With the way information is shared, how far it can travel and the speed at which it disperses, the way we interact has changed, our exposure to experience has changed and even our memories will change. It was not that long ago that our childhood memories were not our own, how we were, first words, our likes, dislikes and toddler talents were held and passed along by our parents with their imperfect memories, their care, their want to believe we are special. 

These days we have our children on camera, the smiles and tears, the first steps, the accomplishments that we as parents think that they are worth remembering and with a phone handy, everything is worth a little bit of digital memory space. What I wonder is, how are these things going to affect the children, does seeing themselves do something their parent's thought wonderful going to affect their choices?

I would assume yes. Do you think that if you could see your talents from a young age in video and the smiles on your parent's faces, it might have influenced you to keep pushing, to keep learning, to keep enjoying? Would it have channel our energies into talents that would have become our great loves or, limited the randomness, held us from discovering our talents?

Today my daughter was playing on a piano by herself for the first time. She has sat and watched her godmother and aunty play and it would appear that she is a pretty quick study. This was toward the end of her *'session'* but she was happily experimenting with the various sounds for 20-30 minutes while others carried on their conversations. For a 26 month year old, that is quite some time to sit still with focus. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLs8E9s87Tc

Will this become a *'when they were young'* clip in a life biography? That is impossible to tell nor does it matter as her parent, I just want her to find some of those loves in her life, find things that she really enjoys doing. 

We don't show her many of these videos of herself and, we don't repeat them very often. When it comes to screen time, she has close to zero and is yet to watch a television show or cartoon. She is full of energy and curiosity without it, what can it add that a book or an imagination can't? Where is the activity in consuming the screen? What effect does it have on the mental development?

As I watch my daughter play I can't help but feel that she is talented, that she has something in her that is special and goes beyond that of parental pride. Not just musically but in her language ability, her willingness and capacity to negotiate, to notice the slightest change in the environment. I don't know if it is us as parents that have nurtured this in some way or if it is all nature at work but, I think that if we had sat her down in front of a screen instead of books, Legos and toys that required activity, she would be much more limited in her range. 

I don't know where it leads when we encourage passivity in children or we narrow their experience by reinforcing through pictures and videos the behaviors we find desirable but, I think it must limit opportunity by some degree in their future. Encouraging a child to study for school seems like such a natural parenting action but, does it reduce their chance to find those loves while increasing their chance of feeling disenfranchised by a system unsuitable for their talent?

I spoke yesterday in a post about having talents and personality traits suitable for different environments and the schooling system for the most part is unsuitable for many. It selects based on a narrow set of skills to provide for a life of economic servitude working for others. Is that what we want for our children?

I am hoping that in some future there is more space for them to play, not just as children but as adults who are encouraged to never stop exploring, never stop listening to the notes of life and finding create ways to combine them, to blend them into experience. Why should we ever encourage children to *grow up* if it what that means is to conform to expectations that lead to a loss of creative drive? 

My prediction for the future is that there is going to be a creativity gap in society where there are the children primed for school learning that is becoming ever more irrelevant in an automating world and, those who are explorers, the ones free to roam the recesses of mind and experience. what effect will this have on individual opportunity and society, what side do we want our children to be on? Book smarts or creative force?

I am biased in this respect as I was a terrible student, someone who felt crushed by the subjects considered prerequisites for *careers* without the support or guidance for me to find my place. But, in a changing world that I see is going to be more favored to the creative contributor than the worker as time goes on, do I want my daughter to be limited by a core set of subjects or do I want her to explore and find her real talents and loves? 

Economic hardship is not an enjoyable life experience. Neither is *doing it for the money.* I feel that we at Steem have a glimpse into what is to come and possibly a head start if we choose to again explore what many had squeezed out through childhood. There is a lot at stake in this world and most of the costs will not be felt by us, but they will affect those to follow. 

Taraz
[ a Steem original ]