Community Chat

[HollyDays]

On 3/25/2015 SnowPink said:

Children playing, running around, climbing things, being silly, etc. is a natural, wonderful thing. However, that's not the only thing children should be doing at any given time. Kids have an amazing ability to understand things even when adults think they won't get it. I wonder if that's what happened here. The parents think it's just too deep for them, so just let them play. They missed an excellent opportunity to teach their children a very important lesson in respect.

Excellent point.

[Mominohio]

On 3/25/2015 SnowPink said:

Children playing, running around, climbing things, being silly, etc. is a natural, wonderful thing. However, that's not the only thing children should be doing at any given time. Kids have an amazing ability to understand things even when adults think they won't get it. I wonder if that's what happened here. The parents think it's just too deep for them, so just let them play. They missed an excellent opportunity to teach their children a very important lesson in respect.

SnowPink, you touched on a very touchy, yet important topic here, with great insight. Parents that think a subject is too 'deep' for their child to handle or grasp.

We encountered this with 9/11. My son was just 5 years old by one week, and in pre kindergarten, when this event occurred. We watched it on television that day and he was present. We talked about it, and he grew up very much ingrained in the news/events/politics of the event. But.... he had a classmate, that clear up to the sixth grade, had never had exposure to the event or the processes we all came through in that following six years. I was dumbfounded that in all that time, his parents (who, by the way, are very educated and worldly, and the mom is so extremely intelligent, and has lived all over the world) had never delved deep into the events and issues of that time. It, to me, would have been like being raised during World War II and never knowing about it.

My parenting philosophy is that, in general, when we fail to educate our children about the bad things in life, the painful things in life, the 'real' life, we are doing them a terrible disservice. Children who are not taught to respect something as simple as a war memorial, will not understand as adults, why they have to respect anything or anyone. And for them to be taught the reason they need to respect something like this, they have to understand the pain and suffering that is behind it. And they are capable of handling it, when taught correctly.

[JuJu Squeezie]

It's inappropriate to allow children to use a memorial or monument as playground equipment.

[RetRN]

Disrespectful ""little brats""---sadly the parents probably don't care what they do.

[Johnnyeager]

Miserable, arrogant, disrespectful little humanoids ( I refer to the parents.)

[LaVieEnRose]

On 3/25/2015 raven-blackbird said:

I'm not much on memorials.......I find it disrespectful to pay homage to a statue, and ignore some not so good realities... those vets that are alive are overlooked and pushed to the side or not provided services they desperately need..........suicide rate among our vets is horrendous..........those vets that statue represents died so those kids could play in a free country........even if it's on a statue..........we show our appreciation to those that died, by making sure their "brothers in arms" are treated with respect and provided for...............................raven

So a veteran who visits such memorials is being disrespectful?

[RedTop]

As intolerable as children climbing on headstones in a cemetery. Many children just have not been taught to respect anyone, or anything.

[Suziepeach]

On 3/26/2015 RedTop said: As intolerable as children climbing on headstones in a cemetery. Many children just have not been taught to respect anyone, or anything.

I couldn't agree more- they learn from their parents. It's a darn shame to see disrespect.

[esmeraldagooch]

Very disrespectful. If those who viewed this had spoken up the others may have discontinued this activity.

[Free2be]

There are actually two children on the memorial. According to Fox News, an adult told them to get on it for a photo. Not sure of the validity of that as it appears the older child is trying to get down while the younger child is on her way up. I'd worry more about their safety than opinions but in the case of solemn memorials opinions matter, too.