I came across some interesting articles about the state of being well, just being a person, or being a child today. Are we playing it too safe? Are we turning our children into wimps and crybabies?

When we were kids and we rode in the car, there were NO seatbelts and we lived, (well most of us did). We played outside all day and into the early night. We played in the street!!! We got hurt, we fell down, we got into fistfights. We solved most of our peer problems ourselves.

We got hit at school and at home when we disobeyed. My brother was paddled in front of the class for talking out loud when it was not his turn to speak. This was in HIGH SCHOOL!!

It was humiliating, but you know what, we learned how to cope. We learned life was not fair and did not always go our way. We learned to deal with it. We learned to speak and demand respect and get things done in a positive way, not pick up a gun like they do today because little Lord Faulteroy’s feelings got hurt and it “wasn’t fair.”

We wouldn’t DARE say we were not going to go to school. And God forbid, if you did not do your homework or spoke in class, you got hit or yelled at.

I mean, we did stuff that was wrong, we weren’t perfect. But we knew that there was a line that we would not dare cross with our parents. I remember a few weeks ago, speaking with a woman at the Cheshire Relay for Life about 5:30 in the morning and we were talking about kids and the way things are today. We used to defy our parents, and cuss at them (under our breath) and think they were stupid. Well you know what? They WEREN’T. That is what that woman at the Relay told me- She said “Our Parents WERE RIGHT!! And they were. What a mess everything is today. And you know why–NO DISCIPLINE PERIOD. You don’t feel like a parent, you feel like a monitor.

When a girl in my third grade class kept running around the class, the teacher TIED HER TO HER CHAIR. Guess what, she never ran around the class anymore. And today she is a pediatric surgeon.

Now its “he/she has a hyperactivity problem and needs a drug” I am NOT saying some children do not need medication to correct behavior, NO not at all. But let’s face it, some of these kids need some discipline and need to bear consequences to their actions. They need to feel bad. That is how children learn how to cope.

My husband would drive my kids to school. I WON’T. They need to go on the bus PERIOD. “Oh, I feel embarassed going on the bus because I am a senior and everyone else is younger than me,” TOO BAD!! DEAL WITH IT. I had to. I did not have a car until I was 28 years old for God’s sake!!

And then we have adult crybabies too. We just heard one on TV the other night!! Oh Grow Up. You don’t get five weeks vacation–I don’t get any!! Most people these days would give their right arm just to have a JOB never mind the vacation time. Yes, you should get more vacation time, how about 52 weeks!! Sound Good?

Back to the good old days: the parent was the authority and parental authority was respected. I am not saying there were problems with abusive parents and people that took advantage, there were, but it was dealt with. Everyone seemed to be on the same page which helped matters.

Today, it is a totally different story. Take a read of these articles and see what you think.

Article One

Article Two