Our children, 'the internet' 'Toys' and the security of their hearts and minds ...................

pdvï jerÈ,d ........... ‘paadam weradeela me paarath panthiye anthimaya ……………..

 A naughty ‘bonikka’ (a doll) is responsible for all these it seems. Sister of the kid has found out the reason for her lovely sisters becoming the last of the class in her exams faced, failures of lessons. This sister is not happy at all and she is complaining with a annoying voice  therefore the owner of this doll had decided to leave the house with her beloved friend ‘ doll’  ……………

There is a complain from a sister and a request follow following  lines of that popular song …………………. ‘Mage Honda lassana bonikka’  

paadam weradeela mepaarath panthiye anthimaya

okkotama mula bonikka

kiala baninawa loku akka

a hindaa mama yanawa yannata enawada maa ekka …………..

Foot path is not a recommended site or a blog for children. This is good for the adults like you and me. I think they should not follow ‘my way of English’ and must follow ‘the standard way, good English’ that is another reason. I thought it is good to refresh my own mind listening to few ‘children’s songs’ and I do not write this to your kids. I know that some of you read what I write and I like to thank you for that so this essay is not for your kids.

Shall I ask you a question before in elaborate my ideas on several few things that I think is good to share?  Do you generally ‘monitor’ and ‘evaluate’ your kids of the things that they read, watch and play? Do you get some time free for that? This is not applicable to me because I have no kids to look after at home but yes at school.

I guess most of our kids (I am sure that it is alright to use the word ‘our’ though I do not have any kids) own a computer at home. They reach home before you and may be they are at home during after school hours with their grandparents or sometimes with some others who is there to help your kids looking after them when you are away from home at your work place, until you come back home may be after dark facing a busy or a hectic day.

 The children are ‘curious’ of many things they generally know that they can use internet to search information they want. (I teach one day a week so I get a little chance to associate with kids) if you just enter the first few letters on the search bars ‘www. F……….. it is not just the ‘www.footpath’ comes and appear before them for instance  you may see ‘fences’ ‘friends’ ‘flowers’, ‘future’, the words that starts with letter ‘f’. so after the letters ‘www’ you may get several options that the google or other friends suggests us saying’’ have a look we have good stuff as well’. – But we can not assure our kids of the things that come under these attractive, commonly used words wrapping with lovely attractive looking gift wrappers.  We should remember here the kids not like you and me they just peep in to anything they see or appear on the screen (they are kids no!)  It is good to look after your kids from ‘esbendum www.’s

How often do you do that? how oftern you sit with your kids and discuss these things?

Let me take this opportunity to appreciate the decision taken by the relevant parties to ban the unnecessary harmful www. ’s for the sake of our children I guess that is a good step taken to control such things.

Now there is a huge possibility of using internet compared to past.  Currently you find such programs/ projects introduced or initiated by GO and other organizations of the country i.e ‘nenasala’ therefore this ‘tool’ has become a popular thing among the schools children.  ‘The computer or the internet’ is not a stranger anymore. In most of the countries the teachers or the lectures has less work to do now there task is to ‘observe or monitor’ their students than teaching them writing and explaining each and everything using ‘a black board’ (we had back boards and ‘hunu kura’ not white boards or marker pens) . 

They now have improved and developed the ‘self learning abilities’ compared to my days at school their way is to use the internet than referring the books available at libraries.  I assume the child is moving away from the closest library unfortunately. I like the ‘E TEACHER’ concept this is a lovely concept but regular monitoring needs to be done.

I guess when the ‘internet becomes their one and only friend then the teacher + student’ company’ may collapse. The children will miss some important things in the future. I am little worried about such things. What will happen to the long live ‘bonds’ that teacher and the student’ maintain in general school hours and sometimes afterwards …………..

Pena mada kadithi wew thawula wehi kaale

 penna maga nomaga nowetee yana thaale……………………

sip kiri pewu musilayin udu maale sip kiri pewu musilayin udu maale Ape guruthuma yai thaamath iskole’

Will they ever get a chance in the future to memorize their childhood as a happy adult thining of the days that they share knowledge with their ‘teachers’

Guru niwahane kandulata sithuwamak wela loku hamine etha bithu sithuwamak wela ………………..

Will they ever get the feeling of ‘pleasure of learning’ together with their friends?  Will they ever get a chance to learn and understand the ‘true meaning of ‘sharing’ ‘ cooperation’ ‘helping each other’ ‘respect’ each others ‘ideas and knowledge’. I am writing this also thinking of the completions that they face within their own minds and brains.

Certainly I feel that the values of some things that we respect these days in our life pertaining to the systems such as ‘education’ etc will these things like ‘internet’ take away from us sooner or later?  I don’t like to think this internet as a victim for such things therefore we should give our kids the necessary guidance to use this useful net in a useful way getting the maximum use. Help your kids.

There should be a very strict monitoring program for kids in your in house organizations. If you just type the letter ‘N’ you may get the chance to enjoy all the naked pictures of everybody who generally appear on such pages or the pictures that have created by some  ill will people having  the idea in mind to harm the personalities, popular figures of a country etc.

So we should monitor the things that our kids watch and associate.

I know that there are things that your kids can read and watch with no hesitations. There are registered web pages or the blogs which maintains ‘the quality of contents’ up to a certain ‘standards’ so those things do not come under the categories of what I talked earlier in this writing.

I enjoy children’s song not because that they are beautiful and sung by beautiful kids mainly because I love the lyrics.

Aththamma niwan gihin apata godaak aaathai ……………

‘japan rate upatha laba lankawata aawa mage lassana bonikka es natawa bala balaa ………….’

Kurumbatti machime mage kurumbetti machime ……………

Above are few lines from children’s songs that I like and enjoy very much. 

Those are Kiddies songs sung by kids you also find songs that sung by adults for kids.

The words that some of the lyrists have used gives all of us so much of a ‘aliveness’ to our own lives and I also believe that they teach us life lessons some times. If you take the words of your preference in some of the songs you will understand this.

Aththamma niwan gihin apata godak aathai ………….. I love these lines those things remind me of ‘a mind of a kid’ the way that a child think these lines reminds me of such things.

The minds of the kids are so ‘sensitive’ and ‘creative’ too. So we should create them such backgrounds in the environment they live and spend most of their times They know how to use their knowledge they collate from here and there in a very innovative way. But the danger here is that they do not have that ability to differentiate what is best and what is worst or good or bad. They think everything is good. Everything that they see is ‘right’ and ‘suitable’

‘guwan wduliye lama mandapaya’ I have heard this from almost all the well-known singers of our country most them have come through associating such back grounds.

‘Ms. Sumana nellampitiya’ is a very lovable character.

Mr. Karunaratne Abeysekara’ is a huge legend and he has provided so much of shade to his friends and to the amateurs at that time he was a teacher to many at that time. All who has associated him, I have read they say ‘he was certainly like a huge tree’

Pahana thiya budu saaduta himidirie hemadaa denna gedarin enawa

Es nopenena amma ehi thani karala  (lyrics - Bandula Nanayakkkarawasam)

‘ katu akule mal ehere ralu ahase tharu hinehe katu akule mal ehare ………

Kurulu gee gaayana  

(Peshala mendin – lyrics -kumaradasa saputhanthri ?)

………..

The kids generally enjoy playing with weli and pol katu they just follow the things what their mother do in their kitchen cooking, cleaning etc and they try to learn these things looking at them observing them ‘their real kitchen’ generally is the ‘model kitchen’ for them to learn such things.

The girly kids wears sari like their ammala or like aachchi amma ‘the kids generally follow what their adults do even we as kids did that I hope you lovely big girls can remember those things.

Midule weli maligawe sakwithi padawiya labanna galweta langa wade wela sanda paayana heti balanna

Sathara disa jayagena mama hanika emi

Obe sanda hiru wee eliya demi  (sung by -Peshala Mendis/ lyrics- Kumaradasa saputhanthri)

The above is a revelation of a heart of a little daughter I remember listening to this beautiful song as a school kid. Ms Peshala Mendis then a tiny, tiny faced girl that is what I remember when I try to memorize the ‘picture I saw on the TV screen years ago.

Let me also take this chance to wish ‘the independence television’ (ITN) network who is celebrating her 33^rd birth year. Surviving for 33 years with all the difficulties, facing new competitors of the same field that is not easy I know but to last 100 years we need to try and protect our own values without getting distract from outside changes, changes that generally happen in the privately maintained lives like ‘ me and other watchers or the views of you’ it is so genuine if we all can maintain our own standards without letting our own minds to spoil the genuineness or the integrity of our well looked after ‘young lady’ ‘ITN’. Here comes the value of ‘monitoring’ and try and let the ‘mediators’, the announcers to understand the true meaning of maintaining the quality of the work of the organization and the importance of maintaining ‘the relationship between the viewer and the mediator’ some of the ‘parroting kids’ in the recent past I noticed how they used their ‘gifted job’ they all are the students who grows under your arms. This is not particularly applicable to the ‘ITN” and it is not actually applicable to everything and everyone even though I use this chance to talk about this. ITN is not the only channel that exists in this field.

‘Viewers’ are also an independent bodies’ I think we all should remember and keep that in our mind and it is very important.  We should not let the ‘gossips’ or dark shadows come and embrace the eternity of the organizations.

MY congratulations to you Sir and to your team for all your achievements!

The parades are wonderful memorable things of a childhood. People with colourful minds who come to watch with their kids wearing colourful dresses are a nice view to watch. The rhythms of ‘desheeya bera handa and bera pada, the local drums it provide us a beautiful picture. There are things that our kids can learn.

Peli peli hedee aththu hadanawa

Bola bola bola wage eli kerakenawa

Ape game wihaarayata perahera yanawa

I also noticed that some parents buy ‘guns’ for their kids. NO not the real ones to buy such things we adults need permission or should own a license no? This is different the ‘toys’. So the child happily try to operate it aiming the head of his/her own father who has bought this so valuable ‘toy’ not because he knows the outcome of using such ‘toys’ the kid is trying to play that is all.   

The clever parents buy their kids ‘books’ not the ‘toy guns’ so my salute goes for them.

What a difference! No! I am not trying to compare ‘this’ parent with ‘that’ parents, my parents with their parents or the parents of Sri Lanka with the parents of USA no it is not possible. I am trying to think of the differences of the ‘toys available in the market’ especially in the kiddies markets.

Let me not forget to mention the ever loving dolls  the dear and near friend of all eras’ I know that their looks have changed, now the toy manufactures have become so creative you can purchase different types of dolls that comes under different names ‘ the Barbie dolls etc . They are lovely ones I am sure you will agree with me.

Let us create a better world for our children watch what they read monitor who they go and meet after school. Talk to the ones who keep an eye on your beautiful playful kids especially near the gates of the school they may carry or bring ‘toffees and chocolates’ for your lovely kids ‘I don’ think the responsible parties could manage to eliminate the ‘heroine’ dealers totally from the vicinity of the ‘schools’ where your kids are learning. It is good to remind your kids those are not always the toffees or chocolate that come wrapped with similar packages.

They are our future.