|
Paddle faster! I hear banjos!
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, weighing all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
|
|
|
|
|
My mum always cooked good food, but for sure, many more people today have an interest in cooking well, so I knock up some pretty fancy meals fairly often. Also from all over the world, since you can get the spices these days.
But yeah, I think we do give kids far more of a voice in their lives these days. And thats a good thing IMO.
|
|
|
|
|
Not only in food, but in every aspect - and I mean every! - of our life kids are taking more part than we used to. We let our parents to decide for us on food, clothes, school, summer camp, and almost never thought to argue about them...
Today - at least my kids - will not accept nothing without double-checking it, and even the kind of the cheese in the elevenses is subject to a half hour of research of the refrigerator...
In most cases it is for the good - especially that I let them do the things (shopping, research and actual making, like those elevenses), so they are much more independent than I were at their age...
As for the whining part over food (and others) - I do cook and prepare, but to set the table and clean vegetables, or cut the bread it is for them to do. Otherwise there is no meal and they can cry all day long...
One thing I see is that I server them every morning to get to the school bus in time, they server me at weekends when no need them to rush - they are aware that they are not helping us - the parents - as we did, but they are part of our home and as they take part in the ice creme, they take part in the dish-washing after that...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
|
|
|
|
|
Playing Outside, and running their mouths!
|
|
|
|
|
The biggest difference is...
BEING BORED
There were times of ultimate boredom (only 3 channels on TV, no computers, no video games, etc). And we'd go outside and learn things. I remember when I discovered how a magnifying glass could focus the sun's rays. Fantastic. Creation out of boredom! 
Kids now are never bored. There is always some kind of entertainment about which allows them to never have to create their own entertainment.
That is what they are actually missing out on. Parents (and I am guilty too) have seen their children be bored and have provided some activity for them.
In that past (at least in mine), parents did not normally provide activities for kids unless it was work. Parents were busy back then working and doing things.
Now parents make it their number one thing to insure that their kids are not bored.
However, kids seem to be losing their ability to be creative.
Why imagine when you can watch a show, pull up youtube, download another app? 
|
|
|
|
|
I agree with your statements very much. 
|
|
|
|
|
raddevus wrote: Why imagine when you can watch a show, pull up youtube, download another app?
I solved that problem - and it is very common around here... We have no TV (can watch online if approved, two hours a week), the kids have limited access to internet (only one hour a week for free (form age 8), all the other have to be justified with work from school), no smart phones or tablets (there is a laptop they share)...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
|
|
|
|
|
Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote: I solved that problem
Takes a lot of will-power on your part. They will thank you later.
|
|
|
|
|
The biggest change, and I would suspect it be the same for you as well, is that we make way more money than our parents did back then, thus our kids live better financially, overall.
I had to eat everything on my plate, because I grew up poor. My kids are not growing up poor, so they don't have to eat everything on their plate. Although I do my best to make this happen, I don't always win. 
|
|
|
|
|
Slacker007 wrote: so they don't have to eat everything on their plate
I would say, they can chose to what to eat, but the moment they picked and put on their plate - they have to eat it...
Skipper: We'll fix it.
Alex: Fix it? How you gonna fix this?
Skipper: Grit, spit and a whole lotta duct tape.
|
|
|
|
|
That is a brilliant point about being materially better off, I find it very hard to be a Dad and our kids turn there nose up at food and rigorously complaining about thing after thing. We were content with a football, bike and some woods to play in!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Pom Pey wrote: but couldn't be arsed with the constant I'm hungry whining
"D-a-a-a-a-a-d, I'm Hungry"
"Hi hungry, I'm dad".
Problem solved at the nth iteration.
|
|
|
|
|
I used to go with the 'Hi Hungry Im Dad'
Now I say 'Czech the fridge'
|
|
|
|
|
Pom Pey wrote: Now I say 'Czech the fridge'
Noted, for when No.1 son is old enough to know where the Czech Republic is.
|
|
|
|
|
I still remember When we had the whole neighborhood as the play area. we would be "inventing" games or we modify the game of cricket ( with a stick and plastic bottle) and play all day long.
But now my kids need a proper game and environment.
cheers,
Super
------------------------------------------
Too much of good is bad,mix some evil in it
|
|
|
|
|
Interesting question, especially omitting the tech changes, which affect just about every aspect of life.
1 - Education. I went to public schools for the most part, hated it, learned crap that was useless, unlearned it as fast as possible, and in high school I realized I didn't even have to bother learning it. Yeah, I barely graduated.  Conversely, my son went to Waldorf school K-12, learned amazing artistic skills, learned how to be a critical thinker, and had (for the most part) a much more rounded social experience.
2 - D&D. I know you said "ignoring the obvious technology changes" but I played pen & paper D&D, and it was quite fun playing online D&D with my son. Though he also glommed onto the books and did the pen & paper version too.
3 - The Cold War. I grew up thinking about (and having nightmare dreams of) nuclear war. It was different for my son. Let's hope it stays that way.
4 - Climate change / global warming. It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject, the difference is that cc/gw was not in my consciousness (or my parents) as a kid. They were and are as part of my son's.
5 - Recycling. As a kid, say what? As my son growing up, he was very aware of recycling.
6 - Health care. As a kid, you just trusted the doctor knew what he was doing. When I was a parent, the whole world of health changed, from alternative medicines (some legitimate, some obvious quackery), questioning vaccinations, etc.
7 - Food. As a kid, "organic" -- what??? My son grew up eating organic food, grass fed beef, free range chicken (really free range, not the FDA concept of prisoners with one hour a day of outside time.)
That's a few.
|
|
|
|
|
Marc Clifton wrote: 4 - Climate change / global warming. It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject, the difference is that cc/gw was not in my consciousness (or my parents) as a kid. They were and are as part of my son's.
Yeah if you ignore the toxic rivers and lakes, acid rain, over fishing and myriad other environmental problems we had (and yes, still have) back then. The reason why business like global warming is (1) it's a lot harder to follow the stench up stream to an singular source, and (2) with carbon credit bullshit not only they can buy their way out but come out looking like good world citizens.
The thing is dislike (not disagree) with global climate change is that it's making a lot of other very real (and in some cases worse) invisible, OIOW: let's continue dumping sh*t in the sea because everybody's looking up at the sky anyway. (And when they do look down at the dying sea what's the first thing they blame? FFFS)
It's the biggest ever cover up, and more than half the world has bought it. Stupid FiretrUKS.
Signature not found error error: Unable to throw signature not found error.
|
|
|
|
|
You totally missed his f***ing point. He didn't want to harp on it, he just wanted to mention it.
|
|
|
|
|
Yeah, given I had limited time this morning to reply, things like deforestation, extinction, the loss of 50% of large mammals, toxic dumps, pesticides, pollution, 4x (I think) more people on the planet, etc., didn't get on the list.
Nor did things like our further understanding of the cosmos, the last lunar walk, the space shuttles and IIS, the Mars probes, Cassini, etc., all of which differentiate the things I grew up knowing vs. the things my son grew up knowing.
I do suppose though that while I remember all the media coverage of Watergate, my son gets to experience all the media coverage of "Trumpgate", in all the various forms that seems to take place almost daily. 
|
|
|
|
|
Marc Clifton wrote: 4 - Climate change / global warming.
Growing up in the 70s, I was told I had to worry about global cooling.
Then in the 80s it was acid rain.
Then in the 90s it was the ozone layer.
Then in the 2000s it was global warming.
Then in the 2010s that was renamed to climate change, because ultimately it wouldn't get warmer everywhere. It also nicely encapsulates the cooling we were talking about in the 70s, thus ensuring that Al Gore can claim he was correct no matter what happens.
Marc Clifton wrote: It doesn't matter what our views are on the subject,
Based on what I've seen, I'd say this much is correct.
|
|
|
|
|
dandy72 wrote: Then in the 80s it was acid rain.
And they did something about it and the damn forests stopped dying and the crystal clear dead lakes started to have live fish, again. And the buildings and such stopped corroding quite so fast. And the paint on your pickup stopped fading and buckling.
dandy72 wrote: Then in the 2010s that was renamed to climate change, because ultimately it wouldn't get warmer everywhere
Global warming is only the view from space - locally we get climate changes - like we've been seeing. Bigger storms: the warmth warms the seas . . . more rain, bigger hurricanes, more snow.
Worse every year -
Our planet is a test tube. Energy comes in on the sunny side, dissipates on the dark side. It reaches a (dynamic) steady state. We've been changing the contents of the reactants for years now, putting much ancient carbon back into the atmosphere. The contents of the test tube are going to react differently. THAT is for sure. Making fun of Al Gore won't change an ![Elephant | [mastadon]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/elephant.gif) about it. So - go to your sources; ask them, or figure out for yourself, how the new reactant will adjust to the new composition, and report back to us.
For, you see, science itself follows natural laws - and all the political arguments in the world have no effect since, well , the universe just isn't listening.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
here we go....
Charlie Gilley
<italic>Stuck in a dysfunctional matrix from which I must escape...
"Where liberty dwells, there is my country." B. Franklin, 1783
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
|
|
|
|
|
Really nothing to worry about - another Krakatoa type event and things will cool down really quickly.*
But really - somethings got to happen - so I'm willing to listen to anything rational that takes into account the changes in that test-tube. That search for a balance between heat in and heat out is (from a human point of view) forever. So - in a bird-based analogy, but when determining what the future holds, how does one avoid being Chicken Little without, instead, becoming an Ostrich?
* I decided to opt out of "nuclear winter", although it's starting to look like no one cares.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
|
|
|
|
|
I'm not disagreeing with any of that. I just get a little irked whenever I hear we're threatened with extinction, while the global population is actually still very much on the rise. And if we just let things continue the way they are, well, it seems to me it's being portrayed as a problem that will solve itself in the long run without any input from us. 
(Studying geology while in university really made me a cynic on this topic)
|
|
|
|
|
W∴ Balboos wrote: And they did something about it and the damn forests stopped dying and the crystal clear dead lakes started to have live fish, again. And the buildings and such stopped corroding quite so fast. And the paint on your pickup stopped fading and buckling.
What?
What about taking the entire family down to the river to watch it burn? Precious memories gone forever!
|
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
