Man have times changed

[C.Edmondson]

Today I relized I guess just how much times have change since I was a kid, it all started with my nephews. One is 3, the other is 2. Sellers the oldest decided today he was gonna teach me spanish. To say I was amazed was a understatement. He just came up and started talking to me in spanish and after awhile I asked where he learned it from and he told me Dora and Deigo, cartoon characters. His Mother "my sister" came by and we got to talking about it and I asked," What the hell happened to the Roadrunner, Willy the coyote, Tom and Jerry" and she told me people thought it was to violent for kids nowadays, so instead of that cartoons now include learning type things,etc... As we got to talking I remembered to back when I was a kid, and the more we talked the more I noticed just how much times have changed. When I was their age I couldnt even come in the house until it was time for dinner, man have times change

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Some of the new changes are for the good, but ,sadly, most seem to be detrimental to our youth. The sad thing is that they don't have any frame of reference to see how much they are missing.
I believe that the type of movies, games, and TV constantly poured on out youth is the main cause of the problems with violence, crime, disrespect, drugs, suicide, etc.

If they have to play video games - bring back Frogger, Pac-man,and pong .
If they are bored - go outside and play. Asthma was almost unheard of when windows were opened, and kids played outside till dark.

Stacy

 

[indian george]

When I was their age I couldnt even come in the house until it was time for dinner, man have times change

Damn!!! You were lucky. I had to eat supper outside on the porch and fight the dog for it. I had to walk to school too. It was uphill both ways. HEHEHEHEHE!!!

 

[mete]

I wonder how many engineers were encouraged by Wily Coyote ?? How is it that those of us raised on the old characters were never the violent types we see in teenagers today ?
Today's movies, TV shows, and video games have large amounts of violence that we never had as kids. If you couple that with no parental input you are asking for problems.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I agree, things have been severely altered .
When I was young I made explosives, had several guns, and did things that I hoped my Mom and Dad never learned about. But, I never even thought about killing someone else, or killing myself. Some of the things we did then were fun, but would have Homeland Security knocking at the door today. About the worst thing that ever happened back then was a girl getting pregnant, which was unusual, and not the norm in asit is in junior high school today. We worried about the "clap" but today's kids laugh at AIDS. We palyred war in the woods ( many of us could remember the "reaL WAR ), and fell down dead when "shot" by our buiddy. Today they shoot each other in drive by shootings and no one saw anything. It is a sad world that the youth live in....and we have to watch with no way to do much.
Stacy

 

[WadeH]

Talk about homeland security, man back then I would have been put under the jail. I remember we stole some potasium from the science lab and made bombs out of it and 3/4 inch pipe to blow up fish. Man you could throw one of them in the pond and all of the good fish would come to the top. It is lucky we did not kill our selves but we never thought about killing anybody else. The bigest problem now a days is that there is no parents, just adults who want to be friends with their kids and there are no heros for the kids to look up to, just drug dealers.

 

[Nathan the Machinist]

I'm fairly young compared to most of you, having been a kid during the 80's, but I feel I still had the wholesome childhood you're talking about. I'd come home when I could hear mom calling. Or if we were out playing hide-n-seek, they'd flash the porch lights. I'd go play in the woods all summer, cutting trails or building a club house or fort. A kid walking around with a bb gun or bow and arrow wasn't a cause for alarm. A little boy walking a couple miles, through the woods and down a highway, to go to the swimming pool in town wasn't a big deal. You never see that sort of thing today.

I wonder if a tolerance (or even expectation) of a nanny state is being bred into the next generation.

I did end up spending a night in the hospital after a homemade firecracker blew up in my face, but I think a little bit of "out of control" danger is offset too much by a lack of freedom.

 

[strahd71]

Nathan,

i think were about the same age, i will be 38 this month. you are right! the things that were ok back then, you just cant do now. i used to walk all over town when i was a kid, and make bombs, hide and go seek, play war play ninja and all the other stuff.

i have 4 small children the oldest being 9 and I'll be honest I'm pretty paranoid when he is out of my sight. and it isn't because of what he is doing as much as trying to protect him from the world. it makes you wonder if the world is really worse now? or are we just more aware of crimes perpetrated on people and especially children because of the age of instant news and information?

i agree there is defiantly a lack of solid parenting today. alot of people think I'm a little hard on my kids, but as mentioned above I'm not their friend... I'm their dad! my job is to raise them right, teach them morals, and protect them. i cant understand a society allows children to be prescribed birth control and have abortions with out a parents consent... if they are under 18 it is our business! and these are just examples. parents need to be aksing where their kids are going, who's going to be there etc. and check on them! a cell phone is a tool for parenting possibly but you still got to get off your but and do the job!

on the spanish thing. I'm sure some one will call me racist but oh well......... this is America. want to speak spanish go back to mexico. its a shame that the powers that be are ok with selling out our national heritage. have all those who have sacrificed for this country, do it so that we could loose our national identity?

stepping off my soap box now.

Jake

 

[Robert Dark]

I grew up with John Wayne, Lash Laroo, Sky King, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Wild Bill Hickock, and I could go on and on. All these exhibited a bit of violence, but the good guy always wore a white hat (except for maybe Hop-along-Cassidy..... I think he wore a black hat).

When I wasn't in school, I was in the woods playing Cowboy and Indians or "War". At supper time, I came in, cleaned up, and sat down at the table with my family for "supper" (after blessing the food).

My mama raised 3 boys. She didn't rely on the baby-sitter to raise us. She didn't rely on the schools to raise us. She didn't rely on the TV to raise us, and there were no video games. If you got out of line, you got the "switch".

Times have indeed changed. We now live in a "feel-good" and "politically correct" world where there seem to be no consequences for bad behavior (we can't hurt anyone's feelings you know).

I have often thought of writing a book about how I was raised, however, I doubt anyone in today's society would even read it (if they can even read).

Rant Off........... Robert

 

[Dan Seaver]

on the spanish thing. I'm sure some one will call me racist but oh well......... this is America. want to speak spanish go back to mexico. its a shame that the powers that be are ok with selling out our national heritage. have all those who have sacrificed for this country, do it so that we could loose our national identity?

stepping off my soap box now.

Jake

What identity? Our country is based on the mix of people and our language is a mix of languages. Those who served sacrificed for our FREE country, for a land where anybody could come and be equal; so what happened to equality?; Does being foreign or speaking a language other than Americanized English make you inferior? Seeing how the 4 Mexicans I work with are a HELL of a lot nicer than the majority of Americans... I would say no!

I'm 18 and grew up just fine. My pops died 5 years ago and my mother is rarely around because of work. I enjoy playing violent video games and watch movies but I know the difference between right and wrong. I know that the only difference between drugs and alcohol is that alcohol kills more people than all illegal drugs combined each year.

Perhaps its time to stop blaming the parents and the media and blame those who make the bad choices?

Oh well I'm off to OD on heroin, drink till my liver rots, and kill some hookers cause the media says its cool. :jerkit:
-Dan

 

[moonwilson]

While I agree that things have changed a lot since I was a kid- things have been changing a lot for a long time now. It's been several generations since things stayed the same for very long. And society continues to function- things are still, for the most part, still ok. It's ok that kids are raised a bit differently now than they were when we were kids. Because the world they grow into adulthood in will be quite different from the world we are in now- that's pretty much guaranteed. Mourning the passing of the "good ol' days" accomplishes nothing.

You cannot stop change, you can only decide how you will respond to it. For my part, I intend to spend every spare moment with my son, teaching him about the things I think are important. I don't intend to let him be raised by the television or the X-box. Of course I'll let him watch TV and video games, but I will supervise him- take an interest in what he's interested in, and make sure that I know it if he starts to develop behaviour patterns that are going to get him in trouble. If you deny your children participation in their culture, they will become alienated, and won't be able to interact with their peers. I am highly confident that my son will grow up well-adjusted and capable of navigating the complexities of the world when he's old enough to head out on his own.

 

[JTknives]

Nathan,
on the spanish thing. I'm sure some one will call me racist but oh well......... this is America. want to speak spanish go back to mexico. its a shame that the powers that be are ok with selling out our national heritage. have all those who have sacrificed for this country, do it so that we could loose our national identity?

stepping off my soap box now.

Jake

O kinda hit a touchy spot with me on that supject. I live in utah and i must say some times i feel like i live in Mexico. I don't hate Mexicans or even Spanish at all. i know some very nice Mexicans that i am good friends with. but i have noticed that thy have embraced the US culture and tried to learn out language. and that is what bugs me, it seams like to me if you want to move to a country then learn there language, don't expect them to change just because you don't want to. There are many people that i know that got passed over for a job because thy don't speak Spanish and its not even a Spanish exclusive job lake at the. And if thy want to live here that's fine by me as long as thy do it the right way and are legal. if not and there living here under the radar then round them all up and truck them back to there home country and leave ours alone. sorry guys its just a touchy topic with me.

 

[fitzo]

I think I miss most the fun of getting to visit a friend at the hospital when he was in an iron lung with polio. That was a real adventure for so many when I was a kid.
I'm sure a lot of grandparents are wistful over not getting to worry whether their grandkids are going to make it when they came down with rheumatic fever because the few antibiotics of the day couldn't get a handle on that strep that was "just a simple sore throat a few days ago".
But don't worry, massively drug resistant tuberculosis is making a surge, so we'll get a taste of the good old days again soon. Some may even get the joy of MRSA.

We tend to remember the good things, and ignore the stuff that was a little less pleasant.

I miss those old signs, too, "No Coloreds". And sneaking up on that bunch of guys in their sheets burning the cross out in the middle of the swamp..... wondering what's up with that? And wondering why Pa's friends from work couldn't come visit us in our town, even though we could go to their house. He just told me, "You'll understand someday, son."

OH, WAIT! Racism's still alive and thriving. There's always someone different enough to bring out the hate in the narrowminded and insular amongst us. Heck, it was only a few generations ago the signs said, "No Ni**ers AND No Irish" right in NYC. And think, they both spoke English, even.
Nowdays it's even easier, since the hated don't speak the "accepted" language. Perish the thought they get a generation to acclimate the way many of our grandparents did, and their children become as American as everyone else, thus adding their own bit of flavor to the soup which is the real American culture.
Oh, wait, they were hated, too, for the same reasons; wrong language and cultural traditions.
So, at least that's a taste of the good old days that still persists.

Many years ago I worked for a man who was the most Christian man I have ever known. He said that one of the most important lessons in the Bible was one of the most overlooked: tolerance. I guess he was correct.

Where I come from:
My maternal grandparents both came to the US at the turn of the 20th century. Slovenians, neither spoke English when they arrived. The paternal side has roots that are Scots/Irish/English, and have been in this country since the 1600's, and fought in the Revolution. The wee bit that's the Cherokee in me, I don't know how long they've been here. Quite awhile. Their bad they tolerated the English speakers, I guess.
I live in a city of 100k. It is about 60+% Hispanic nowadays. Before I grew up a little bit as an adult a few years back, I resented them. Then I remembered this is a city of immigrants, and has been for many generations. People came looking for a better life, willing to struggle with the difficulties and the hatred so their kids would be better off. Sort of the same thing every parent hopes for. Makes us all alike in a very important respect; perhaps THE most important. That's why we put the welcome sign on the big statue in the harbor.
The Great Wheel continues to turn, and the name of that wheel is CHANGE. Realize that.
There's only one way to make it stay the same forever after, and I doubt you'll like that option.