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Jeff Dorris

Deliberations from Dorris

Jeff Dorris is the Editor of the Delta Dunklin Democrat

Editorial

Boredom in Youth

Saturday, March 16, 2019

What to do with our youth?

It’s a question that has been asked many times over throughout the years.

It even came up as a priority issue in the recent mayoral candidate forum.

I received a letter from a valued subscriber last week that touched on this subject.

He shared a letter written in 1958 by Mr. Ralph Peterson, a teacher in Spokane, Washington.

The letter follows:

Always we hear the plaintive cry of the teen-agers, ‘What can we do? Where can we go?’ I can make some suggestions.

Go home! Hang storm windows. Paint the woodwork. Rake the leaves. Mow the lawn. Shovel the walk. Wash the car. Learn to cook. Scrub some floors. Repair the sink. Get a job. Help your pastor, a charitable organization. Visit the sick. Study your lessons. And when you are through, and not too tired, read a book.

I’m a parent. I’m tired of nursing, begging, excusing, tolerating your every whim and fancy.

Quite a letter from Mr. Peterson.

I shared it to show that adults were struggling with youth issues as far back as the fifties.

I’m all for a rec center.

I do believe that their should be recreational choices for our kids.

However, I do cringe when I hear a young person say they are bored.

I believe it all starts in the home.

Parents need to get involved with their children and engage in family activities.

Schedule a game night. Get outside with them. Remember, it’s not enough to buy the ball, you have to get out there and throw it around with them.

I also don’t see a thing wrong with kids having chores.

Our youth are our future. We better invest in them.

We are becoming a society that expects teachers and police to parent.

That’s not how it works.

It’s not an easy fix, but a few hours spent playing with our children and grandchildren couldn’t hurt.

It certainly beats the alternative.

See you out there.

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