Summary Of Doing Nothing Is Something By Anna Quindlen

The authors utilize the rhetorical appeals of ethos and pathos to show their conflicting argument on if children should be micromanaged. In the first article, Anna Quindlen claims that children shouldn’t have every minute of their lives scheduled because “downtime is where we become ourselves” and that allows children to grow. Her use of vivid imagery prompts the audience to empathize with the children. She describes the nostalgia of having “day trips to the beach” and “pickup games” that are no longer available to today’s generation. Quindlen also established herself as a sincere person since she explains how “‘doing nothing’ is when human beings actually do their best thinking”, it is that unstructured free time, that allows for children

Socially and Emotionally the family is a big influence in a child’s development. Parents have a big role by providing care and guidance for their development. Unfortunately some families cannot promote the development of a child because of the conflict among the parents. A single parent can have difficulties in boosting a better development in children and young people, sometimes a child is separated from its siblings and this can affect them too.

Kids who live in places like housing tracts, condos, and planned communities are not allowed or discouraged to take part in outdoor activities. More than 57 million people live in places that control what that person and their family does. Even the public government can restrict children’s access to nature. “For the most part the criminalization of natural play is more suggestive than real. However, in some communities, young people who try to recreate their parents’ childhoods may face misdemeanor charges or see their parents sued.” Page 29. With these regulations kids are basically forced to join a sports teams. Sports are good for kids but it doesn’t let them be free and do what they want. Studies have shown that modern families are spending more time watching television and on the computer. Growing obesity rates among adults and children because of diets and sedentary lifestyles. Since kids are not going outside and playing as much they are getting less exercise and are more obese than ever. U.S. researcher Jane Clark, a University of Maryland professor of kinesiology suggests “that a generation of children is not only being raised indoors, but is being confined to even smaller spaces.” “calls them “containerized kids”- they spend more and more time in car seats, high chairs, and even baby seats for watching TV. When children do go outside, they’re often placed in containers-strollers-and pushed by walking or jogging parents.” These are used to keep the kids safe but research suggests that it effects the long-term health of children. As more people are being affected by nature deficit more scientific evidence is emerging that indicates direct contact with nature is essential for mental and physical

Children become aware that their feelings and desires are essential and must be accounted for. Growing up in a supportive environment enables children to form open and trusting relationships with their parents. However, sometimes parents fail to meet emotional or physical needs of their children. Through the failure of meeting the child’s need, eventually, leads to a more dysfunctional relationship.

Then there’s this source I found called “The impact of technology.” This website tells me that a mere 20 years ago, children used to play outside all day, riding bikes, playing sports and building forts.

The reading of “Last Child in the Woods” by Richard Louv has opened my mind and hopefully everyone else’s that has read Mr. Louv’s book. How the world is paralyzing the young kids. It’s sad to say but the kids are the victims in today’s high tech world, not enough are going outside an exercising and do what the past generations did to socialize with other kids and have fun but instead play with the new technology that is in everyone’s face.

The author argues the point that many children -especially American children in urban environments- are losing the sense of the great outdoors. Most of these children spend their time accessing as much technology as possible, which requires little to no movement at all. Many of these children want to make a change in the way that they explore the world around them, but they don't have the resources to do so. In an effort to give these children the resources to explore the world outside of their gaming systems, taking the initiative to change this growing problem is only the first step towards the greater good for the environments and the people that roam it.

Idle Hands Anna Quindlen, a Barnard College educated Pulitzer Prize winner and writer of “Doing Nothing is Something” took a gander at a long standing query: does free time result in creativity? In her article, Quindlen argued that children shouldn’t be overscheduled or overburdened and should be left to do, well, nothing. She proposes that creativity stems from the ability to be left alone with thoughts. She also mentioned that competition encouraged at a young age is a cutthroat technique to facilitate “success” and mocked the effort. Although these are valid thoughts, they fall short of insightful as she seems to only acknowledge one perspective within the shrinking middle class.

Today tech has influenced kids to stay inside on their devices rather than going outside and being

Although she noted children’s need of leisure time and the misuse of time, she missed the importance of learning and the benefits of a social life. As a result, I believe Children should have prior knowledge throughout their life to have creative thoughts. Quindlen conveys in her essay that one cannot become creative without lots

In her essay “Doing Nothing Is Something,” Anna Quindlen states that our imagination is created when we are doing nothing. When our mind is not distracted, we take time to ponder upon thoughts. Children’s unlimited usage of technology takes away key aspects of a child’s development. Because children become engrossed in technology, they lose the ability to form important bonds and lose childhood experiences that cannot be replaced, but on the other hand we do have to recognize technology plays an important role in this and future generations.

In “Doing Nothing Is Something” Quindlen uses the either/or techniques to persuade the readers into believing her idea of “downtime is where we find ourselves.” Quindlen appeals to emotions when she explains that scheduling children down to unscheduled time is detrimental to their creativity and childhood. Quindlen first touches on how family time is no longer prevalent in our lives today; then moves quickly into the productivity of nothingness. “What would families do with family time if they took it back?” Quindlen uses a privileged suburb's one-time “Family Night” in New Jersey to show readers that family time is a thing of the past.

Parents have become more afraid of car accidents, crime, creepers and diseases which have all become over-exaggerated through the media (“Why Kids Need Nature”). The lack of parental support for children to get eye level with nature and explore its’ beauty in backyards and surrounding environments is detrimental to children’s views on nature. Simple outdoor activities and time to play outside aren’t put on the daily to do list for children because the of the demanding schedule made for them (Louv, “Children's Isolation from the Natural World Is a Threat to Their Health”). Robert Louv did a ten-year study with many families to observe the amount of time children spend interacting with nature. He says in one of his articles, “Some [parents] feel [playing outside] wastes precious time. They're afraid that if they don't get the kids in Suzuki violin lessons they won't get into Harvard," The importance of success that parents place on their children in school, extracurricular activities and lessons can detrimentally suffocate the child’s schedule and prohibit them from being able to learn the best they can. The negative effect that NDD has on a child’s learning about life is significant (“Kids Need to Offset ‘screen time’ with ‘nature time’” A1). To establish basic concepts of life and learning, children need experience with the

This modern society has, without a doubt, adapted to technology; which makes it difficult to visualise life with anything technological. This significantly influences children in a negative impact, seeing as technology takes up of all

Parental and adult concern for the child’s safety and security means that the range of places in which children can play has shrunk, particularly in urban areas. Traffic volumes, development of green spaces and fear for children being out and about without adult supervision contributes to a contraction of freedom for children. Additionally, it would appear that children are spending increasing time in front of computers and televisions with consequent health risks, including diminished outdoor play, physical inactivity and obesity.