feralhound55 said:You’ve probably seen the headlines lately about parents complaining because their kids have to sit in classrooms hitting 90 degrees without any AC.
WTF???
I won't even get started on what it was like for me back in the early '90s—walking into crumbling schools with basically nothing. We all know how rough our school conditions used to be.
The real question is: Have we gone overboard with coddling kids? Do they have too much freedom and way too little responsibility? Or am I just starting to sound like my own parents with the whole "back in my day" routine?
More importantly, does this kind of "pampering" have anything to do with the rise in drug use, promiscuity, or even school shootings?
And why is there so little supervision these days? I’m not advocating for physical or psychological abuse, or locking kids in their rooms—I’m just wondering if, as a society, we haven't let things slide a bit too far.
Honestly, that question is rhetorical and pretty stupid. To me, the situation is so catastrophic that when we get old, we won't just be annoyed that kids won't give up their seat on the bus—we'll actually be terrified of them.
There are several reasons for this.
1. Nowadays, parents have zero time. They work all day, and by the time they get home, they're completely burnt out. The easiest way to handle the kids is just to buy them a TV or a PlayStation so they stop bugging you... I read somewhere that in England, parents are buying three-year-olds their own TVs.
2. Women are having their first kids much later now. Someone having a baby at 35 or older isn't really a young mom anymore; they're basically acting like grandmas. And as we all know, grandmas always had way more patience—sometimes infinite patience—so a kid could act out however they wanted. On the flip side, a 21-year-old mom (which used to be the norm) doesn't have the energy for every little tantrum and might actually snap and slap a kid if they push it too far...
3. Just like the world has become more insane, tense, and high-strung, there are more psychopaths out there who should never be allowed to have children or be parents. Of course, kids are just a mirror reflecting those psychopathic parents....
4. Even in preschool, there's this modern version of "socialized upbringing" where teachers aren't allowed to do anything to some shitty kid from a criminal family. A kid can hit people, scream, and cause chaos however they want, while the teacher is only allowed to "redirect their attention." It's the same story in school: kids do whatever they want, and if a teacher finally loses it and does something about it, they risk getting sued by a bunch of psychopathic parents.
5. When I was a kid, I knew I had a Cartoon coming on every single day. Sometimes, if there was a football game on, I knew I might catch another show during halftime. Otherwise, I was outside wandering around, riding my bike, playing with the neighborhood kids... and occasionally (very rarely), I'd spend a few bucks at the arcade. Today, kids have Cartoon and a million other channels, they've got VCRs, obviously they have PCs with endless games, and then some clueless parents go out and buy them a PlayStation on top of that. Kids today spend all day glued to these gadgets. All the games we used to play seem pointless and boring to them; they barely even know how to kick a ball or walk straight......
Because of the idiots who fulfilled their parental duties by buying their son the latest PlayStation, my own son felt frustrated because I refused to buy him something so unnecessary, sick, and idiotic—yet there were his classmates bragging about their PlayStations...
But like I said, there are just too many idiots having kids these days. That's the core issue.