Do you remember lawn darts? How many of you tragically passed away playing them when you were a kid? Well if you're reading this, you thankfully didn't.
Remember when your favorite baseball player didn't cheat?
Won't it be GREAT to tell your children and grandchildren your memories about "capitalism"?
Remember when working out was called "exercising"?
Remember when cartoons were only on Saturday morning only?
Does ANYBODY just take a drive in the country anymore?
I could once name more than a dozen American professional tennis players. Are there even that many playing today?
I was once a "writer", now I'm a blogger".
Remember when an open field was the greatest thing a kid could ask for?
Were times less complicated when we were kids? Probably not. Were the pressures of life on our parents all that different then they are today? Not at all. It's just that our parents shielded us from all the stress in our lives. Do parents even do that anymore? More often than not I think parents today are NOT adults. They share their problems with their kids adding undue stress for their children.
The problems children should have are things like, "Why did I get picked last for the kickball game?"
NOT, "My parents can't afford the mortgage payment anymore."
One thing that is different is the news. The national news was basically only on once per day in the evening. Our parents had a choice of dinner time or bed time for the local news. It was easier for them to shield up from the injustices of the world. Now the scary people of the world are brought into our living rooms 24 hours per day, 7 day per week.
We were poor growing up, BUT I NEVER KNEW THAT! I had no idea if my folks lost a job, got demoted, or had some other crisis in their lives. All I knew was that if there was something wrong... it was all going to be ok.
Was life really more simple when we were kids?
YES IT WAS.
But that was because of a generation of good parents. Tough people. Mature ADULTS. They took the sting out of life for us. Kept "adult" issues out of our lives. They showed us how to work hard. Save money. Make gifts rare and special.
They let us be kids.
School was about learning. NOT about how to act. You already learned that at home. School was about facts, history was about what really happened. Not some more politically acceptable version of the truth.
I feel so bad for our kids today who are "on stage" seven days a week. Every night they have some activity... some kind of lessons to take... somewhere to be. We make our kids "keep up with the Jones'".
Remember "family night"? Remember just staying in and playing a board game or watching a movie?
We can still give our kids the life of a child. We can still protect them from the perils of modern society. We can still teach them that what they do when no one is looking is just as important as when they are.
It's in our power, every adult, to make this generation of children the greatest generation. There's still time to make the time to spend with them and show them what life is really all about. Start today.
... and that's the view from here.
Larry Wilson
Nicely said.
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