Questão 13 - UFVJM 2 Etapa 2022

Leia este texto para responder as questão. de Inglês.

 

PARENTS SHOULD LET KIDS LIVE LIKE THE CHARACTERS ON STRANGER THINGS

Lenore Skenazy

 

The Netflix hit Stranger Things stars a bizarre, otherworldly species. And no, I‘m not talking about Demogorgons or demon birds. I‘m talking about kids who ride bikes, solve problems, and fight monsters — all without their moms. Why aren‘t El, Will, Max, Dustin, Lucas and Mike ever seen in a minivan on their way to soccer? What kind of parent lets their kids battle evil without a phone for emergencies? And, dear God, where are their bike helmets?

Fast forward to 2022. A survey this month found that just 10% of American parents with kids aged 7 to 9 ever let them stay home by themselves, and almost one in five said they wouldn‘t even let their teens do that. In fact, the survey of 2,500 American parents commissioned by SafeHome.org revealed that parents don‘t feel comfortable letting their kids walk to school, ride their bike to a friend‘s place, or play in a park unsupervised until they are at least 12 years old.

The fact is, ever since the ‘80s, parents have been putting their children on an increasingly tight leash, possibly sparked by the photos of missing children printed on milk cartons (without any acknowledgement that most missing kids are runaways or taken in divorce custody disputes). These sad portraits created an obsession with child abduction to the point where today‘s parents don‘t think their kids should be allowed to play unsupervised in their own front yard till age 10, according to a 2014 Rupe-Reason survey.

In other words, America trusted kids‘ stamina, smarts, maturity and responsibility — which, in turn, allowed them to build those qualities. Today‘s parents believe there are a few things kids should be exposed to at a young age. According to the survey, children should be able to have their own digital tablet at age 8. No wonder today‘s kids are so anxious and depressed! Between just 2013 and 2017, the percent of pediatric patients with an anxiety diagnosis more than doubled, an AthenaHealth study found, while the number of teens experiencing depression increased 59% from 2007 to 2017, according to the Pew Research Center.

Psychologists say that avoiding something out of fear gives it even more power to scare us. That means the more parents protect their kids from everyday childhood activities, like walking to school, or staying home alone for a bit, the more those activities become terrifying to both generations. The Stranger Things gang — Will, Lucas, Dustin, Max and the rest — embody the '80s ethos of letting kids do things on their own, while today's culture of constant adult supervision is stunting kids' competence.

Fonte: Disponível em:https://nypost.com/2022/07/16/parents-should-let-kids-live-like-stranger-things-characters/Acesso: 20 Jul 2022. (Adaptado).

El, Will, Max, Dustin, Lucas e Mike são: