contents - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New York ...

caterina gambinotChildrenTodayo be a child today is a “piece of cake.”You start to work as soon as your mom delivers you, not because you arebusy discovering the new world around you, but because you have to follow avery busy schedule.So, if you are the first child to be born, you can consider yourself a littleluckier, because you don’t have to follow your older brothers and sisters in allthe activities they do. You wouldn’t have a choice!You are forced to spend all of your young life in the car, ever since yousaid, “thank you” and “goodbye” to the nursery. When you grow up a little bitmore, the situation becomes more complicated.Mom gives you a very crazy schedule. Even if she tries to make everythingfun and not too heavy for an innocent creature like you, you still don’t haveenough time to sleep and savor the heat of the nest. Why should we be surprisedif today’s kids speak like adults when they still haven’t learned to count fromone to 10?When you are still an infant, the first thing they teach you in school is“Call 911.” This explains why you receive your first toy phone when you are sixmonths old. Even though you understand immediately that mom’s real phone ismore interesting, for yours you need to wait until your sixth birthday.But if today’s kids know howto make a phone call, send an SMS,and prepare food to eat; if they have acomputer for their best friend and aniPod for their shadow; if they learn toswim, to sing and play an instrument before school age, it’s because progressgives everyone more than before. At the same time, the possibility of stayinghome more often has been removed.Mom gives you a verycrazy schedule.Gaining Perspective113caterina gambino