Soft kids generation

[Jayflight]

Listening and watching my own structured kids raising my grandkids I wonder how we senior citizens made it to our ripe old age. We used metal slides on the playground, no rubberized ground cover, played in ditches being dug for water and sewer lines that had no barriers along them and made it and stayed out till dark a long ways out of sight of our parents. And for many years survived without even a tv and ac. I guess we are part of the deprived and tortured generation too from sassafras switches and even a wooden paddle that was well worn . But we made it, some of use for seven decades without seeking therapy. And don't get me started on this real face time phone crap. Its surely face time for sure, with the grandkids having their faces in their phones constantly. Frankly we have come to the conclusion that we don't even like to be around the grandkids for fear that we may say something that will offend them and scar their emotions for life.

 

[Larry N.]

I've wondered about that too, Jay. Drinking from a garden hose, any phone use MUST be short, no bicycle helmets, much more...

from sassafras switches and even a wooden paddle

Teacher had a paddle,, but mostly dad's belt.

 

[NY_Dutch]

I suspect enough of us didn't make it or didn't make it in one piece to cause the various safety rules we see today to be enacted.

 

[Babe2201]

I like a lot of the rules and laws that have put in place. Bike helmets and seat belt laws are 2 biggies. That being said I do believe that a lot of kids today are soft. I don't think they are made to go out and get fresh air and exercise the way we were made to. I also think that a lot of parents get lazy so instead of making meals from scratch they buy processed stuff that makes them less healthy.

I am also afraid that the fear mongering that so many of our leaders have rendered during this pandemic are also making them scared and dependent on the government.

 

[Utclmjmpr]

I go back farther than that when you didn't dare skid your bike tires do to no rubber to replace them, ( If you even had a bike) NO ONE HAD MONEY during the post war days and we didn't have a car!!
We burned wood and COAL for heat and used ice from the ice man for refrigeration..WALKED TO SCHOOL oh the horrors of it in winter( like it or not.) Swam in ditch's full of leaches and other crawly things,, sat in city pools with other kids in their DAIPERS.. Had all our vaccinations by the time you were 6,, ( also had most of the childhood diseases by the age of 10..
Almost no families had a father in the home until after 1945 or 46,, then they started "coming home",, and it wasn't because they were on vacation.. and many families were broken up do to the hardships of the times.. ( as mine was,) You did not use a credit card for gas if you needed it, you used a ration card with a limit on the amount.. We played on the railroad tracks in front of the house,(50 Feet) by using a stone to polish the top of the rails,, OOHH the memories of the party line phone and folks "listening in" to your conversations,, calling the operator for a certain person,( not a number),,
putting card board in your shoes to cover the holes in the soles,, then placing "glue on" soles to the bottoms until they wore out then do it again!!........THE GOOD OLD DAY'S!! >>>Dan

 

[NMDriver]

ahh the good old days when a man could beat his wife, kids and dogs with impunity.

 

[thelazyl]

Mom's right arm served as a seat belt, and you could smoke in a bar.....

 

[JayArr]

I learned how to lose... a game, an argument or a fight.

I learned that I wasn't always going to win and that I wasn't always going to be the best.

I also learned that you don't always get a second chance.

I'm not sure that's being taught anymore.

 

[Jayflight]

I go back farther than that when you didn't dare skid your bike tires do to no rubber to replace them, ( If you even had a bike) NO ONE HAD MONEY during the post war days and we didn't have a car!!
We burned wood and COAL for heat and used ice from the ice man for refrigeration..WALKED TO SCHOOL oh the horrors of it in winter( like it or not.) Swam in ditch's full of leaches and other crawly things,, sat in city pools with other kids in their DAIPERS.. Had all our vaccinations by the time you were 6,, ( also had most of the childhood diseases by the age of 10..
Almost no families had a father in the home until after 1945 or 46,, then they started "coming home",, and it wasn't because they were on vacation.. and many families were broken up do to the hardships of the times.. ( as mine was,) You did not use a credit card for gas if you needed it, you used a ration card with a limit on the amount.. We played on the railroad tracks in front of the house,(50 Feet) by using a stone to polish the top of the rails,, OOHH the memories of the party line phone and folks "listening in" to your conversations,, calling the operator for a certain person,( not a number),,
putting card board in your shoes to cover the holes in the soles,, then placing "glue on" soles to the bottoms until they wore out then do it again!!........THE GOOD OLD DAY'S!! >>>Dan

Oh yes, we would put pennies on the tracks so they would be flattened. And yes we would slowly let up on the rotary phone button so the phone would not click when listening in on party lines.

 

[Babe2201]

ahh the good old days when a man could beat his wife, kids and dogs with impunity.

I think there is a difference between abuse and discipline. I can't remember when beating your wife , your kids, or your pets was ever OK.

 

[Bugford]

My elementary school playground was built on asphalt. No helmets to ride bikes, etc. Of course, the occasional serious injury changes things over time. But it does make one wonder where that stops.

 

[SeilerBird]

Well that explains the juvenile antics of some of these people around here, including me.

 

[Utclmjmpr]

What really grinds me when in public and hearing a kid berate his parents wanting the latest app for his $1200.00 phone!!..>>>Dan

 

[Krazeehorse33]

Hope you all enjoy this video.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

It's a popular notion that the world is a more dangerous place today and parents need to do more to protect their kids from predators, unsafe equipment or environment, etc. Resulting in a lot of helicopter parents and even regulations about what you can allow your child to do (like play alone in the park). But all the health & crime statistics show that is wrong. The world is actually a much safer place than decades ago, and not just because of new regulations. As a nation we are now more aware of things that can happen, and surely more fearful (hysterical?) about them. Guess the risk threshold is lower these days.
These days a kid with a broken bone or scrape is viewed as a horrible thing that should have been prevented, and the legal profession encourages lawsuits over trivial "flaws" so they can make their fortune at others expense. And the politicians are afraid to deny any safety improvement because opponents will paint them as uncaring about child welfare. The lack of a soft landing pad in a playground is often put in the same category as a loaded gun lying around - a death waiting to happen! So they just avoid building playgrounds because they are too expensive and too much liability risk.

We raised our goods and taught them our values, so some of us must be the blame for the way they turned out and how they are teaching their children about life.

 

[Domo]

We had troubles, hurts, issues but did NOT have social media at our fingertips to amplify our distress so that we would feel sooooo muuuuuch beeeetterr than all the others.... with today's seeming focus on being a victim to grab the most empathy and validation.

Our playgrounds, where little rumors (Billy is fat) and nasty comments (Janey has a zit) used to blossom, has become a reverberating world of echoes about dissent and pain.

Where's that solar flare I just read about that's supposed to shut down the Internet for a few weeks... alas, not for a few more years if I recall correctly.

 

[Roy M]

And our parents said the same thing about us having grown up during the Great Depression. I worry about my grandkids, they are afraid of trying anything new on their own because mom micro manages their lives. If I say anything I am meddling and told to butt out. What is going to happen when they leave the nest and have to manage on their own with limited decision making skills?

 

[Lou Schneider]

When I was 12 or 13, my mom would let me ride my bike anywhere, all day long if I wanted as long as I was home by dinner. There were no bike lanes, so most of roads were busy two lanes without shoulders. She would give me some lunch/snack money and a dime for a payphone if I got in trouble and had to call home. I was expected to bring the dime back home with me if I didn't call.

 

[UTTransplant]

Credited to Socrates, though it was probably Plato himself:

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”​

Sadly I knew a few of the kids who didn’t grow up. A car wreck before seatbelts and a fall from height killed two children in my suburban neighborhood. Sexual abuse was hidden but going on, and the neighbor two doors down was arrested for beating his wife to pulp. That only happened because she was hospitalized for days. The previous beatings where she only went to the family doctor or just stayed at home wearing lots of make up didn’t even rate a caution from the police. Not all things were better “back when”.

​

 

[uchu]

I think every generation has its shares of stories to tell to the next one. Having teenaged boys myself, I'm very aware of the pressure that social media exert on them and how devastating it can be.

Imagine back when you're young and been at school, at a party, at the pool, with your friends, and know that anything that you say and do can be recorded and posted for the whole world (literally) to see, sometimes completely out of context, and those images may haunt you for the rest of your life...Now, that's something that scares me more than riding in a car without seatbelts, for sure...