We Were Kids...
If you want to read a really good post, slide on over to the blog I'M WAITING FOR GOD and read todays's entry. (the link is at left - I'll wait...)
You'll find it most enlightening.
I'm sure some of you may have gotten an email similar to that from a friend, but I want you "boomers" out there to stop and think about the content of that post.
You probably recall ALL of the things mentioned, and perhaps even more.
I had a post (here) sometime last year which showed the differences between kids TODAY and kids back in "our day", and yes, even kids going as far back as the OUR GANG era.
Kids are really nothing new or improved...been around since the original "model" came out.
But there was one, underlying aspect to OUR childhood that seems to be missing from a lot of children's lives today...
Being a kid!
I mean take a look at some of these reality shows that portray (very) young girls as something akin to runway models, prancing around with makeup (horrors) and sequined "dresses" because mommy likes to live vicariously, even at her age.
Now, I'm sure the pedophiles of our nation just go all Pavlovian over that...and that's just wrong.
We're seeing young boys in MIDDLE SCHOOL selling drugs, and "playing" with REAL weapons, for God's sake.
That's not really what's meant by emulating a role model, is it?
What I want to know is what the hell happened to this nation's innocence when it came to children?
Where is the real "fun" we used to have AS KIDS?
I know...we're going to hear about how "old-fashioned" we boomers are, and how stodgy in our ways we've become, but still, what happened to our society that has produced today's crop of disrespectful, disconnected, and disenfranchised youth of today?
My take on it would be that in many ways, the "art" of parenting has become somewhat lost in the shuffle.
I could see it when we started having "children raising children".
You could make book that THAT wasn't going to fly, right Orville?
Raising kids when you've not fully explored YOUR youth is just asking for trouble.
When you stop and think about ALL the crap we got into when "we" were children, it's small wonder ANY of us made it into our teens, isn't it? We were SO "at risk", it wasn't funny...and yet, here we are.
Another aspect to this is that each subsequent generation has, at it's disposal so much more than what the previous generation had growing up.
Today, kids are "wired" into damn near anything and everything.
Back in our day, we "wired" together our bikes when the fenders came loose...!
Today, kids are all about being ELECTRONIC in almost every facet of their young lives.
Back in our day, the only thing electronic was the TV, radio, a few of dad's tools, all of mom's appliances, and the sockets in the wall (which we were instructed to never place dad's screwdriver into....and with good reason..ZAAPPP).
Today, kids are taken to realms we could only dream of, via the Internet or video games.
Back in our day, we took ourselves to those realms BECAUSE we could dream.
Today, kids are exposed to illegal drugs either at home or on our streets.
Back in our day, we had very few "drugs" to speak of, namely PRUNE JUICE, St. Joseph's aspirin for children, and some nasty-tasting cough syrup...that was IT! And we pretty much detested all of them.
We played with cap guns galore, "shot" each other frequently, and yelled "you're dead", but were always back on our feet when mom called us in for dinner.
These days, kids are shooting each other FOR REAL, and no one's getting up for dinner.
Somehow, way back when, we were taught the difference between REALITY and FANTASY.
Can't say that the lines are that clearly drawn today, though...otherwise we wouldn't be seeing young kids becoming criminals at such a early age, would we?
We went to school, and claimed we "hated going", but once there, we found new friends and all but forgot about our "hatred",as we learned the 3 Rs. We had teachers not all that different from those today, showing us that which we needed to know to become better people.
Graduation rates were much higher then, as were test scores.
Gee, must have been that FLUORINE they put in our water...or was it the gasoline fumes with lead additives we had spewing from all the cars on the streets, or perhaps it was the LACK of food additives that made us that way.
I still think it had something to do with all those oral polio vaccines they had, that caused us to perform as well as we did.
In many cases, our parents did without, so that we didn't have to. Some of our moms made our clothes, rather than spend money to buy them, or at least knew full well how to MEND them.
Not all of us had automobiles in our families, and we were OK with that. We had buses and trolleys to get us around town.
Not all of us even have "private" telephone lines, and we did fine with that.
Besides, the "party line" was as good as a newspaper or television when it came to "local news"...LOL.
Not all of us had a COLOR TV, and a few us didn't even have a CONSOLE TV to speak of. Some might have had a 19 inch portable B&W set on a nice table in our living room, until we could trade up later.
One could state (by today's standards), that in many ways, OUR childhood was barbaric, primitive, and a "cultural wasteland".
I beg to differ...
It was a wondrous time to grow up, and I use the phrase GROW UP with a level of importance.
We were ALLOWED to be children. We weren't rushed into adulthood, nor forced into adolescence because our parents were still "sewing THEIR oats" alongside us.
Our parents were (once) kids also(trust me on this one), and as they grew up, the importance of being able to enjoy OUR young lives became manifest in THEIR lives, which they so richly passed on to us.
DID we have limits and boundaries as kids?
You bet your ass we did!
And we were "shown" the consequences of not following our parent's "guidelines".
There was none of this "understanding" BS or "time out" crap...
Punishment was meted out sternly...AND quickly. Then, we all moved on with our lives.
They said it...and that settled it. Period.
Dad used to say that while under "his" roof, it was NOT a DEMOCRACY.
Yet Dad was never a dictator as we would define it.
He was a VERY fair man, but did not take to being slighted or ignored.
What he SAID...he MEANT, and you'd find that out if you disobeyed him...ditto for Mom. And neither liked to repeat themselves.
It was "always for my own good", they'd say, and at that time, I thought they were wrong.
Today, I look at that and say "By God...they were right".
They knew what being accountable meant, and what it was to be responsible for your own words and actions.
Perhaps that's but one of the pieces that is missing from many of the children of today. We have a generation of childish adults out there (and yes, there IS a difference between being child-LIKE and being child-ISH).
But maybe...just maybe, some of us can gather up these scattered pieces of these kids' lives, and help them sort it all out, and get them "put back together" in a manner that is in step with what it means to BE a child again.
Let them be kids...the world will still be there when they get older and find out what reality has in store for them.
A return to a simpler time isn't really possible these days...but taking a little time to "revisit" them couldn't hurt any of us one bit...
Stay safe out there, America.