When did kids get so stupid that we could no longer allow them to be kids?

Originally posted by BigDaveJr

The parenting in our country seems to get worse and worse. It seems like the parents would rather be buddies with their kids than teach discipline and actually be parents!

There's a lot of truth there, but in my mind there is no clear cut answer about the best way to bring up a kid. I think getting the balance of discipline and buddy stuff perfect is a very very hard thing to do. I loudly applaud anyone here who has managed it.

My sister is too hard on my nephew, he doesn't even like his mother very much, but he's doing well in school. My niece on the other hand is given a free ride, and by contrast doing badly in school.

Parenting is a catch 22, my sister will regret having a son who is emotionally distant from her. And she'll regret having a dropout daughter. No matter how hard you try there's always something to regret it seems like.

reply to post by demongoat

"we have less crime, more rights, happier people, and more healthy people everyday, and we are always working on this."

I'm wondering where you got your figures to support that statement.
That I'm aware of crime has risen substantially in the states, our constitutional rights have been stolen at a rapid pace. Children are not more healthy, as childhood obesity is at a record highs.

As far as happier goes, the entire nation is drugged including the children!

I'm taking a wild stab in the dark here, but that doesn't sound like a happy, healthy, productive nation to me.

Maybe getting back to the basics of good diets with home cooked meals, dinner with the family and playing outside all summer long, forging friendships, getting lots of natural sunlight and exercise might help.

It couldn't hurt.

Hmmmm. The biggest complainers about young boys on this thread are young men in their early twenties. It is unlikely given the state of the economy that they have wives or families, so they do not know the challenges parents are facing when raising children. Yet they are practically demanding that parents put their young sons on bikes and put them on busy roads without protective helmets! It is Classic male primate behavior. In times of hardship primates kill younger males they can not banish. Young men reconnect with your humanity.

[edit on 16-10-2009 by eradown]

I'm with you, OP, in terms of today's youth being totally screwed up however, I believe it mainly deals with the environment Adults put their children in (or most often, forced into).


My uncle was kidnapped and possibly murdered by the Mexican Mafia on his son's 9th birthday. He was going out to get him a new dog and never came home. Both he and my aunt were involved with the drug traffic-ing of coc aine and marijuana for the cartel.


My family has been going through a hard time because of this and it breaks my heart that my cousin has to know that the world is a disgusting place at such a young age.


He's just one case out of thousands of kids who will grow up with social deformities as a result of their volatile environment and poor decisions made by their parents.



note: not asking for pity, this isn't the time or place. I only wanted to offer my view.

[edit on 16-10-2009 by piddles]

reply to post by virraszto


It is a dangerous thing, jumping from a roof into a pool. But kids will be kids, especially boys, and they do many dangerous things...when parents aren't looking. I grew up in the woods with 3 brothers, if our mother had known about some of the things we did she'd have locked us all in a closet until we were grown...LOL

My sons also have stories they tell about doing things I would have beat them silly for..IF I had known.

A parent does the best they can do by their children, beyond that it's prayer and gray hair.

Kids used to run to their friends houses, to the park to play, to all sorts of places. Now, to get to a friend's house 2 blocks away they want a ride. And cell phones...kids seem to be born with the blasted things attached to their ears!!

I'll shut up now as "hothouse kids" is a subject which annoys me greatly.

Originally posted by StinkyFeet
reply to post by Sundancer

 

I believe it is for two reasons.
1. We live in a nanny state where those in power think we need to have our hands held and our asses wiped in order to make it through life.
2. There is a conspiracy afoot to turn boys into girls, and so they can't take risks, they can't fight, they can't play war, and they have to protect their little heads when they ride a bike, so they can look like retards.

At my house we live by Natural Selection. If you can'tride a bike without dying then your genes shouldn't pass to the next generation. At least, we are doing our part for the betterment of the species.

"If you can't ride a bike without dying"....

When I was growing up, a kid up the street from me had a half pipe in his back yard for doing BMX Tricks.

I think back now and I swear my bones were made of rubber. I ate it so hard, SO MANY times.

This was right about the time "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo" came out......


Anyway. Great

I find it hard to bleieve that video games have anything to do with it. There have been video games since before I was born and I still did all the things listed in the OP and still do some. The reason is probably how the parents raise their kids and a little bit of the laws that make fun stuff a crime, in my own opinion.

Originally posted by AccessDenied
enter video games, food additives, and laws preventing you from disciplining your children or it's abuse.
you get the next generation of slack wit parents, and their holy terror offspring.

None of the above. It's the parents. The X-Box does not buy itself and install itself in the living room.

The junk food does not jump into the kids mouth all by itself. The parents are the ones making those decisions. Volient means of discipline are not the only way to prevent buying xboxes or junk food, although they might help with some especially troublesome kids, they are not indispensable.

-rrr

Originally posted by letthereaderunderstand

Originally posted by StinkyFeet
reply to post by Sundancer

 

I believe it is for two reasons.
1. We live in a nanny state where those in power think we need to have our hands held and our asses wiped in order to make it through life.
2. There is a conspiracy afoot to turn boys into girls, and so they can't take risks, they can't fight, they can't play war, and they have to protect their little heads when they ride a bike, so they can look like retards.

At my house we live by Natural Selection. If you can'tride a bike without dying then your genes shouldn't pass to the next generation. At least, we are doing our part for the betterment of the species.

"If you can't ride a bike without dying"....

When I was growing up, a kid up the street from me had a half pipe in his back yard for doing BMX Tricks.

I think back now and I swear my bones were made of rubber. I ate it so hard, SO MANY times.

This was right about the time "Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo" came out......


Anyway. Great

Hahaha, great times. My parents were very overprotective (for the time) I still remember riding on the back of my father's pick up truck though, that was OK, cause "he had a roof over the bed"

I also remember riding on my mom's Volkswagen without a seatbelt, while she smoked.

But she was very vigilant over which friends I hung out with. I grew up with a comodore 64, atari 2600, a go-kart and later on an ATV. I was exposed to a lot of "risks" by the superficial standards, but I was relatively shielded from other, harder to spot risks, like friends who could be a bad influence.

I think I grew up alright, always had good grades and only tried drugs for the first time when I was 26.

I think the biggest problem today is that parents overestimate the role that public institutions should have in their kid's upbringing.

And far underestimate the role that peers have in determining a child's character (their schoolmates and buddies).

Kids develop most of their moral sense and empathy between the time they are born and about 3 to 4 years of age, by simply learning to behave like their parents do. They learn what the appropriate emotional responses should be for various situations (should they feel awkward with people of different color, should they scream in concern when somebody gets hurt, should they be grateful, etc)

After that, they learn from school friends, and they are almost out of our hands. The only strong means of influence at that point is selecting their environment.

-rrr

But whatever else they

reply to post by DrumsRfun


Hang on a second, I'm sick of all you adults blaming video games for bad kids! It's dumb! Listen up, I'm 17, 18 in two weeks, I'm a virgin, and i'm a gamer as well, my first game was Sonic The Hedgehog on the Mega Drive when I was 1years old, though I didn't really play till I was 3. I have no criminal record, I have great grades, I go out I exercise and I'm a gamer as well. Video Games are just like movies, you have violent movies and you ahve violent games, just like how you have disney movies and Nintendo Games. Games have nothing to do with it. If you blame games, blame TV, blame the News, blame Movies and blame books!

The problem is our soceity portrays objects such as war, gangsta's and cr*p like that as cool, which is BS. Bring back Bowie, Sting and what not (I'm a David Bowie fan, I hate new music), in the 60's peace was cool, in the 70s and 80s too, but in the 90s and 2000s war and violence is cool for some reason. Truth is, childhood hasnt gone, humanity as a whole has. I suggest you watch some disney with your kids while they are young, I learnt more about morals from Disney (pre 2000's, other then pixar its crap now) then the bible that was given to me at school, I also suggest you get them some nice games before they are twelve before getting them GTA and the stereotypical violent games the media blames for everything.

MOTHER 3 is a great example, the message about facism and family is incredibly deep for a kids game, and even as an adult I still cry when Claus kills himself because he realises he has been a tool to a dictatorship and Lucas (his brother) holds him and wishes that all infrasturcture and governemnt is destroyed and humanity is allowed to start again without the violence and control. Kinda like what alot of us here stand for, anti fascism and a world without violence and control.

Keeping everyone on the treadmill of survival existence / debt slavery and debilitated and distracted and whatever. It is a genuine war between those who are leading the world downward and those who want to lead the world upward.

My analogy from other threads is that it parallels anaerobic microbes versus aerobic micros. Anaerobic micros are destructive and aerobic are constructive. Anaerobic cause disease and hate oxygen as criminals had truth and light. Just as anaerobic microbes thrive where there is a lack of oxygen such as an injury they can also thrive by infiltrating in large numbers and creating the low oxygen environment. Criminals thrive where their is a lack of free speech and truth being told and create suitable environments for themselves by misdirection and repressing truth and truth telling.

To prevent this degradation people must work to keep truth alive and available to everyone. But, sadly truth for many is simply ignorance they've been fed by the criminals. Proper discrimination is necessary to know whether your facing upwards or downwards.

Good post.

I've often wondered the same thing about the current state of children, safety, intelligence and a few other things...

For example, today in L.A. area in California there is a total ban on fireworks. Even sparklers!

I remember in the late 80s and 90s more and more news stories began to appear about children in the burn wards as a result of playing with fireworks. Growing up in the Los Angeles area in the 1970 & 80s, we (kids) had access to every type of firework imaginable yet none of my friends or myself were ever injured.

Each July in the Culver City area there were certain streets lined with fireworks vendors and our older brothers and sisters went south of the border for the 'hard stuff'; firecrackers, bottle rockets, cherry bombs, M-80s and more.

Out of the 20 or so kids that comprised our motley little group back then (aged 9-15 years old) not one of us were ever severely injured by any of these fireworks. Sure we get a burn here or there resulting in a blister or something. But no one ever, ever had to go to the hospital or anything as a result of lighting off fireworks and we never caused a structure fire either.

This was not a rural area that we lived in but a middle-class, sea-side city in Los Angeles. We were never taught how to use fireworks, we just enjoyed them. We even had bottle rocket fights! (believe me, this group of kids including myself were not known for our mental acuity then or now!) Yet, we're all still here and in one piece.

reply to post by Sundancer


I'm a parent. My kid plays computer games that I say he can. He watches films that are not certified for him if I say it's okay. He is allowed to curse if he feels that it is needed and I tell him if it is not needed.

What he learns at school is of extreme interest to me and the Missus. We help him with his French, German, Latin and English. We help him with his math. We go into school and speak with his teachers if we disagree with something. His teachers really enjoy talking to us about their work.

My boy/young man is 14. He plays drums. He is courteous, caring and thoughtful. He has a sense of right and wrong that blows me away.

Already he is taller than me. (6ft 2). He picks up other peoples dog sh1t (with a plastic bag) and puts it in the bin.

He will take his 1st Dan Judo exam next year. We enjoy running and swimming together. We love Star Wars marathons.

Together with his mother and I, he has traveled to every continent on this earth, except Antarctica. His father has been there and we will go there together before I die.

He speaks Dutch and English. We are giving him extra French lessons by having a French day at home once a week.

He was misdiagnosed with Asperges Syndrome when he was five years old.
It took us EU400,000 and 8 yrs to prove they were wrong. We are not rich. He bore the weight of that problem like only a child can. So did we.

Through him, I have tempered an anger put upon me by myself, my army service and the frustrations of life itself.

He is a pain in the arse. He is going through that beautiful change of puberty and becoming the butterfly he will be.

He is not stupid. Some people say that we do a 'good job' with him. Some people say that he is a rare and original person.

We like to think that our family lives together and loves together.

We love him. Why have a child and do anything less.

Edit: Yeah,if that sounded like bragging, you probably don't want know we are just going off to do some free running.

[edit on 17-10-2009 by Sam Vimes]

I have no problem growing up early, as long as its not too early. I have no problem with violent video games or whatever. I like video games because thy help expand the imagination. Although I do spend some time outside despite me being what people in society would label as being a nerd. I see no need for physical or corporal punishment. When you physically discipline childeren, they dont stop doing what you dont want them to do because they think its wrong, the stop doing it because they fear getting hit again. A lot of adults underestimate childrens brains in understanding why things are, in my opinion.

reply to post by Sam Vimes


So basically you comepletely control what your children can do and not do? Why do they not do the thing you tell them not to do? Is it simply because your the parent, because theyre afraid of being disciplined again, or because they know through their own brains and in their heart that its wrong?

Children have no respect in general these days. They have a sense of entitlement. All of my brothers and sisters and friends have children between the ages of 8 - 16. Most of these parents are experiencing the same things.

Attitude!

Technology allows kids to communicate with each other at the drop of a hat. Texting, email, MSM, cell phones. They collaborate, trust me they do. I have seen it. They play their parents off of each other. No, kids aren't stupid, they just have no fear.

Everyone I know that grew up at the same time or earlier than I, have the same story. They had the fear or god, or in most cases the fear of Mom or Dad. All of them can tell you stories of Dad getting really pissed and....

Today? Kids argue with you, they don't take no for an answer, they want a reason or an explanation for why they aren't allowed to do something or have something. They always tell you their "friends" are allowed.

These days kids have their own websites, their own TV stations, their own super stars. Companies throw huge budgets into marketing to them. All of these things preach individuality. Be your own person, make your own decisions, don't listen to anyone but yourself(implies not even your parents). Kids shows always portray the parents as bumbling idiots and the kids so much smarter.

The pop stars are all skanks or wanna be gangsters, what does this do to children? It teaches them to be skanks and wanna be gangsters.

Youtube is full of crap from every corner of the globe, videos of idiots doing stupid things, and to top these stupid things kids encourage other kids to do even more stupid things. No wonder parents do not trust their kids to make smart decisions.

It should be no secret that the "Leave It To Beaver" and the "Father Knows Best" morality is gone in America because what's generally called Christian vaules which condemn homosexuality and place a very high value on human life are being deliberately destroyed through the power of the ultra wealthy in order to reduce the earth's human population in order to conserve the earth's non replaceable natural resources and allow the ultra wealthy to continue to enjoy their grand life style and power. In the mean time, they control the means for developing alternative sources of energy as well as anything else that is considered most basic to life and survival.
There is plenty of official documentation to these facts from the mouth of the horse itself.

kids got so stupid because their parents were stupid

it seems even though with all our knowledge and technology we are losing our morals and our sense of caring

parents dont care and dont act like they used to

society has been going downhill for a long time now

life just isnt like it used to be

people dont care about knowledge anymore, they only care about instant gratification and entertainment
all that matters is that mileys singing, britneys having sex and gaga is wearing something retarded


i mean really though we are the products of the the poor, the war mongers, the scared living in fear, the hippies, the discos, and the hair metal bands


what more could you really expect the from the product of the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's?

we're pretty much right at where you could expect us to be

a simple combination of all of the above

we are poor war mongers, controllers, we're terrified, we dance weird, have crappy music, horrible long and short hair styles, we love drugs (the majority pretty much supports marijuana use even though its illegal) and instant gratification

we're pretty much an even blend of everything from our previous decades, what more could you ask for

[edit on 17-10-2009 by Dramey]



[edit on 17-10-2009 by Dramey]

First off, I'd like to state that I'm a seventeen year old male. I live in a rural part of Tennessee and my school holds around 600-700 kids. My parents are middle-class Christians and my mom doesn't work. I myself am agnostic.

We don't go outside much because there's ways to communicate and have fun other than running around outside. That's not to say we never go outside, I like to go fishing now and then or ride a fourwheeler in the woods. When you all were kids, the most you had inside was an Atari, or that might not even have been thought up yet.

I also believe discipline has a little something to do with the way some kids act. My friends and I all were whooped when we did something bad, sometimes with a belt or just a spanking. There are still idiots, even ones that were spanked.

I'm not sure what's up with all the teen-pregnancy, all I can say is that there should be more sex-ed classes about the use of condoms and birth-control if the parents aren't willing to talk about it. Even now, my mom occasionally yells at me to use a condom if I have sex. It's quite embarrassing.


If you feel like asking a teenager something, just ask me. I'll try my best to tell you what I think.

-Will