*jumps up and down waving frantically*
“Oh! Oh! I have a suburb idea! How about instead of raising kids to understand that life is fraught with competition, disappointment, and rejection, let’s teach them that everyone’s always a winner and let’s never keep score!”
…and we wonder how we ended up with a generation of selfish, smart-mouthed, over-indulged, lazy, self-righteous, freeloaders whose “life goal” is to be on a reality television show.
*glares*
Honestly, there are days when I’m entirely uncertain I’ll get through the supermarket without smacking a soccer mom whose kid is pushing me out of the way to climb the shelving for a $5 bottle of ginseng iced tea, while she “explains” to me the importance of his self-expression; and that manners will come later. Later? Later when exactly? Will that be before or after I self-express her rude kid into a freezer and drag her off to the butcher counter to let nature take its course?
It’s a shame that I can’t actually do that. I can’t even raise my voice in their general direction!
[sidebar: technically I can, but I’m falling victim to… continue reading]
Why? Because we’re living in a sanitized society. We've had to clean up our language and our actions for the most ridiculous of ridiculous reasons:
We certainly wouldn’t want little Johnny to think that there are consequences for his behavior. That might upset his delicate sensibilities thus causing him to wonder if there’s a such thing as individuality. Also very important that we erase the lines between gender and cultures while we’re at it! No sense letting anyone *feel* different. That could lead to free thought and ambition, which apparently is not the way we raise children anymore. No... we're safer as a eunuch society. We should all wear white, too (*sarcasm*... in case you're missing it).
I’m not saying that the way I was raised was superior. In fact, my childhood should be a case study in how not to parent. But this is no better! Competition is healthy. Losing as a child teaches you to be graceful about it as an adult. Adulation should be saved for actual accomplishment. What, specifically, are you trying to teach your little brat by congratulating or rewarding for doing what he should be doing as a matter of daily course? You’re teaching nothing. You’re setting them up for a crash course in adult misery. You’re ensuring they are totally ill-equipped to actually DEAL with life’s trials and tribulations. You’re a shitty parent.
Surely someone is starting a study on suicide rates of Gen-Y (aka "Generation Next," but next to what, I can't imagine).
And before y’all get all snotty because I don’t have children of the two-legged variety, mull this over. I’ve potty trained 4 under the age of 5, taught the difference between right and wrong, molded manners, and created appropriate behaviors to mammals with the language comprehension of a 5 year old, yet no ability to communicate back. Seems to me you should be able to get your 14 year old daughter’s tits back in her shirt and teach her to tuck her ass crack away from public viewing. You should be able to convince your son that his smart mouth is going to get him kicked in the teeth – preferably before it actually happens. You do realize it’s not okay for your children to tell you “no” or “I don’t want to,” or my personal favorite, “you do it!” at a simple request, right?
This “self-expression” is not character building. It’s annoying. It’s rude. It’s incredibly impolite, and as my Grandmother used to say, “no manners is worse than no money!”
Self-reliance: the skill that will teach your kid how to extricate himself from the freezer bin I stuff him in.
