"I wondered at the way she had mangled the "apple a day" aphorism. The original, "Eat an apple on going to bed and you'll keep the doctor from earning his bread," came from Wales. It took a day before I could ask Pika about the origin of her saying. She had picked up her dollar-centric version from classmates: "That's what they all say!""
"Like generations before, Pika and her peers are dazzled by the glitter of consumerist culture. Today, they are hyperaware of not only shoes and games but also the 10,000 things that devices "feed" them, starting at eerily early ages. No doubt these kids will one day find ways to navigate materialism, as we did. Still, it can be a struggle for device-savvy youngsters, and parents similarly shackled, to cultivate an intimacy with nature."
""It's hard to talk to young people today about the environment and its issues," Marty told me, chuckling uncomfortably. "They don't care." Her response stunned me, and I told myself that it was one person's opinion. I trust that many kids do care. Nature is ideal stomping grounds for their keen sense of play and camaraderie. The apathy some kids might feel could surely have been stoked by the perception that older generations "didn't care" either-we passed along biodiversity loss"
Children mimic adult behavior and are strongly influenced by consumerist culture and digital devices from early ages. A child's misremembered aphorism—"a dollar a day keeps the doctor away"—illustrates how peer language and material values shape youth. Many children are dazzled by shoes, games, and the thousands of items devices present. Some educators perceive environmental apathy among students, though many children retain interest in nature as a place for play and camaraderie. Parental and caregiver relationships with nature can inspire children's environmental concern. Apples and bananas remain the most consumed fresh fruits per capita in the United States, even as apple consumption has declined.
Read at The Walrus
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