I have become wildly fascinated by the increasing blog and
list style rants about how life now isn’t what it was when we were kids. Life today is different than it was when we
were kids. When I was a kid I didn’t
live in a neighborhood, I played Frisbee with myself and we didn’t live close
enough to a town to get cable. That’s
all. And a book.
All of the freneticism about our kids losing spontaneity,
independence and free thinking – all of the hand wringing about becoming slaves
to the screens… Our world has changed
immeasurably and the truth is that no one knows just what is right
anymore. I read that minecraft is a
brilliant way to teach kids 400 different skills and I shouldn’t stress about
them wanting to play it nonstop. Then I
read that computer games represent the downfall of civilization and the
wreckage of our children’s minds.
Our parents would have loved to have had a few opportunities
to talk publicly about the demise of their children and the ill prepared
losers that we would become if we continued the way that we kids were. I could bet at five of the feature vintage blogs
right now:
Society has become far too
overprotective. We used to just jump in
the car and go anywhere we wanted when we were kids. Now there are seatbelts that we are supposed
use and they are robbing us of our choices and spontaneity.
The phone is killing social
skills. These kids talk for hours on the
phone. They are ruining my new 62 inch
dark brown curly cord and losing social skills.
They can’t talk in person only on the phone!
Clothes look terrible. Jeans will be the demise of our society. When I was a kid we dressed up every day and
worked hard to look our best. My kids
look terrible and will never get a job or contribute to proper society.
There is no discipline. Not that I believe in hitting children for no
reason but honestly, spare the rod spoil the child. These kids won’t learn anything ever and will
think they can get away with anything.
Kids don’t go steady anymore. I mean, these kids are disgusting. Making out at lockers – we never did
that. It’s robbing them of their
innocence and childhood.
Well, you get the idea.
Stop the panic. There is no
roadmap for a world thick with technology and awards for participation. There is little predicting what the careers
of the future will be. Who’s to say that
spontaneity and hours of sweaty Frisbee games is any better than heavily
scheduled chess tournaments and mine craft.
As much as we yearn for the simpler parenting days, they
have never really existed. It has always
been a balancing act – preserving the past and embracing the future. We humans innovate just enough to make it uncomfortable
to parent the next generation – embrace the ambiguity and make your own way.