GROW UP: PARENTING WARS WITH JOHN STOSSEL
Airs Saturday and Sunday at 10PM ET on Fox News Channel
Stossel offers some new ideas on parenting to help your kids GROW UP!
FREE-RANGE KIDS: Lenore Skenazy was called "America's Worst Mom" because she let her 9-year-old ride the subway alone. She says kids benefit from less supervision and more independence. Critics say "free range" parenting is irresponsible and dangerous. They could get abducted by a stranger! They could, but why so much fear now when abductions are extremely rare, and crime is at a 50 year low?
OK ... FREE-RANGE KIDS?
Back in the Dark Ages when I was a little girl my mother would send my brother and I (ages 6 and 4) to the liquor store to buy milk for her BY OURSELVES. And we had to cross a big old boulevard to get there. We were given money, told not to talk to strangers and wait for the man to give you the change and off we went totally oblivious to kidnappers and murderers. Was it wise? Personally, I couldn't tell you, but we're both still here and basically sane.
WUSSIFICATION: Trophies used to be an award for winning. Now, kids get a trophy just for showing up. Does this turn them into wimps? Vice co-founder Gavin McInnes says yes, because kids "learning to lose, learning to fail" is "what childhood is all about." Parenting blogger Jenn-Anne Gledhill says, "you call it wussification, I'm going to go ahead and call it a spiritual awakening."
GOD ALMIGHTY WE'VE ABSOLUTELY WUSSIFIED OUR KIDS TODAY and Jenn-Anne Gledhill is a moron. What she calls spiritual awakening I call wussification. If everyone wins then what makes winning special? If everyone wins a trophy there's no real meaning in that. No victory. No real success. This not how the world works. Everyone is NOT a winner. Some people get D's on their report cards, some people get fired from their jobs, and other people have to take a lot of crap at work to collect their paycheck. IT'S CALLED LIFE PEOPLE and sometimes people are big old losers. Kids need to learn how to lose and realize they are not the center of the fucken Universe. Some people do things better than others. The sooner you learn that the better off you'll be. No one claps for me when I arrive at work in the morning like I'm Oprah Winfrey. WAH WAH WAH.
THE TIGER-MOM: Western parents were shocked by Amy Chua's strict Chinese parenting methods: her daughters were forced to practice piano several hours every day; they couldn't have sleepovers or watch TV. Chua even called her own daughter "garbage" once. Is it too extreme? What do Chua's daughters say, now that they're older? We asked them if they even like their mom.
Mrs. Chua needs a boot up her ass. Her children are not HER. They are individuals. They have their own personalities and character traits. I think if I'd had a tiger mother like her I'd have grown up to be a serial killer. And the first person I'd kill would be her.
GENDER NEUTRAL KIDS: Some parents say kids should choose if they want to be a boy or a girl. Dr. Leonard Sax says it's a grave mistake "to put our heads in the sand and pretend that gender doesn't matter."
Dr. Leonard Sax is an asshole. Little boys like to play with trucks and little girls like to play with dolls. IT'S SCIENCE. Unless you're blind you will be able to figure if your kid is gay or straight or transgender. JEEZ.
DELAYED GRATIFICATION: Some psychologists say success on the famous marshmallow tests (can the child delay eating one, to get two treats 15 minutes later?) is the biggest predictor of success in kids' lives. Kids who can delay gratification do much better in life, get better grades in school, make more money, and are happier than those who can't.
Well that explains it. You have your successful children who can wait to eat a marshmallow and then you have your unsuccessful children who can't. Personally, if your kid can wait to eat a marshmallow that is sitting right in front of him then I'm sorry to tell you but your kid is weird. Any NORMAL self-respecting kid is going to shove that marshmallow in his face the second you leave the room. THAT'S NORMAL. HE'S A KID. So your ridiculous little test sucks.
Until next time ...
SMOOCHES DARLINGS
That whole everyone gets a trophy bull shiz annoys me. We're raising an entire generation that thinks they get a reward just for showing up.
ReplyDeleteThat said, where's my prize for showing up here and leaving a comment????????? =)
a hug?
ReplyDeleteA hug??? I can't put that on my shelf to make everyone jealous that i won something!!! ::::storms off::::::
DeleteI'm still trying to think of a comical retort ... however YOU ARE THE KING OF COMICAL RETORTS so I give up. LOL! Merry Xmas!
DeleteHave you worked with these kids who were given stars for everything? There were several in my office. They thought they should get rewards (raises/bonuses) for just showing up. They got a rude awakening when appraisal time rolled around. All of them thought they got screwed and deserved more money. The rest of us silently laughed when they complained about the unfairness of the rating and ranking system. Welcome the real world.
ReplyDeleteNot all kids and parents are like that you should try watching how hard they push 8 year olds on Friday night tykes on the esquire channel. Some of it is pretty brutal, kids walk away fro practice crying, throwing up and their parents tell them not to be babies.
ReplyDeleteI didn't figure out my kid was transgender until he was 17 and told us. In hindsight, the only clues we really could have had were his love of Pokemon cards over Barbie dolls, and his dislike of clothing that was overtly girlie, preferring sportier looking things. When kids are trying to fit in to cultural norms, sometimes they can get pretty good at blending in. Now as a grandma of a little boy and little girl, I'm always stunned at how gender specific toys are. We try to mix it up because you just never know.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Boy Scouts, I hated getting a participation ribbon for slot car derby. It was abundantly clear I didn't design it, and my church elder designed the car out of love for an older model, as opposed to strategy. Personal responsibility is dying in this country. They don't want you to take charge, but they want to hold you responsible for things beyond your control: climate change, past racial injustices, and other issues that don't measure true character.
ReplyDelete