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New word captures children's free time needs
By Moryt Milo
The other day I noticed a small headline that read, "Future Lingo From Faith Popcorn." Now there's an entire phrase that has to make you wonder: First, is the woman's name real? And second, what is happening to our good old standby Webster's Dictionary?
Faith Popcorn is a real person and the lady who coined the word "cocooning." I discovered this only after my curiosity took over, and I checked it out on the web.
Below the headline was a list of odd words and word combinations the article said were part of a new dictionary she had written. This latest contribution to the world of jargon is titled Dictionary of the Future: The Words, Terms, and Trends That Define the Way We'll Live, Work, and Talk.
Two of her words had me chuckling for a long time. The first one was "free-range children," not chicken, which immediately had me visualizing a group of happy-go-lucky children running through a meadow while aimlessly flapping their arms. It turns out my visuals weren't that far off the mark, because the definition pertains to children who are not overscheduled and have lots of open time.
The second word was "mannies," not nannies, which she defined as male nannies who will be needed as older men become fathers. Apparently, according to Popcorn, who is said to be the guru in trend-predicting, there are going to be a lot of dads who are really old and will not have the physical stamina to play catch or teach their children how to ride a bike, which will create a demand for mannies.
Long after I checked out Popcorn and thumbed through her example list on the web, the term "free-range children" still had me thinking. Maybe because it's easy to picture, maybe because it sounds so ridiculous it's hard to forget, or maybe because this word actually makes sense.
Few people would disagree that today's kids are grossly overscheduled. When school ends, most kids are off to a sport practice, a music lesson, a religious school or some other activity.
For a while my family fell into the over-extended trap and had too much going on. It's hard not to. Parents want their children to be musicians, athletes, academic geniuses and God knows what else, but in the process, we forget the most important thing: letting our children be kids, something that can never happen if a child's only playmate is a PalmPilot.
As a parent, we have to make a conscious effort to slow down the after-school roller coaster and let kids come home at the end of the day, with nothing more to do than read a book, imagine or do their homework.
So we stopped taking piano lessons because the only time we were practicing was during the actual lesson, and we decided more than one sport was too stressful to manage. It wasn't easy at first. I felt guilty for our under-loaded schedule. But then I realized feeling guilty was stupid.
My kids were happier. They were a lot less stressed about getting their schoolwork done, and they had treasured downtime.
It's why I think Popcorn's expression free-range children hit a nerve, and why I was glad I could picture my kids running free and not feeling cooped up like chickens.
Contact Moryt Milo at morytb@aol.com.
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Campbell, California
