Sometimes I feel like I live inside a bubble. I don’t get out much between having trouble moving around and working from home. I am a little leery of going a lot of places anymore with the fear of getting sick since when I was sick my immune system was compromised. I still have trouble breathing in certain types of weather (high humidity, cold weather) and walking around with braces and a cane makes me more than a little self-conscious. I am trying to get beyond all of that slowly and I am getting better about it. In a way, that leads me to my answer to Tuesday’s question, which was:

Do you think we are too overprotective of our kids?

I think this is a tricky balance for any parent. With the state of the world today, it seems like there are many more things to worry about than when I was young. Gone are the days where you could play outside, walk over to the streets not far from home and stay out playing all day into the summer night. Now we are too worried about who is out there and what might happen, and with each passing day something else seems to happen to feed into this fear. The media doesn’t seem to help any with their constant barrage of events. In many ways, I think their broadcasts are designed to increase the fear of people when it comes to catastrophes, events, illnesses and so many other things. Their stories are, of course, driven to increase attention and ratings for their own networks, so the more sensational they can make a story, the more they do. Unfortunately, we end up bearing the brunt of that by having more fear thrust upon us.

Anyway, back to the question. Do I think we are too overprotective of our kids today? Yes, I do, but sadly, it seems that we have to be this way now. I would love to be able to give Sean some of the freedoms that I feel I had when I was 11. My brother, sister and I used to walk to school when we lived in Queens. At the time, we were ages 8 through 11. I looked at a map not that long ago and saw that it was just over a mile that we walked, crossing the border between Queens and Brooklyn. We never worried about our safety. We played with kids blocks away and thought nothing of walking back and forth between places, or walking down to Liberty Avenue to go to the candy store without a parent. People would be appalled at doing that today. Even after we moved to Monroe, my friends and I always walked or rode bikes to other neighborhoods nearby to play softball or basketball and we didn’t worry about anything. Today, it doesn’t even seem possible to do that. We try so hard to provide what is best and right for our children that I think we have reached a point where we are afraid to let them do anything. Between worrying about potential child predators, bullies, illnesses and the like, I think we have, out of necessity, cut off our kids from experiencing a lot of things. I am glad that Sean has had the opportunity to do a lot of things, and some of it on his own, but even when I say on his own, it is always with another adult nearby. He has spent the last few summers traveling to different places and staying with different family so he can get out and do things and I think he is a better person for it. He has gained quite a bit of independence from his parents this way and has learned to deal with other adults, other kids and handle decision-making without having Michelle or I watching over him. He always seem to come back from wherever he has been a little more mature and wiser and I think he has gained some pretty valuable insight that many people might not get the chance to do. I wish we could do more to try not to cocoon our kids, but I just don’t see that happening anytime soon.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to answer the question. Now let’s try to move on to a lighter topic, but still sticking with the idea of kids:

What was your favorite kids’ TV show to watch when you were growing up?

Everyone had a show they just had to watch when they were kids. Maybe it’s just perspective, but everyone always thinks the shows for kids were better when they were kids than any other time. So what did you like? Sesame Street? Captain Kangaroo? The Mickey Mouse Club? The Magic Garden? Or was there a special kid’s cartoon that you loved? Think about it and let me know. You can answer on here, or on Facebook or on Twitter. I’ll also ask a few people on Twitter and see how they reply. I’ll post my answer tomorrow.

Okay, time to go. I have a doctor’s appointment later today and another one tomorrow (stepping out of the bubble for a few hours). It should be interesting to see what they have to say. Enjoy the rest of your day today and don’t forget to do something creative today!