Slender man fiction becomes real

[Levusti]

It's a deep-rooted social issue that the current education system really can't be expected to fix. It's there to teach basic ethics, not deep-rooted morality.

This is how I see the problem:
Money is how everything functions. You graduate from college, get your first job, and start making serious money. You meet someone, move in together, and your income doubles but your expenses only increase by 30%. Suddenly you have a lot of income and can afford all that cool stuff- new TVs every year, a new high quality car every 3, going out every weekend, etc. Your career is set so your income is never going to go down.
BUT WAIT. Then you have kids. All of a sudden you can't work as much, but your expenses have increased. Some people cut back on spending, some don't. But it would require a complete lifestyle change to support kids on reduced income. In fact, most parents need to work more to pay for the laptops and smartphones and tablets their kids want, and still put them through college. Because without college, the kids can't make any money. Money is how everything functions. The parents spend more time at work and less time at home to make more money so the kids will be set up better for life.
So those kids grow up, go to college, start making money, get used to a lifestyle, then try to introduce kids to it...

Nobody wants to spend all their time at work, but nobody wants to go from driving new BMWs to used Hondas. Nobody wants to be a slave to the paycheck, but moving out of the gated community sounds even worse. Everybody wants to have time to teach their kids fiction from reality... but if that time means no smartphones or tablets and sharing an old family computer, all of a sudden it looks a lot less appealing. Downsizing is difficult. And having kids young, before you get used to the DINKS lifestyle, usually only means more financial problems down the road.
It's a lose-lose situation.

But that's what's the bigger problem I feel. The modern culture is so materialistically and monetarily driven that the REAL things that matter in life suddenly get reduced down to the newest games, the shiniest phones, the flashy and fashionable threads that they're "selling for only 75% of original price!" that we don't really spend TIME.

This does not apply to ALL parents, but many younger or "modern" parents rely on the television or other electronics to sate the kids' educational and emotional needs. I mean, sure your child will get smarter and learn how others interact, but then they don't have that emotional bond with the parents.

I get it. Money is important. But I wasn't one of the "cool kids" because I didn't have the best clothes, the coolest stuff, and I didn't get a car at sixteen. But I got my parents' time. And I also got REAL time with my friends, not just endless connectivity with them by a text. I didn't text much, so all the face-to-face time I spent with my friends seemed a thousand times more valuable.

I feel like a lot of the distress blossoming youth and adolescents feel is because there's a disconnect between parent and kid. I mean I'm not saying that everything has to be happy dandy and everything's gonna be alright. But the phrase "Time for dinner!" and a few other reprimands can't be the ONLY things said from parent to child.

I'm not saying that this is the reason why this happened, but it is a very common and likely reason this happened.

 

[Lady Sabine]

But that's what's the bigger problem I feel. The modern culture is so materialistically and monetarily driven that the REAL things that matter in life suddenly get reduced down to the newest games, the shiniest phones, the flashy and fashionable threads that they're "selling for only 75% of original price!" that we don't really spend TIME.

This does not apply to ALL parents, but many younger or "modern" parents rely on the television or other electronics to sate the kids' educational and emotional needs. I mean, sure your child will get smarter and learn how others interact, but then they don't have that emotional bond with the parents.

I get it. Money is important. But I wasn't one of the "cool kids" because I didn't have the best clothes, the coolest stuff, and I didn't get a car at sixteen. But I got my parents' time. And I also got REAL time with my friends, not just endless connectivity with them by a text. I didn't text much, so all the face-to-face time I spent with my friends seemed a thousand times more valuable.

I feel like a lot of the distress blossoming youth and adolescents feel is because there's a disconnect between parent and kid. I mean I'm not saying that everything has to be happy dandy and everything's gonna be alright. But the phrase "Time for dinner!" and a few other reprimands can't be the ONLY things said from parent to child.

I'm not saying that this is the reason why this happened, but it is a very common and likely reason this happened.

How do you break the cycle, though? Can you really know and appreciate the value of a parent-child bond that you've never experienced?

People who were raised with a lot of face-to-face contact do the same to their kids and are generally happy about it. People who were raised in a money-oriented household raise their own kids the same way and are generally happy about it.

I don't know if there's really a "right" answer. If you hadn't been raised the way you were, could you ever see the value, or is it having it as a kid that creates the need?

 

[Levusti]

How do you break the cycle, though? Can you really know and appreciate the value of a parent-child bond that you've never experienced?

People who were raised with a lot of face-to-face contact do the same to their kids and are generally happy about it. People who were raised in a money-oriented household raise their own kids the same way and are generally happy about it.

I don't know if there's really a "right" answer. If you hadn't been raised the way you were, could you ever see the value, or is it having it as a kid that creates the need?

And you're right. There are people who have been raised in a money-oriented household that do just as fine as an individual trying to survive in the real world.

But I guess that's where a parent's intuition comes in. Some children are very independent where as some require much more social interaction to be well. But that's when the parents have to learn how to be receptive of their children's wants, fears, and questions. Not judgmental. Receptive. And not only receptive, but also how receptive they need to be. Parents need to "be there," but also know when to "give some space." But that's a parent's duty to learn.

 

[Lady Sabine]

And you're right. There are people who have been raised in a money-oriented household that do just as fine as an individual trying to survive in the real world.

But I guess that's where a parent's intuition comes in. Some children are very independent where as some require much more social interaction to be well. But that's when the parents have to learn how to be receptive of their children's wants, fears, and questions. Not judgmental. Receptive. And not only receptive, but also how receptive they need to be. Parents need to "be there," but also know when to "give some space." But that's a parent's duty to learn.

I wish having a baby came with some kind of parent radar or Geiger counter or something so they could tell how close they need to be. Unfortunately, a lot of the people who become parents the soonest and have the most kids aren't the sort of people who really know what they're doing. :c And then the parents that want to spend time around the child are usually the ones who try to force their kid into a mold the most instead of accepting them for who they are.

Even if the girls' parents had realized what they were reading online and spoken to them about it, how much could they have changed? As a rule 12-year-old girls consider parental disapproval to be a guaranteed coolness seal of approval. I still think that one of two things would have happened: the girls continue to believe in Slenderman to spite their parents and be nonconformists, or the girls never believed in Slenderman in the first place but still blame him to try and get out of trouble themselves when in fact they wanted to stab their "friend" all along (which, honestly, I think might be the case already).