I can't help but wonder how the brave new high-tech world we live in is changing childhood. By spending hours playing video games, surfing the Internet, entranced by their iPod music and texting friends, "e-Generation" kids are failing to build fond memories of family-fun time.
It's no secret many South Valley youngsters live their lives plugged into digital gadgets. I'm interested to see how this high reliance on high-tech will shape the up-and-coming generation - and how they in turn will shape the world.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not a luddite. I love electronic gizmos. I listen to my iPod when I'm cleaning house or doing gardening chores. And I enjoy the convenience of e-mail correspondence and instant information from the Internet.
But I also detach from the high-tech world by going hiking or mountain bike riding in one of the South Valley's many wilderness parks - or by simply laying on my backyard hammock reading a book (which I often jokingly refer to as a paper-based information storage device).
It might come as a shock to some e-Generation kids that once upon a time, children did not have digital devices like iPods and Xboxes. Although people definitely had their daily struggles in the pioneering days of Alta California, life before electronic entertainment could be richly rewarding for youngsters. Kids could go out on a horseback ride into the hills or spend time fishing at the creek with friends. They could find pleasure from simple games and toys.
With summer now here, it might be enjoyable
for local families with
e-Generation children to get a taste of what life was like in the days long before iPods, Xboxes, personal computers and cell phones. Kids in the pre-joystick period of human history used their imaginations to create pastimes to amuse themselves.
Now that school is out, I encourage South Valley residents with children to check out during the next three months some of the offerings of special family events that will take them "back in time" to a simpler age. I think it would be well worth the effort to show today's kids that life can be just as interesting without the latest gotta-have-it gadget from Silicon Valley.
Here are a few of my recommendations of family-oriented history tripping events coming up:
- On Saturday, June 20, San Juan Bautista State Historic Park puts on its annual "Early Days at San Juan Bautista" event. From 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., children can wander through the park and the mission plaza and interact with volunteers dressed as pioneers who came to California 150 or more years ago - including Gold Rush-period miners, mountain men, Civil War soldiers and Victorian women. Kids can see how people prepared food when bread was baked in adobe ovens and meals were cooked on heavy iron pots over wood-burning fires.
- If you can't make it to this year's Early Days event, check out one of the monthly "Living History Days at San Juan Bautista" which are held the first Saturday of every month from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- On July 26 between noon and 6 p.m., San Jose will hold its annual Founders Day Fandango at the Peralta Adobe-Fallon House Historic Site (175 W. St. John St., San Jose). This family-focused afternoon event will transport children back in time to the late 1700s and early 1800s when the pueblo of San Jose was made up of less than 200 people (compared to the nearly 1 million who live in San Jose now). Kids will hear singers and dancers traditional folk songs. They'll also get the chance to dress up in the clothes of the time, rope a "bull," make clay pots and tallow candles, and listen to stories told by historic re-enactor Olga Loya.
- The Santa Clara County Parks Department will hold its annual "Family Fandango" history-hopping extravaganza on Aug. 1 from 5 to 8 p.m. This event is held at the Bernal-Gulnac-Joice Ranch site located at 372 Manila Drive in San Jose (near Santa Teresa County Park). It highlights the period between the years 1770 and 1870 by introducing families to the accomplishments of the Ohlone Indians who settled here thousands of years ago. It also highlights the Spanish, Mexican and Victorian periods of California history by demonstrating how Spanish-speaking colonists settled the land as well as by showing how English-speaking ranch families lived in the years following California's statehood in 1850. I attended last year and had a fantastic experience learning stories about our local history and understanding the diverse cultures of our Bay Area region.
I encourage your family to do a little time traveling this summer at one or more of these history-focused events. Your kids will gain memories of quality family time they'd never get from an iPod.
Martin Cheek Marty Cheek is the author of 'The Silicon Valley Handbook.' His column appears every other Friday. You can reach him at martych@gte.net.
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