Gun Culture Day Care

The source who sent me this picture called it "Gun Culture Day Care".   There is at least one other child that is not caught in the frame. 

The younger children are depriming brass, a fairly safe activity if the hands are washed after the reloading session.  The children are taught responsibility and gain a sense of actually doing something productive.

This sort of activity was found everywhere in the world until fairly modern times.   It was only in the last hundred years that the most productive societies on earth were able ignore the productive capacity of children.  Nearly all societies teach responsibility and help children gain a sense of accomplishment by having them help in gainful household employment of some kind.

The children in the picture were given a choice: help reload, or watch a movie.  It says much about modern American society that a productive activity is considered so novel as to be preferred to purely passive movie watching.

Considerable benefit is gained when children engage in productive activities.  They learn that a price must be paid for the production of useful items, in time or money;  they appreciate "things" more, and are less likely to destroy items merely to destroy them.

I suspect that vandals tend to have little conception of the amount of work necessary to create items of value.  Requiring children to do simple chores such as cleaning their room, helping with dishes, taking care of a pet, all work to teach the child that existence is not a free activity.    Lack of these sort of activities handicaps children by not developing their sense of responsibility and accomplishment.

It is part of a complete education that parents and societies ignore at the peril of the young minds that are entrusted to their care.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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