The Kids are Alright

Originally Published November 4, 2021

The two families camping across the way have five or six children between them.  The parents are young, in their thirties. The kids are home schooled.  They have been travelling for two years. 

The night we arrived, the kids were running around playing, shrieking with laughter.  This morning, an older one came out early, lit a hibachi, and crouched down to get warm.  Younger ones followed.  There were friendly exchanges. 

I asked the parents about the home schooling. There was no mention of religion, only that school turns people into factory workers. They had been dutiful students, they said, and were not about to subject their kids to the same thing.

What about the curriculum?  No, they said, there wasn’t one. They explored history every place they went. The rest took care of itself, with the oldest often acting as an instructor to the younger. 

What it must be like to be a child today with the incessant shower of commerce, media and technology. Here in the park, every morning is like a Saturday in 1960.