I won’t spend this entire article discussing the cancer that the daycare culture in this country has created. If you want those thoughts, you can read them here. But it’s hard to ignore how much of a drop has taken place in the overall intelligence of our citizens since the founding of the country.
During the days of the United States’ founding, we had roughly two and a half million people living within the 13 colonies. There were, at the absolute minimum, six people alive during that period who possessed world-class minds. Names like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Adams, and Alexander Hamilton come to mind. Our country now has 333 million people living in it–more if you count all of the illegal aliens the Biden-Harris ticket allowed to cross our border.
It stands to reason that if we extrapolate the six world-class minds out of 2.5 million to the present-day population our country would be graced with 600 Franklin/Washington/Hamiltons. Unfortunately, we all know that’s not the case. For every Elon Musk or Warren Buffett, there are 10-15 million people who: a) can’t read or b) can read but choose not to. There are many reasons for that, and I’ll get to all of them between this and future articles.
The one I want to focus on this particular post is just how little we expect out of babies and toddlers.
As I reference in the article I linked earlier about the nightmare that daycare has brought to this country, 80% of a child’s brain development takes place between birth and the age of three. In other words, if you’re too busy staring at your fu*king phone instead of paying attention to most of the first three years of your child’s life, the reality is you fu*ked the pooch.
As parents we are given the responsibility, no, opportunity, to mold the minds of the boys and girls we helped bring onto this Earth. It is a truly awesome power. However, all too often, we treat these human beings as potatoes who just so happen to have arms, legs, fingers, and toes. Many of us opt to coddle and cater to every child’s whim instead of *gasp* allowing them the space to figure out the world, how things work, and, most importantly, how people operate.
I made reference in an article to a recent holiday weekend I spent with my wife’s family. It was both illuminating, a mind fu*k, and a little sad. One of these women didn’t give her 5, 3, or 18-month-old any room to breathe, let alone the opportunity to learn how to do things for themselves. Meanwhile, my wife and I watched our daughter learn to navigate a sloped yard as a new-ish walker, maneuver her way up concrete steps, play with toys that she’d never seen before, and go for an (aggressive) speed boat ride.
We’re even less watchful when she’s at home in normal circumstances. She’s picking up books, eating with utensils, and developing new ways to play with familiar toys. She’s shown an interest in exploring other parts of our yard, learning to drink from a big girl cup, examining pieces of mulch and flowers, and many more things that she wouldn’t be doing if we pawned her off to a stranger 45+ hours a week.
We pride ourselves on allowing our daughter to grow on HER timeline–not ours. She’s hit every basic milestone early. Things like teaching her to drink from a straw at six months, dropping her from two naps to one nap a couple months than even the earliest months described online, and, just a few days ago, sleeping in a big girl bed in her own room at the age of 17 months.
Look, my wife and I will be the first ones to tell you–we’re not special. Well, other than the fact that we put our child first, which is sadly becoming more and more rare. We believe that our insistence on creating an ideal routine and environment for her to sleep in, along with our willingness, if not eagerness, for her to explore and learn independently has allowed her to thrive.
Could I be singing a different tune six months from now if our five-month-old boy is struggling to hit milestones, sleeping poorly, or unwilling to do anything unless we’re within breathing distance? Absolutely. Hell, I am worried about so many different things, including our daughter regressing more than usual, once our male bundle of joy arrives. But you can bet your big, fat ass that we’ll attempt to mimic everything we did with our daughter.
As a society, we aren’t adequately challenging our babies and toddlers. We’re just not. That dereliction of duty is resulting in shittier adults, an increasing amount of pussies (not the fun kind), and a surplus of Democrat voters. I’m not suggesting we allow anything to happen that could be harmful. Will my daughter learn a lesson if she closes the door on her fingers, puts her hand on a hot stove, or breaks her leg by falling down the stairs? Maybe, but that’s stupid. Has she learned a lesson by scraping her knee because she was running too fast, tasting the sidewalk chalk she willingly put in her mouth, and falling down on a deck stair (an unplanned and surprising lesson)? Yes, sir.
We’re at the stage now when she’s beginning to pay more attention to books and is definitely paying attention to music, including a variety of A, B, and C songs. While working on installing a gate on our porch as the result of one too many ‘fleeing’ incidents, I found her bringing me a hammer, drill, and screwdriver. She even mimicked me by attempting to put the drill up to a screw I’d just put into a wood post. This girl is fu*king smart.
And your child is likely the same way. You, like most parents, probably just haven’t given him or her the opportunity to shine. To show you what he or she can do. Ease up a little bit. Take them out of daycare. Let them see the things you’re doing–assuming it’s legal and it’s not you mindlessly scrolling your phone. Talk to them even if they can’t exactly talk back. Treat them not as a blob with arms and legs, but as a tiny human that possesses the ability to learn, and learn quickly.
Babies and toddlers aren’t dumb. We have to stop treating them that way.
