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Are We Raising a Generation of Wimps? (1 Viewer)

Mark Sherman

Supporting Actor
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Apr 9, 2003
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783
Thank god my neice doesnt fall into this.My Brother makes sure she stands her ground and make sure she is active. Skating and other sports. Oh yeah she also has a QUAD that she can drive like a champ. Did I mention shes 11
 

D. Scott MacDonald

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 10, 1999
Messages
545

Last week my six year old (1st grader) was accused of this and the school took it VERY seriously. The parents even came in to complain. They were talking about Martin Luther King, and an African American girl said that "white people lied and made all of the black people slaves". My son was shocked to hear this and asked (in all sincerity) if she were a slave, which was when she started to cry and my son got in trouble. I had to explain to him later that it's a very sensitive issue.
 

Garrett Lundy

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Yeah, people just rolled with the punches back in the day. I don't know what the Asians kids were calling us, but I bet i was pretty nasty. (I wish I could swear in Cantonese, that would be so cool).
 

Jason Pancake

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Apr 1, 2002
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205
I have a theory that the reason we see so many untalented folks on American Idol is because their friends and family are too afraid of hurting them by telling them the truth. These people HONESTLY believe that they have talent.

I wonder how many kids in sports and school honestly believe that they have athletic or academic talent when in reality they have none at all. Is it healthy to not only allow them to think this way but to encourage it?
 

Chu Gai

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Wasn't that one of the reasons they had intramural sports for those less talented? I recall when I was younger, I got into basketball in a serious way. 'Course, back then everyone was shorter! I'd never played in junior high but I'd practice at home with my Oscar Robinson book on fundamentals. I tried out for the HS freshman team, made it, and saw some limited action. Moving along to JV, I made that too, briefly became a starter but that also when I discovered I had a problem. JV games, which were often played prior to the varsity games, were usually packed. The crowds were noisy and I discovered that I couldn't play in front of crowds. I'd freeze up and simply choke. Whatever I could do in practice, I simply couldn't do when the chips were on the line. Although I stuck out the season, I decided that I'd rather play just not in front of crowds. So I joined the intramural team and had fun. I guess that's why I'm so shy now.
 

RobertR

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The extreme aversion to risk being manifested in our culture is silly, and carries quite a cost in how it damages the individual's ability to deal with adversity. The concept of personal responsibility is being done away with, and it's wrong.
 

dana martin

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Dana Martin
Yes
we are
the grading scale has been changed to an E because you cant disrupt a child or god forbid explain that the child is failing. Dose of reality time really need to happen in this country, hey not that everything is wrong with political correctness, until it starts to neuter males into whatever the hell they are to day, pick a side, but if you go the political correct route, you cannot compliment a woman, hold a door open .
Sorry the generation that i was raised, that was considered manners,
to help parents suggest you read Dr.Spock's book, then when it doesn't work ask you grandfather how he corrected you mom or dad and go with what is tried and true.

don't lie to your kids, i tell mine all the time people fail, you will fail, and hopefully you will learn from it, the true goal is not to bitch, but learn and move on.

and last but not least, if this offends i apologize, see how that works, i just agree to disagree, but there is no such thing as free lunch, somebody is paying for it!!!


After reading through this thread some more i just had to add more, really that statement about chin isn't to far off mark. Little story during my time at a military training facility, i had the pleasure of seeing a very brash opinionated company commander speak the truth, after the graduation, one of the graduating recruits commented that her son was so well mannered and carried himself with such pride, she as the Company Commander what he had done to bring about this change, log story short he said that he had un f***ed up what his mother and father had done for the last 18 years, he instilled pride, and selfworth, something that socity is afraid of anymore.
 

Ravi K

Supporting Actor
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
707
I guess I was the last generation to play with wooden splintery playground equipment, gravel, and metal slides that heated up in the sun. I remember frequently getting blisters from the monkey bars, but I always went back after they healed. I used to bike around here quite a bit (before I could drive). And this was in the 90s, when all the overprotection stuff was just starting.

But in this age of lawsuits, I can't blame schools for trying to make everything safe, almost to the point of being no fun at all.
 

Michelle Schmid

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Jun 1, 1999
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Michelle Holloway
JonZ I totally remember almost everything on your list. It's shocking to see how much society has changed in just a few years. We'd run out the door practically at first light, hop on our bikes, skateboards, or whatever and be gone until dusk, and no one ever freaked out about needing to reach us. We built huge jumps that went right off the curb into the street! We didn't even know what a bike helmet was. We certainly didn't need that ridiculous "child cell phone" they're advertising now so a parent can call a child to harass them in the middle of playing (do you have your hat? boots?)! Hey--if you're that worried, make sure the kid is prepared before they go outside! We *gasp* jumped out of swings and whoever landed the farthest away was the WINNER! During school hours! The higher the slide the better! Sure, there were accidents, and the staff took care of it or called a parent who took the kid to the doctor if necessary. We were allowed to be kids and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

What is described in that article is extremely disturbing. What ever happened to personal responsibility and a responsibility for teaching your children the same? You do stupid things, you might get hurt.

Last month as I was taking my two kids to school someone missed a stop sign and hit my car in the rear passenger quarter panel. It spun the car in a complete 360+, but no one was hurt. When the officer asked that question, and we all said we were fine, the man who hit me muttered, "yeah, until you get home and call a lawyer." I was dumbfounded! Why would I do that? I wanted my car fixed (that was a chore! Apparently '94 Camaros w/154,000 miles don't have a high value :)), but that was it! When they agreed to fix the car (finally!) my rental had automatic window & door locks! As soon as the car was put into gear all 4 doors would lock! WTF? My boyfriend thought this was a really cool "safety feature" (don't get me started on how he & his ex are raising their daughter! They would probably applaud the schools above for the sterilizing of schools & kids! At her 11th b-day party last Friday she had a skating party at a local skating rink. Her mother made her wear a bike helmet. She was the only one there with one, and I can't imagine how that must have felt.) Anyway, I told him that if you are driving down the road and your kids are trying to leap out the windows or doors you'd better re-evaluate your parenting skills! Instead of relying on some stupid gadget to protect my kids from themselves, I taught them that for safety, don't play with windows & doors! And you know what? They don't.
 

Philip Hamm

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Jan 23, 1999
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In the high school behind my house, the student body voted a girl with Down's Syndrome as the homecoming queen a couple years back, not as a goof. From what I read there were lots of tears shed all around when the homecoming court was announced that year. You might say that the prettiest most popular girl should be homecoming queen, but the student body thought differently.

There are some really good eggs out there. People still raise children with character.
 

Joey Skinner

Second Unit
Joined
Sep 12, 2003
Messages
339
Some schools here in Texas won't let the kids go outside for recess when the temperature is above a certain point. Hell, I didn't even have air conditioning at my school until the last half of my junior year of high school!
 

MickeS

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I agree with most of what is wirtten in this thread, but I take exception when people say things like


I always have to point out that MANY of those who also rode like that are not around to remember it...

I'm all for kids playing in environments that aren't hermetically sealed from any danger (a broken bone really isn't the end of the world :)), but my blood boils when people use the car as an example. I'm sure parents of many of the kids I see say idiotic things like the above when they try and explain why they risk their kids lives every time they're out driving.
 

MickeS

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That's not what the auto-lock feature is for. Well, at least I always assumed it was to prevent someone on the outside getting in, rather than the other way around, since the autolock does not disable the doorhandle on the inside (there is normally a way to do that too, though).
 

Jeff Gatie

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Air conditioning in school? Hell, I didn't have it in most of my classes in college.

"If it's not broken or bleeding, I don't want to hear about it. Unless you need a cast or a stitch, get back outside and play!"

"Nice bruise on your face. I hope the other kid looks worse."

"I see the bruises on your daughter, Mrs. XXXX. I know my little girl put them there. Truthfully, after telling me how she's been picked on for weeks, Doreen did just as I told her to and if your daughter picks on her again, she's gonna get even more bruises."

- My mom, Lois "Old Lady" Gatie, circa 1970-75.

My dad also had the loudest whistle in the neighborhood. He'd stand on the back porch and let it fly. The "kid telegraph" would hear it and the signal would pass to us even deep into the woods a mile or so away. If we missed that whistle, supper was cold and eaten "on the stove".
 

MickeS

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Definitely. Kids LOVE competitions, so they should always be allowed to compete, and there should be winners and losers. But to make competitions some kind of selection criteria for WHO can continue to do something is asinine, as asinine as pretending that "everyone wins".

Kids learn what they are good at and not, and they learn what they like and what they don't. No need to set up formal rules for that.
 

Jeff Gatie

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No, I'm saying that to not let kids go outside to play because it is "too hot" is a little silly when my generation did not even have AC in school. Getting to go outside then was a refreshing change from the stale hot air.
 

D. Scott MacDonald

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 10, 1999
Messages
545

These days you can get in big trouble for telling your kids to hit another kid. I'm not sure what the exact laws are, but some people see this as no different than the parent doing it themselves. Even the police won't arrest you for it, you're still open for a lawsuit.
 

Jeff Gatie

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That's what intramural teams are for. Everyone makes those teams. If you intend to go on to a higher level; an all-star or "travleling" team playing other cities, towns or regions, be prepared to try out and be prepared to get cut if you can't make it. Oh well, life sucks. Play intramurals, practice more and maybe next year you'll make it.

"That's why I told you to shoot 100 pucks a day"
- My dad after I got cut from the PeeWee 'B' All-Star team.
 

Jeff Gatie

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Gee, look how far we have come since the mantra of "violence doesn't solve anything" became the order of the day. Thank God our children are so well trained in this creedo that they never, ever get frustrated by their impotence against bullies and decide to shoot up a school.
 

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