So today I was subbing in a sixth grade classroom and one of the boys came up to me and said,

“Ms. Kivela, my friend is too shy to tell you, but he thinks you look like Kate Upton.”

First of all, I’m not sure that this boy was even wearing his glasses today, because I don’t resemble her at all. Secondly, I don’t know if a sixth grader should even know who Kate Upton is! I’m pretty sure I wasn’t very conscious of Heidi Klum when I was that age.

It made me realize that maybe kids are being exposed to too much too soon. Part of that is the recent burst in technology and its availability to people at a younger age. I don’t support restricting the use of technology just to protect kids from maturing too quickly. I think that the Internet has so much useful, constructive, information that is vital. It’s just not as easy and fun for them to find.

As I’m preparing for a teaching career, I’m realizing how hard it is for teachers to compete with video games and YouTube. Kids need something that will engage them while educating them simultaneously. I have nothing but the highest praise for the show Liberty’s Kids that runs on Saturday morning cartoons. It appears to kids as just another fun show, with silly jokes and drama and modern music, but it takes them on a journey through the American colonization and revolutionary war. THAT is what our society needs more of. Not because children have become lazy, but because times are changing. It’s not the 70s or 80s anymore. Hell, it’s not even the early millennium anymore. Its halfway through 2013, and society needs to rise to the occasion.

And as for me and Kate, the jury’s still out. ;)