Not kids, not really. Kids are another problem that stems from having a small amount of life experience and basic human desires. No, parents are becoming the entitled ones. They bitch and moan about everything being a "burden" or "harmful to development" when they're just afraid to say what's really the problem. Reading through that post reminded me of my own youth, when my mom would see me intensely watching cartoons. I've never been an early riser, even as a kid. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I love sleep. But I'm able to wake myself up when the desire hits me, and for me as a 8 year old the desire came from watching Pokemon. I loved watching the action yes, but for me it was about seeing the creativity that went into each and every one of them. This wasn't a show based on reality. It didn't focus on a handful of characters that look somewhat unique, it was an entire world of monsters that never existed in our world. I spent countless hours drawing and writing, trying to stay one step ahead of the franchise, trying to make the next best Pokemon, even before breeding and EV training was a thing.
My mom didn't have the same enthusiasm for the series as I did, to her it was a strain on her wallet. I would always be asking for a new game, or a new pack of cards, or a toy, or a number of other things that had the "Pokemon" trademark attached to it. She would see me waking up in the morning and enthusiastically sit on my ass for a few hours watching the entire block of cartoons waiting for Pokemon to come on. As a hard working woman she of course thought this was an incredible waste of time. I should be out playing, or at the very least working as hard as she did at her age. I just wasn't as enthusiastic about that kind of stuff as I was at seeing such original designs fighting it out in a mess of flashing lights.
Eventually she banned my consumption of Pokemon. I remember it was during the Johto series, when Ash and the gang were going through the plot line of the Red Gyarados (Sorry to those of you who aren't Pokemon fans... losers). She turned off the TV and made it perfectly clear she did not want me watching it anymore. This was a big blow for me, it was my favorite show. It was the outlet for my creativity and it was being taken away because of something I could not understand.
I was furious.
I bring this all up because it's the same situation as the mother taking away Minecraft from her kid. It's entitlement, believing that your status as parent means that anything that your kid does that's an inconvenience to you needs to be removed from your life completely. "Once upon a time I cursed the sound of scraping Lego in the box, I lamented the holes in my feet caused by trodding on bricks littered about the carpet." That line alone makes me furious. To think that a parent would take away something like LEGO's is unthinkable, but I'm sure it happens. The pain of a LEGO block is infamous, but that doesn't give anyone the right to take away something that's supposed to be an outlet. Parents need to realize that what entertains their child is not going to be what entertains them, and it might be something you inherently detest. Not once in that blog post did I feel like the mother was empathetic to her sons desires. She talked as if Minecraft had no value, it was just a waste of his time, and as a Minecraft player myself I can tell you it certainly is not.
But, you can't argue with a parent. They'll just assert their authority and walk away as if they earned their victory.
So long, and have a happy lobotomy,
-Eliot wolf.
