When I was your age

This post is based on this article: This could be the last generation capable of loving

Our parents went through hardship; their parents even more: my grandparents faced the World War, inflation, unemployment, uncertainty, fear and famine.

My mom had to plant the rice fields the manual way, under the hot sun, at a young age of 7-8 years old. That time there were no objections or legal claims of child labour. EVERY member of the family broke their back in the rice fields because they needed to produce to eat and survive.

What was I doing at 7-8? I had to take care of my younger siblings. Mom taught me basic cooking when I was about 9-10 and by 13 I was babysitting my brothers over the weekend whenever my parents 'balik kampung' with the babies. 

What were my children doing at 7-8? Basically they had an iPad and Playstation and PSP and iPad mini (well not at the SAME time), but you get what I mean. We used the reward system to allow them to use the devices for certain periods of the day. Apart from schoolwork and basic age-appropriate chores they do at home, they hardly suffer hardship/ had to do hard labour.

What will happen in the future?

My children may not want their own children, due to the high cost of living. They're still very young now, and might change their minds later on. My little daughters do not want children 'because they are annoying' and they are children themselves. Things may change.

I do not have a deduction for this post. Perhaps we should introduce more hardship to children? OR do they learn about hardship and heartache and disappointments from their games? Maybe they do. I surely cannot ask them to plant rice fields (I do not know HOW to do it myself!).

What's going to happen when the metaverse comes to fruition? I hate to think that this might just be a new drug that'll cause child neglect a-la trainspotting? I hope not. Let's hope humanity and common sense will prevail.