I sure am glad I grew up in the sixties. Being a kid today just wouldn’t be any fun. Today’s constantly hovering helicopter parents would die if they were transported back a few decades. Why? Let’s start with one of my favorite summer pastimes . . . catching bugs! Today’s parents would be chasing me around with hand disinfectant, scrubbing my hands after every captured bug! Not to mention the lecture I’d get about how I may be traumatizing the bug. Kind of takes the fun out of it. I’m sure the way I used to catch bugs would be strictly prohibited today.
In addition to bug catching, we were allowed to climb high trees, risking possible injury. Nowadays that could only happen if the parents had the fire department waiting below with safety nets! Other potentially fatal activities were officially sanctioned as well, like riding our bikes without a helmet going against traffic, or rummaging through everyone’s garbage for deposit bottles or other hidden treasures that we could bring home! Deposit bottles were worth 5 cents and just one would buy a tasty candy bar. Imagine the possibilities! I’m afraid today rummaging through garbage would be considered trespassing as the garbage owner would be worried about lawsuits from ridiculous parents, not to mention the possible exposure to toxic waste! Today’s parents would worry about the kids discovering waste from a nuclear reactor or some other imagined bio hazards in your neighbors can. Surely the kids would need a full hazmat suit.
And, horror of horrors, we were allowed to play randomly and unsupervised in the neighborhood with any other kid who was available. Imagine that. No supervised play date with pre-determined friends whom we didn’t choose and may not even like. No over protective parents hovering feet away looking on nervously, terrified we might fall and skin a knee whence specialists would be called in: one plastic surgeon ensuring we heal leaving no scar, and an emotional counselor to help us thru the trauma of falling.
Organized sports were different back then, too. Teams and individuals could lose. Not everybody was a winner, and you did not receive a participation trophy for trying. It turns out that my self esteem is just fine and I learned that I could not always win and be the best at every endeavor that I attempted. It gave me perspective about my place in the world, and taught me that I should work hard because I am not going to get that good job just because I ‘participated’ in the application process.
DANGER! Read this at your own risk and try not to faint. My parents spanked me and worse, so did the neighbors if they decided I was bad. And my parents never sued; instead they thanked them and invited them to dinner. Because of this barbaric, horrific practice, I never randomly vandalized anything, joined a gang and or did things that would get me punished. What a concept. I also never considered myself abused in anyway. Back then we had common sense, something sorely missing today.
Dr Spock was an unknown, no-nothing jerk who had no kids of his own and was not qualified to raise goldfish, much less comment on child raising. Why would anyone listen to him? That would be the same as me telling farmers how to farm even though I never farmed myself. However, I read something about farming in books at college, so now I am an expert and know better than the farmer?
At Halloween we were allowed to roam completely unsupervised in our costumes, collecting booty from door to door. Parents did not follow feet behind and guess what . . . Nobody ever received razors in their apples or poisoned candy. Furthermore we kids were not abducted by perverts and sold into childhood slavery. And if they had really good candy, who knows, I may have volunteered for some indentured servitude as long as they had an ample supply of goodies.
We kids ran around like maniacs and hardly paid any attention in school. We did a lot of daydreaming, as well. That’s what kids do! We didn’t need A D.D. medicine. A slap to the head was all that was required, and it was cheaper and easier to dispense than medicine.
So to all you modern helicopter parents I say, you do not know better than the generations before you. Thousands of years of parenting research and discussion went into childrearing before you ever came along, and we had already figured it out. I know a guy on Oprah told you that he is smarter than everyone who came before him, and that he is enlightened because he read about children in college! Don’t believe all that garbage on television spewed by phony experts. Instead, open your mind. Let go! You know what is really best for your kids. Quit over-thinking and let them be kids. You’ll have plenty of things to fret about without micro-managing every minute of their day, and that will make everybody happier.
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