Wednesday, April 28, 2021

RANDOM STUFF

I don't like competition. Never have. It's everywhere of course and we must compete for every damn thing in life which I find horribly exhausting.  Even on TV that is all we see. Competition, competition, competition. You're better, you're lousy, you did it, you didn't. Eight out of 10, 2 out of 6. Scores, rates, evaluations. Dancing with the Stars, The Biggest Loser, American Idol, X Factor, even competition shows to find your future spouse (LONG, LOUD SCREAM).

I find all of this competition on TV so ironic considering how the last generation of kids were raised ... indulged, loved, encouraged, patted, petted, always got a hi 5 and a "good job!" for eating their fucken cereal. Oy.  Let's go back to my childhood when kids were kids and adults were adults and no one gave a crap how a 10 year old felt. IT BUILT CHARACTER PEOPLE!

1966. Me, Arnie, Georgie and Eddie sitting on the curb outside staring at the Sun to see who could do it the longest. After burning our retinas out we decided to have a screaming contest. After three minutes of screaming Tia Chata comes outside in her house dress with a cigarette screams louder than the four of us together ....

"SHADDUP!!!!!!!"

NOTE: She didn't think someone had been hurt, run over by a car, or lost an eye. All she knew was that we were bugging the shit outta her and she had HAD IT. These were the moms in the 1960's. They didn't care about about our fragile little egos. If we lost a game and started crying we didn't get medal for "participating" ... a mom would just bark something like "don't be such a crybaby! Go outside and play dammit!" then back in the house she'd go as she took another drag on her cigarette.

And we were okay with that. No one grew up psychologically damaged.
No o
ne was ruined for life. We bounced back just fine and figured out another game to play ... "I know you guys ... let's play parade!" This game consisted of sitting on the curb and clapping every time a car drove down the street. And this was a shitload of fun to us. If our parents were like parents today they would have been gushing and oohing over our brilliant, creative little minds and would somehow turn that into a scholarship to university because the child showed inherent ability to moderate the flow of traffic at different times during the day which would then allow for a psychological profile of not only drivers, but bystanders as well, and then a study would prove that ....*#*@&p)!!!!!  It's so damn insane.


Have you seen the Super Nanny?  Yet another reality based program that helps parents learn how to parent ... don't even get me started.  I happened to catch an episode once. What a disaster.  The kids in this particular family ran the entire household and the mom and dad were completely useless. In one unbelievable incident little Johnny was screaming his head off having a conniption fit because he didn't want to drink his milk unless he was able to do so while sitting on his dad's shoulders. Next shot:  kid sitting on dad's shoulders calmly drinking his milk. O.M.G.

This would NEVER happen at our house.  

Manzanar Avenue, circa 1965.  If one of us didn't want to do something my dad would proceed to take his belt off with a menacing sneer "orale veras!" (translation: you're gonna do exactly what I tell you to do you little bastard or else!) No bargaining, no reasoning, no B.S. You know why? BECAUSE HE WAS THE DAD AND YOU WERE THE KID. Period. End of story.

I can recall many a madcap chase through the house mom yelling "don't run away from me you little shit!For years I thought that was my name.  And forget the world's greatest pitchers ... Mexican mother sitting on a couch ... my mom could throw a brush and make it round a corner and cock you right on the back of your head.  Swear.  

*SIGH* ... how I long for those good old days when kids were kids and adults were adults.  Kids today won't have stories like mine.  They're all so loved and well adjusted and brimming with self-esteem.  It's just not right I tell you. 

11 comments:

  1. Oh, you know how I feel about this coddled generation--Pussy Nation! Did you hear they had to cancel the Easter egg hunt in Colorado Springs because the parents were jumping in and grabbing the eggs for their kids?

    You the video of my stand-up act on this topic. Pussy Nation will be the downfall of America--who will fight the wars when all our young people are protected in bubble wrap?

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  2. Debbie....I was so laughing at this. It is sooo true. Only I am one of those mothers that did some of it the old 60's way. When my kids were older they colored the wooden spoon all different colors and wrapped it in a box as a gift and I was laughing my butt off! I know I'm just a horrible mean mother!

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  3. Debbie

    Today's kids have been very deliberately bred to be Super Consumers, and as such are used to being in the role of the customer (who has rights, and is always right).

    My latest post on Heavenly Minded is a poem (titled "Desire") precisely on this theme. You should check it out.

    There's documentary but I forget the name, that shows how this generation of kids have been so coddled with self-esteem and entitlement, and yet they are among the most mediocre. They think they're way better than they are when it comes to academics (compared to their counterparts in much of the developed world, and even developing world). They're the generation that grew up knowing that teachers have no power. They have the greatest child disposable income in history and are used to being marketed to, catered to, reasoned with, caved to.

    Advertisers have shaped them into cry babies who whine until they get their way from their parents. They even call it the "nag factor," the goal being that kids will not tire of nagging until they wear their parents out.

    Consumerism / advertisers / entertainment are directly responsible for some of what you're seeing in kids today. (See the documentary called "Merchants of Cool", or Juliet Schor's "Born to Buy.")

    Ruben

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  4. Not only a brush but the "Chankla" was another object of choice.
    Cinty Lou

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  5. I used to stay with my great aunt in the summers of my childhood. She would lock the screen door and make us kids stay outside only to come in for bathroom breaks and lunch. Summers in Mississippi are HOT. We made due, drank out of the water hose, explored the fields around her house, climbed big old oak trees. Someone broke a rule they got a switch or fly swatted to the bare butt. Some of the best memories for me are those summers. Now days that would be considered abuse and neglect...or something.

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  6. Came over here from Linda's. Wow, I've been missing out all this time by not reading your blog!

    My mom spanked my bare ass with one a rubber spatula out of the kitchen drawer. Us kids would never even consider back-talking my dad! I mean seriously - who would do such a thing?

    We played outside all day unless it was pouring rain then we played inside games but were never allowed to watch TV during the day (except Sat. morn cartoons).

    Times have changed and I admit that I did a lot of stupid ass stuff when raising my son that I regret. I did, however, spank him when he deserved it, even though some of my acquaintances considered such a thing to be barbaric.

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  7. Barbara, thanks for coming by! I love love love LINDA! She's freaking hilarious! Keep on visiting!
    XOXO
    Deb

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  8. I think our mothers are related. My mother has a PhD in hairbrush throwing and a graduate degree in leather belt spanking.

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  9. RJ ... and look how we turned out?! Pefect!

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  10. FUCK YOUR FEE-FEES! some kids are losers and some kids are winners. kids today are entitled little shits.

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  11. Standing and cheering here in Smallville!!

    Brava! Brava!!

    We never really got spanked but we KNEW that when our parents said do something, you did it. That's why they were the parents and we were the kids!

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