few days ago, driving around Cambridge, when I passed a sight that has stayed uncomfortably with me. It was a neat line of small children on the sidewalk, each maybe four years old. (I'm bad with ages: small, but big enough to be walking down the sidewalk escorted.) The line was neat because they were attached to a pair of ropes -- each child's wrist was tied into the rope, and each rope had an adult at the front and back, with about six kids between them.
My inner engineer marveled at the simple efficiency of this solution for keeping a dozen children safe while walking down a busy city sidewalk. But my inner sociologist squirmed uncomfortably.
Mind, the kids didn't seem to mind: their eyes were wandering hither and yon as they walked, largely ignoring their right hand held up slightly by the rope. But that's kind of the point -- children at that age learn from everything happening to them. So I have to wonder: what does this teach?
I confess, I find it creepy as all hell. The implicit message seems to be that captivity is right and appropriate, so long as it is intended to keep you safe. I suspect that most people would word that differently, but many would agree with it in spirit. It makes my skin crawl.
To understand a person, it's often best to understand their formative literature. If you want to understand me, I commend the novelette With Folded Hands, by Jack Williamson. (The basis for the followup novel The Humanoids.) It's fairly old (I confess, I last read it decades ago), but perhaps even more than 1984 it shaped much of my political philosophy. If the above scene does *not* make you squirm, the story might help you understand why it does me...
My inner engineer marveled at the simple efficiency of this solution for keeping a dozen children safe while walking down a busy city sidewalk. But my inner sociologist squirmed uncomfortably.
Mind, the kids didn't seem to mind: their eyes were wandering hither and yon as they walked, largely ignoring their right hand held up slightly by the rope. But that's kind of the point -- children at that age learn from everything happening to them. So I have to wonder: what does this teach?
I confess, I find it creepy as all hell. The implicit message seems to be that captivity is right and appropriate, so long as it is intended to keep you safe. I suspect that most people would word that differently, but many would agree with it in spirit. It makes my skin crawl.
To understand a person, it's often best to understand their formative literature. If you want to understand me, I commend the novelette With Folded Hands, by Jack Williamson. (The basis for the followup novel The Humanoids.) It's fairly old (I confess, I last read it decades ago), but perhaps even more than 1984 it shaped much of my political philosophy. If the above scene does *not* make you squirm, the story might help you understand why it does me...
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No, they weren't tied. The loops were pre-tied into the rope. The alternative is a usability nightmare...
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Two: Take a quick count of the above comments. See how many say tied=no, loops=ok then think what happens when mommy asks her toddler what s/he did that day. You don't think someone is going to raise holy hell with tying? They were looped.
-- Dagonell
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(OTOH, the distinction between "looped" and "holding on", as
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...there's always a but...
...that does not imply that *everything* must be "on message", or the kids will be screwed up. Traumatic events aside, children are pretty resilient about what message finally comes across. You can, in fact, teach them to be passive on that rope, for now, and even *why* they should be so. And later you can get them on board with owning responsibility, at an age when they are more capable of actually taking that responsibility in the face of myriad distractions, and they'll figure it out.
"Kids should not be treated like china," works both ways.
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Though it takes extra compassion and effort for a care provider (or teacher, or school administrator) to help a child understand why they must be passive on the (real or metaphorical) rope. Some are capable; many are not. The rope is still there, and the potential for not putting it in healthy context for the kids or following through with a responsive increase in responsibility is very real.
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Oh man, this. Just getting the kid into a T-shirt is like stuffing an octopus into a mesh bag. If you actually had to tie them together, you'd never leave.
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