The case of the ketchup corpse

A three-year-old child is a being who gets almost as much fun out of a fifty-six dollar set of swings as it does out of finding a small green worm.

You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they’re going.

The new J.K. Rowling book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is finally out, and the initial printing of eight million copies may not be enough to meet the enormous demand. In fact, approximately five million copies of it were sold in the U.S. alone during the first twenty-four hours of its release. And though many adults are among the devoted Harry Potter fans, I view this phenomenon as a positive sign for our youth; some of our kids still read for pleasure, using their imaginations to create visions from the written word as they do so.

Let’s face it. We now live in a culture in which fewer children feel the need to use their imagination or, for that matter, their bodies. TV, computers, and video games dominate the lifestyles of American youth. And if kids want to play sports, we adults assume that we need to organize and lead such activities for them. (more…)

Saturday, June 28th, 2003