Injuries For Days

Blood was pouring all over the fresh cut grass as John’s cut kept getting worse. Finally his mother heard him and ran over with a wet dripping cloth. John knew it was going to make him scream but he had no choice. He was going to have to suck it up and deal.

“Things happen best to move on and play through” like his father once said when he broke his wrist in a football game

Helicopter parenting is becoming a “religion” amongst many parents who are nervous about letting their kids experience the outside world.

“I immediately started feeling the pain but I am quite tough and just held it in as I called for help and tried to stay calm” says John a young man from a generation ago. What is revealed by John’s experience is that parents of his generation were very lenient toward big injuries and experiences like John’s.

John is a 14 year old boy who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia whose parents believe in the simple beliefs and values. Like letting their kids run free unattended and only giving their kids what they deserve or making them work for what they want so that in the future they will know how to survive on their own making a living. He also thanks to not being protected from everything is quite popular at school and has managed to maintain an A average in all of his classes as he always works hard and if he does not worry if he has to work alone as he was trained to work alone.

Anne Kynigos parent of 2 teenage boys says that “helicopter parenting is detrimental to children's emotional and intellectual growth as they do not learn to think on their own”. Psychiatrist Steven Lloyd says that “parents should only be worried about serious injuries and concussions but no less as it affects kids futures. ABout 78% of kids born after 2004 have said they have helicopter parents. And 40% of the helicopter kids have become neurotic and completely dependant on their parents for almost everything.

The Stress Of Sports Day

     Late afternoon earlier this year at the UWCSEA fields, the grade seven students anxiously awaited to hear their sports day results.For some people in grade seven Sports day wasn't fun but another burden to add stress to their already academic abundant lives. Sports Day had been memorable for every class full of positives and negatives. Some classes such as 7_2, Ms Guintos class were enthusiastic. Whereas other classes such as 7_7, Mr. Murray's class were worked up and jittery as they weren't as confident about their performance.

     Earlier on that day Mr. Murray's class had brutally lost to 7_2 in a game of Basketball. The game had left 3 of the 6 members of 7_7’s team injured. By halftime 7_7 was stressed about the game and fretting for the final results as they were already down 20-4. Within the first 5 minutes of the second half two players from either teams were on the floor grappling like toddlers. A player from each team were forced to pull them apart and set them aside to the benches.

     The player from 7_7 came out with a twisted ankle and a badly bruised tailbone and lower back where as the player from 7_2 escaped with merely a few scratches. 7_7 was distressed at they were down by 4 in the last few minutes and knew they had no chance of winning sports day. “I don't blame us for the loss as we knew the other team had more athletic ability than us” - Long Hin, 7_7 “It was all their fault, they pulled me down and caused me to get injured they should be the ones bearing the loss” Angus Tymms, 7_7. The weight off the stress eventually knocked them down as when 7_2 went to receive the gold trophy their world went blurry as they cried buckets of tears.

     This isn't the only time at UWC where kids have been stressed due to Sports. Getting into Middle School the academics get more and more challenging as they start the GCSE syllabus. On top of that they are expected to play a sport, or sports and do over 6 months of mandatory community service. There is a stress to perform and always give your best even if you are feeling under the weather. The teams are competitive and push the kids to their limit.

- Anisha Sullivan