Today at lunch with the preschoolers we were discussing the values of eating our vegetables and fruits; that it was okay to have a treat of a cookie, brownie, chocolate, and so on but we should eat the more nutritious parts of our lunches first.
Collin, 5 years old, looks up from his pizza, sans fruit or veggies and says to my wife, "You know we live in a free country? That means if I don't want to eat veggies I don't have to!"
He went on to say that "We have free speech. That means I can say what I want!"
We agreed wholeheartedly, congratulated him on his knowledge.
All is not lost when we have preschoolers learning that stuff.
I hope he can hold that thought... :)
Yeah, for sure
Sounds like Collin knows about his rights.
S
Ha ha... I run kind of a dictatorship around here because my kids don't have a right not to eat their veggies. ??? ;D
Sounds like Collin is going to grow up to be a typical American teenager - overweight with a big mouth. ;)
Yeah....and a politician....twist the rights and freedoms provided us by our Constitution so that it serves his own wants and desires....screw what's good for him.... d*
There is a lot of self-centered and self-righteous indulgence that attempts to justify itself as protected rights granted by the constitution. And not all of this blather is coming from the immature minds of children.
The part of the brain that controls higher emotions such as empathy and personal responsibility doesn't mature until a person is well into their 20's or 30's - so you don't expect bigger picture thinking from 8 year olds.
The founding fathers had higher expectations of American citizenship that merely giving everyone the right to be selfish.
I am concerned as it seems that the bar for responsible citizenship is continually being reset lower and lower. Citizenship is about other people and granting them rights and support and not just about ME.
Well, it seems funny (ridiculous) how (what I thought was) a funny story about a FIVE year old and how his still forming brain works can be twisted into a tirade against politicians. I actually thought it pretty amazing that what he'd heard about USA Civics was retained in his brain and that he could articulate what he thought.
John is right on about portions of the brain not developing until as late as one's thirties. Parts that give those with fully developed brains the ability to recognize the possible consequences of their actions is one of those; one reason 17 year olds may decide to "car surf" whereas most 40+'s wouldn't even think of it.
And BTW, we still hold the cookies, etc. back until they finish the main portion of their lunch.
I didn't do it...
this time...
did I? [noidea'
Well... maybe I started things going in the wrong direction, but I didn't do all of it....I mean... Hey ... it's a free country :)
[waiting]
We are pretty good at topic "drift" ::)
It is a required skill to maximize learning on our forum. :)
Well, Don, I think he sounds like a pretty smart kiddo, too, and thought it was funny. I just don't want my kids to read it and start clamoring for their "rights" not to eat their veggies, lol. :)