The Village Experience

I found the greatest article, which sums up for me the myriad thoughts I'd had over the years, about my limited parenting skills, the ideas of parenting which I observe in the media, etc.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20080627/sc_livescience/whywefearparenting

Our American culture no longer appears to provide the neighborhoods teeming with children anymore. There has been a cultural shift away from the large family. Thus, we grow up, our children grow up, with limited experience with each other and with children. I think there is a growing impact of this lack of experiences. I think children are finding it harder to deal with each other and young parents are finding it more difficult to understand their offspring and raising children. It explains to me why some adults stress out more over children's behavior than other adults. It suggests that adults whose experiences include siblings, neighborhood friends, babysitting and over all interaction with children of various ages will fare better, in the long run, being parents of their own children. It makes logical sense. The only children, the children who grow up in isolated neighborhoods or who call their bike and their basketball their best friend, may one day become the adults who are most frustrated with children's behavior.

In response to this, the Adventure Guides provide a small taste of a community with lots of children and sympathetic parents. I was speaking with a Moms Club this morning and their president reminded me of that African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child", and we commiserated together on how the "village experience" is disappearing. We're all so busy, so occupied, so complicated. The Adventure Guides provides a respite, a magical place, almost sepia-toned, where parents and children play and learn with and about each other.