THREE DIFFERENT news items concerning today’s children sent me wading around Bartlett’s tome to try to discover some antidotes to these depressing messages. One story described the nearly $2 million grant just extended to improve and ex- pand daycare facilities in our province. Another was headed ‘Childhood Stress,’’ and featured the conclusions of a premier’s study in Ontario which indicated that children as young as 10 and 11 were looking vainly for peace of mind, The third was about an H- linois kid’s 12th birthday party — his loving morn had hired a stripper to make sure the guests all had a good time. Bartlett, his hair standing straight up on his ghostly pate, wasn’t a lot of help. Kids these days have fast- forward buttons. Looking backwards down the pipeline, which we tend to do a lot in these years, we can see our simple little selves, mischievous, full of ginger, but . . _ Telying on the security of the . Tule of the thumb that hovered over us day and night. Cosmic terrors hadn’ t been | invented. ; Eight o’cicck was bed-time on school nights. Mother was there when you . came home from school to change, and your chores and _ your homework had to be . completed before any after- THE VINTAGE YEARS dinner leisure. You lived in a framework that chafed, sometimes, but the way out of it was clear: prove yourself responsible and trustworthy and the reins would gradually loosen as you exhibited good sense. . Families who are still trying to maintain that kind of structure are an endangered . _-Species. : The standard pattern has . been mutilated. Now the mother, tradi- tionally the weakest earner, yet usually given the burden when the family falls apart, suc- cumbs to economic pressure and takesajob. | As do many still with a mate at home. ‘*Needs”’ have new dimen- sions in our culture. The sitter becomes the new authority. The sitter’s values may be way outside the family’s cri- entation, ‘‘but it’s only fora few hours a day.” Who knows? Maybe the kids are better off being cared for under a string of cosmopolitan views. No one’s right all the time, eh? Broadens the mind, don’t you know. When I was a child, Russia’s daycare system, anathema to North American parents, was the underlying strength of their work ethic. We were horrified by the concept of the state’s taking control of and ordering the lives of children. Now here we are, looking for government-support baby-pens. As for ‘dreaming eyes of wonder,’’ kids in these parlous times wonder, for sure, but it’s about their job prospects. The probers found that in public school they start wor- rying about their future earn- ings. Good grief. The educational psychologists don’t find this surprising; the children are merely echoing what they hear at home. Uncertainty maketh a lousy bedfellow. (There’ll be a good future market for some up-to-date Locale notorious for business failures From page 29 Kim Campbells, but we may run John. Turner again because you can't trust those Campbells.”” ‘He was referring to the Scottish saying about the dastardly Camp- bell clan. The Rhino party is challenging an election deposit law requiring candidates to.fork out money in advance of anelection. —. : -It-used to cost $200 to put your ‘hat in the political ring, but the feds recently upped’.the ante to $1,000. : The normally laid-back Rhinos claim .the potentially-refundable deposit is an immoral economic ‘means test and an undemocratic “user fee that contravenes the Charter of Rights. ‘Schaller, also said he ‘is con- - sidering running for ‘elderbuddy”’ in this fall’s civic election... “.“1F T happen to win both elec- LUBE CHL | Se FELT Ail Suzuki & Hyundai models TUNE UP SPECIAL All’ Suzuki & B Hyundai me models tions, of course I will resign the federal seat because as a Rhino, that’s what I promised to do,”’ said Schalier.. On a serious note, Schaller said North Vancouver City was about the only waterfront city in which residents had no access to a beach. As elderbuddy,- he would take steps to change that. Schaller got the. Richard The Troll handie in the 1960s when he ‘used to-live under the Elm Park Bridge in Winnipeg. Schaller was a caretaker during the bridge’s reconstruction. He. has been living in} Lower Lonsdale since 1974, _ Schaller doesn’t like to use the term “Lower, Lonsdale’. because it refers only te a street. He prefers to call the area. Moodyville. after its historic roots.) ‘Schaller has business ties to the community after owning a pipe shop for 15 years in Moodyville. Since the shop closed, Schaller has kept himself busy in between elec- tions at craft fairs and flea mar- kets, most recently Pier 96 in the 100-biock of East Esplanade. “Ya, tell everyone that, Rich The Troll hangs out there on. weekends. I sell antiques, collect- ibles and questionables,”” said Schaller. The locale of Planet Three Oasis is notorious for failed businesses such Sergio’s Oyster Bar and Fast Eddie’s discotheque. Seasoned residents may recall when the site used to be a Volkswagen car dealership. “Schaller said he spent the first 50 years of his life planning what he was going to do in the next 50. He got into this new business because he wants to retire. “My truck needs new tires,” said Schaller. aphorisms.) When one considers the world these children are al- ready launched into, rife with cybernetics and fibre-optics and all of space a challenge, our agonizing is irrelevant anyway. Why worry about childish traumas about the dark, and threatening strangers, when there may be no more dark? Surely very soon some urgent entrepreneur will figure out how to keep things going round the clock. Probably won’t be any clocks. They’re pretty ar- bitrary, when you come to think of it. You and I will still be good for hugs and kisses and our recollections of our first sighted aeroplane, our tales of the first car we owned, how to curl hair with strips of rag, what it was like to have one schoolteacher for eight grades and not even a magic lantern, let alone a television set. “Life was like that,’’ we'll say. Gymnastics Club. Fall registration starts Saturday, September 11, 1993 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Fun, Ftiness, Strength and Skill in the Best Facility Classes for boys & girls ages 2- adult. i The Memorial Gym j 123 East 23rd St. N. Van call 985-7918 Toth annual FARM FAIR | Come on down to the “Farm Fair” at Maplewood Farm on Sat., Sept. 1th, and Sun. Sept. 12th. We're open Tues.- .f Sun. 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. For more information call ... 929- H Hunter Douglas verticals Lonsdal — | 40% | suggested retail Pleated Shades 30%om| Suggested retail Sale ends + Sepr. 30 WINDOW FAS FASHIONS Free in-home consultation “ Capilano Draperies, ine. over 18 years on the North Shore E 114A West 15th St. N.Van. 988- 3621 :