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.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.