It was Better When...

[mattsmom]

I feel the same way!! I will be turning 40 in May and I feel like the whole dynamic of kid's childhoods has changed so much. I actually feel sorry for them.

The whole face to face communication thing is totally lost...it's all texting and face timing, ect...

And I won't even get into the whole helicopter parenting and the "no winners or losers", no competition...becaus e god knows we don't want some kid to feel like they're not the best! What is going to happen to these poor kids when they get into the real world!

They grow up so fast and I totally agree with the video game thing. I've had dck's that were 6 and 7 and say they were playing Halo and Call of Duty!

I'm just glad that I was raised in the 70's and 80's when life was simpler

[AmandaKDT]

I agree for the most part, though every generation seems to consider their childhood and generation to be better than the last. It used to drive my grandmother crazy when people referred to the 30's - 40's as the "good old days", she would always ask what was so good about it (considering that was the time of the Great Depression and life was hard). People are also nostalgic though.

[Lee-Bee]

Can you imagine how confusing it must be for some of these kids when they hit the 'real world' whether that is kindergarten, grade school ,high school, the workplace etc. No one is perfect at everything and some people just really suck at many things. We do no service lying to them and telling them they are the best. Sure, we need to find heir strengths and build on that but we still do need to recognize and point out that they aren't great at everything.

Just the other day my husband beat my 2 yr old in a race up the stairs. She lost. He pointed it out to her. He was the winner, she came in second because she wasn't as fast.

It was the funniest thing to see...and grown man telling a 2 yr old he was faster and the winner. But, I sat there realizing that most kids miss out on such life lessons! He would have done her no service pretending to be slower and making her the winner. Of course, sometimes she does win because that provides incentive to keep trying but no one can win all the time.

Anyways, I would guess that every generation complains about things being different then when they were young, just the nature of how things change in society. But I do believe the current generation is being screwed in many ways! This is largely due to the fact that the last generation was raised in a manner that makes most of them feel the need to not parent in a manner that involves saying 'no', being the boss and just being firm when needed. At some point when things get really messed up a generation will realize they need to swing things back to raising kids in a firm manner.

My 2 yr old DCG girl showed up at the door with a canister of hot chocolate this morning. An open canister. She was covered head to toe. Yep...that's how they got her out of the door this morning by caving to her demand to bring it with her. She, of course, took the lid off and played with it in the car. I couldn't help but think, you could say no, hot chocolate stays in the kitchen. Yes, she'd cry but your car and child wouldn't be covered in powder! This beats the time she showed up with a purple popsicle at 8am, in the winter. Because that's what got her out the door. It went straight in my sink Because I have no interest in a toddler with a purple popsicle in my house. Eyeroll.