Let’s talk about our kids and how we’ve been treating them

Our school community needs to have a discussion.

Why are four-year-olds and kindergarteners taking medication for being active at school? Exactly what are kindergarteners supposed to be doing? How long of attention spans does God give to our children?

Are we trying to remake our children to fit curricula? Why do we not make the schedule and curricula to fit the child? Why do we break the sleep cycles of our children and put them on the street at 6:30 AM to catch a school bus? Why do we allow inhumane treatment of our little ones? Why do we not know our children’s school schedules?

Why do we not see that our children have free time at school? Why do we not have old fashioned recesses for them? Are kindergarteners made any differently today than they were one hundred years ago? How many of our children are taking Adderall? How many of our children are depressed or have anxiety attacks? Is it a normal thing for children to hate school? Is it good for children to be depressed and unhappy for at least eight years? What percentage of pediatric visits are for mental health issues?

Are doctors treating the symptoms or the causes? Why don’t we treat the causes and then the doctors wouldn’t have to treat the symptoms? Why are we allowing this to happen?

Can we do anything about it?

The writer lives in Conway.

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Let’s talk about our kids and how we’ve been treating them."