the myth of 'wild-oat-sowing'

The origins of our colloquialisms intrigue me... perhaps the most interesting of our 'figures of speech' is the 'sowing wild oats'...

so I looked it up... and here is what I found:

The saying is referring to a European grass species with the formal name Avena fatua, which has for centuries in English been called wild oats. Farmers have since ancient times hated it because it’s a weed that’s useless as a cereal crop, but its seeds have always been difficult to separate from those of useful cereals and so tended to survive and multiply from year to year. The only way to remove it was to tramp the fields and hand-weed it.

So sowing wild oats was the archetypal useless occupation, indeed worse than useless. It’s not surprising that the phrase sowing wild oats was applied figuratively to young men who frittered away their time in stupid or idle pastimes. But there’s a strong sexual association here, too, because the phrase was often applied, in a more or less indulgent way, and always to young men, to what was politely referred to as youthful dissipation. The associations between male sexual activity and sowing seed are obvious enough.

In 1869, Louisa May Alcott wrote (in the classic work 'Little Women'): “Boys will be boys, young men must sow their wild oats, and women must not expect miracles”.

While I want to believe Ms Alcott was not necessarily referring to the nefarious and sinful activities that come to my mind when I think of wild oats, I am certain that our society has adopted her fatalistic attitude toward our young people and their sinful activity.

Over the past half century, the phrase has become more and more an excuse for youthful indiscretion... a sort of 'explanation' for a broad variety of activities which we adults expect will not be long-lasting nor harmful to the participants (usually our own kids)...

Somehow we rationalize that our 15- to 25-year-0lds somehow need to drink or smoke or have sex or (fill in the blank with whatever 'experience' you wish) to 'grow into' the mature people we hope they will become...

I am convicted that our lax attitude toward this idea is an insideous tool of Satan himself!

Whether we couch it as 'part of the growing up process', or pass it off as a 'rite of passage' or convince ourselves that kids need to 'get it out of their system'... we parents had better wake up to the consequences of our attitude.

Why would any of us allow our children to engage in harmful activity? I am certain that any sinful activity we engage in leaves a mark on our soul. I know God forgives and forgets, but I also know there are real life consequences to actions....

(oh and, by the way, saying 'it's no worse than what I did when I was their age' is not a valid reason for allowing/encouraging these sinful activities... it's lazy and unloving and irresponsible!)

I would just encourage us all to prayerfully consider how we encourage/allow/guide our teens during these spirit-forming years...

Our children's future will be affected by how we treat this myth...


God Bless!