hw to define a good childhood

i was at bedok south hawker centre for bfst ystday. at the nasi lemak stall, claire pointed at the cockles and asked me,"what's that?" i replied," cockles. or 'hum' in dialect. a shell item that we used to take when we were kids, helping popo to open up with our nails (hence causing ruined nails) and then eat with chilli.." then the hawker looked at me and said,"现在的小孩子很可怜，连xi hum也没不懂！我们以前小时候还是自己去海边挖来吃！现在的孩子只会对着死气沉沉的电脑玩，一点也不懂得玩的乐趣！" truly, aren't we glad that we out of school? sch work is burdensome, with necessity out of discussion issue. he commented that he has 2 grown-up sons in the 20s while the youngest boy is only 10. the eldest kids are in the university and one of them, in the course of an exchange program in cambodia, came back with the feeling that, we are a load of lucky citizens living in singapore. in terms of security and comfort, yes, we are indeed lucky. but to survive well these days in the midst of increased competitive environment, kids hv to be taught the capacity to absorb stress in their lives, understanding that stress is part of living. a friend told me the other day,"i hv great relationship with my girl until she enters P1! so, i hv to outsource to tutors to teach her!" i mean, how can i not reckon with such a statement? stress level for parents is none lower than the kids, afterall! even for our PAP ruling party, much hv been done for our nation. but, there's always unhappy ending with certain rulings....i was just telling hubby that while all polices implemented are meant to achieve certain desirable effects, unfortunately, some might not.....look at higher coe and car prices, and yet the traffic condition is never seriously addressed! well, that's the whole issue about striking the right balance..the ruling party also has to test water! at the end of the day, we hpe there's always a guiding light for us to see our path and learn from mistakes, no matter how tiny they are.....isn't that how we always teach our kids? (p/s: hope the ultimate outcome of my text will not be wrappped up in one big para chunk...for that, i will faint!)