Family Time -- Steve Smith

As the media and the Web drone on and on about threats to our domestic

tranquillity, it is important to try to shield most of this bad

information from our children.

Growing up in Los Angeles, there were not two, but three things we

could count on: death, taxes and air-raid sirens. At 10 a.m. on the last

Friday of each month, as sure as the sun was going to set several hours

later, air-raid sirens screamed across the city for a couple of minutes

as part of a test of our civil defense system.

In the 1960s, Americans were subject to a torrent of doomsday

scenarios in elementary school, children were taught about the “red

menace” and how Russia wanted only to dominate the world.

Back then, we learned about the doomsday clock, a fictitious device

that signaled our movement toward or away from midnight -- the end of the

world. For as long as I can remember, it was set at 11:59 p.m.

In class, we had “drop drills” twice a year, surprise instructions to

have us crawl under our desk and cover our heads as though that would

protect us from a blast or the subsequent radiation. My sixth-grade

teacher, Mr. McLeod, could be teaching us about fractions, then wheel

around and yell, “Drop!” At that moment, 35 kids (no such thing as

class-size reduction back then) would leap from their chairs and curl up

under their desks.

They showed us movies, too. One of them was the famous cartoon about

nuclear threat in which a turtle showed us the benefits of ducking for

cover. Loping along, he senses the warheads flying and retreats into his

shell, only to emerge safe and sound.

Wandering through school one day -- taking a wrong turn while running

an errand for a teacher -- I stumbled upon stacks and stacks of large

tins containing biscuits. I’m not sure how old they were at that time,

but I do recall the circle and diamond symbol that indicated their use in

a fallout shelter. Those tins of biscuits were to be eaten in case the

teachers and students were trapped in the school’s shelter after the

bombs rained down.

Today, China is one of our new boogeyman. But take a guess as to how

many nuclear warheads China has in its borders capable of reaching the

United States. 2,000? 1,500? 500? How about 20? According to a recent ABC

News report citing U.S. intelligence sources, it is 20. And if you

believe that 20 warheads is 20 too many, consider this comment from

Josephe Cirincione, director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie

Endowment for International Peace: “Twenty warheads, 100 warheads, that

is still not a first-strike capability and there is no chance that China

could strike us first and not suffer a devastating retaliation.” In

short, there is no nuclear threat from China at this time.

Nor is there a likelihood of a nuclear blast from any terrorist

organization. But if you ask kids today, they’ll probably tell you that

both threats are very real.

Kids get more bad information from supposedly reliable sources. Each

year, through DARE and Red Ribbon Week, we spend many millions of dollars

teaching kids the dangers of illegal drug use. The truth is that all of

the costs to society from all of the illegal drug use in this country is

only a small fraction of the cost of alcohol abuse. But instead of

teaching our kids that alcohol abuse is the real danger -- and possibly

threatening the $100 billion a year alcohol industry -- we concentrate on

another boogeyman.

Many kids grow up believing is that one drink will ruin your liver.

And having a recently convicted drunk driver sitting on our school board

isn’t really the best way to teach kids about the consequences of alcohol

abuse.

Carly Geehr of Newport Harbor High School understands this. Her recent

presentation for a Hitachi Safety Scholarship focused on student drunk

driving, not drug abuse. Geehr won $1,000 for her efforts.

Kids also think that one cigarette will give you cancer. On a recent

family trip to Monterey, I received scowls and harsh words from my kids

after purchasing a cigar. I do not smoke cigarettes and this was only the

second cigar I can recall purchasing in the last year. So, I had to take

the time once again to explain the concept of moderation.

I’m in favor of shielding littler kids from a lot more of the

information they are receiving but those of us who believe as I do are

fighting an uphill battle against those who believe that information is

power, even if the recipient is too young to place it in any sort of

meaningful context.

Kids need to play more, free from the baggage adults want to pile on

them. And I’d like for them to play without sirens wailing on the last

Friday of each month.

* STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and freelance writer. Readers

may leave a message for him on the Daily Pilot hotline at (949) 642-6086.