I will never take for granted... ( Archived) (10)

How much easier life is for me as an adult, versus my teen's. I don't envy kids who have so many life choices to make, and so little solid proof that any of those choices work out well in the end. Even the most successful role models are not without criticism in one aspect or another.

I lost a daughter but gained a son, all in one weekend. It has me thinking, that although our kids have more lifestyle choices than ever, it can't be easy to decide who you are and how you present yourself to the world. In my teens, there were few choices for a girl...get married or, go to college and then get married.

Parents, do you think your children have a harder time navigating through life in 2011 than we did when we were young? Or does our more liberal society make it easier?
What would you do differently than your own parents to help your kids manage to come out on the other side unscathed?


Thoughts?

All we can do is start them off correctly, schools,mixing with other kids is what forms there idea of where they are in life,
unless one is wealthy, living in a closed upper-class society, & I mean the very top end of the class society,

One is bound by the society around us, so in many ways it is better they learn the street-ways, as fast as possible, this may mean losing a child to the streets/drugs etc,for a short time, but in so many society's of today, to survive, one needs to learn fast how to steel,this is governed so much by where we are at, the neighborhood, friends,etc

for more than can be told,as long as they don't end-up dead, or in prison for 20+years, having children now, is a huge gamble,

The kid moved in with me last year, she had enough off her mothers cotton wool life style on how she should live her life? Kids these days are far more advanced than we ever were! We were tolled we are not good enough? My kid is better than that! She has a brain and a right to live her life under our roof, after all it is our home! That we live in,
You don’t have to understand your kids, you just have to love them! And support them!

Remember! They will be the ones that pick out your retirement homes!

The thing I have realised is that same as our parents were from a different "generation" to us, not always understanding how it was for us ... Same applies to us as parents, I was from a different "generation" to my children, not always understanding how it was for them, although more aware than my parents were

I think the only thing a parent can teach their child are "things that don't ever change" irrespective of what era one is born in. Values that are not based on "how things should be done".

But things that don't ever change: Love of self and others, respect of self and others, honesty with self and others etc. Those sorts of values never date and our children can take them with them whatever they do and wherever they go.

The rest is just noise.

IMO

Parents ask their children to listen to what they said..
BUT..
Some parents forget to listen to what their children said..!!
So, I think communication plays a key role..

I agree wholeheartedly! I'm lucky that my folks taught me the same, and that I've had a chance to pass those values along.

Oh yes, I do think my daughters have a much different upbringing than I did myself.

When I was a kid, if you disrespected your parents, elders, teacher, authority figure--you got a whack on the bottom..now, kids run a muck and use language that if I'd used, I'd have been talking with no teeth in my head cause I woulda got them knocked out!

I have seen kids bully each other in ways we didn't have access to when I was a kid in the 1970's and 80's, there was no internet, cell phones, text messaging, instant messaging, etc...if you got bullied it was done face to face not through various media tools.

I think my daughters both have to make some difficult choices as they grow and I've had to adapt and adopt my parenting style to suit the changing times, even though I was raised in an old fashioned manner.

We were expected and required to use respect when speaking to others, our teachers, parents, etc., we were required to have manners and say Please and Thank you and to be courteous, which is the same as I require of my kids too...I am NOT raising a pack of hooligans.

I think there is more pressure to conform, I don't think as much importance is placed on knowledge because of them having so many options which allow them to be disconnected and act stupid (meaning the dumbing down of text language), communication is entirely different, more impersonal, less personal, which means kids are more detached from their family and friends..we didn't have these things when I was a kid.

I intend on keeping my children as unexposed to the harshness of corruption as much as I possibly can..I know kids will make their own choices and do as they will, but as a Mom, it's up to me to give them the tools, self-esteem, self-realization and self-respect needed to go out into the world as good people and then I know I've done my job!