Saturday Serenity

Serenity :o)

THERE is evidence that, from the baby-boomer generation and beyond, we've all stuffed up as parents. We've produced the Bubble Wrap Generation. This is the generation of children who can only climb on ergonomically designed play equipment with ergonomically spaced hand grips over padded surfaces under adult supervision.My generation of parents has produced kidults. These are young adults who can legally drive, drink, marry, divorce, join the army and vote, but can't pick up a towel off the bathroom floor or put their filthy clothes in the laundry. Kidults won't leave home. It's all to do with bonding. They're bonded to mum and dad's fridge, phone, grog supply, TV, DVD and so on. They need their money for cool stuff like $100 sunglasses.
My generation is called Helicopter Parents because they hover non-stop around their children and are still fussing when their kids go to university. Some Australian universities now offer orientation programs for the parents of students. Hmmm come to think of, my parents never fussed at all!
This is laughable. When I was at university, my generation was being sent off to the Vietnam War. And my generation was not going to turn up in Vietnam with mum in tow saying: "Well, sergeant, she makes the bed, cooks dinner and that." Parents from the baby-boomer generation and beyond are the first to over-parent. My parents' generation, who lived through the Depression and a world war, didn't over-parent. Perhaps, when rearing children in the '50s and '60s, my parents' generation actually got some things right. iInever said mine did, i said my parents generation.
When I was a kid, parents didn't listen to children. There is some merit in this approach.
It cuts parents out of that non-stop sibling argument loop, namely "She won't give me the remote; he won't let me watch The Simpsons; she pushed me off the couch" that goes on for 20 years. When my parents had enough, they yelled: "Shut up!" Child psychology was not an issue. If a kid protested, they were told: "Don't answer back." End of argument.
When I was a kid, we were made to sit up straight, stop fidgeting and listen. And we did.
Parents can't lecture kids today. The kids are too busy talking on their mobile phones.
When I was a kid, parents didn't negotiate. Bedtime was bedtime. The wooden spoon was the wooden spoon. Take your choice. That worked, too.
When I was a kid, we didn't give cheek to parents. We were told our mouths would be washed out with soap and water. I saw it happen. But the thing was my parents didn't try to look reasonable. My dad especially looked psycho enough to do it. My mothr was psycho enough and DID do it! My parents thought television gave kids square eyes. They were almost right. Square bottoms, it seems. But we didn't watch that much TV because we were constantly told to go outside and play.
Even if you protested "But I've just been outside", they'd say: "Well, go outside again."
So fights took place three blocks away. Sibling rivalry was sorted without parental help. Lucky parents.
When I was a kid, parents didn't think all their children were Einsteins. Heh, my parents didn't think at all!! School reports were shockingly brutal. Michelle talks too much, Michelle is the class clown. But then, some parents didn't worry so much..........mine did. When I was a kid, parents didn't complain about being parents. They just got on with it. But baby-boomer parents never stop complaining. And our kids seem to think having children is akin to giving birth to blood-sucking aliens. Our kids don't want kids.
It's the same old story. One generation's parents think they can correct the mistakes of their parents and go on to make new mistakes of their own.
And so the pendulum swings.