We've hit the bigtime

I don't spend a lot of time considering the fact that the town I have lived in for many years is a hell of a lot bigger these days. And that growth, comes along with it's own evil little twin. Crime.

Sometimes that point is hammered home a tad bit more personally that I care for. The stabbing of a 16 year old girl by one of her classmates at a party across the lake sure made me pause. Being the proud mom of a just turned 15 year old teen, (happy birthday T!) I found the whole incident completely shocking. I guess I'm just old now.I remember fights and whatnot at the age, but to pull out a knife and stab a classmate to death. Never in a million years.

I often wonder if we just don't teach our kids the full value of life anymore.With gagdets in our ears, screens in our faces, we spend all our time 'communicating'..or do we.

Once I started thinking about it, how often do I really spend time with my own children.Between work/housework/errands etc - the time we spend with our families just being together is astonishingly low.

Do I think this is related to the fact that every generation of children seems to be less empathic then the previous. - you bet I do.

Less then 24% of canadian families eat dinner together 7 days a week.Most admit freely that they eat together fewer then 3 nights a week. So.. eseentially these kids are raising themselves? I would have to guess, if I worked it out using my own typical day as a template - that if I didn't (as a parent) take on the responsibility of spending time with my children for the whole hour or so that includes dinner, I would barely be spendng any quality time with them. Or so that would be, if I was a more typical type. Being we dont' watch tv, I keep a pretty close watch on time spent on computers, and other electronic goodness. My children of course hate the fact they have to actualy interact face to face with people rather then get their entertainment from whatever magic little box happens to be close by.

I guess it really is time to turn off the TV.