Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers were on every weekday. TV was allowed before dinner.
Cartoons were only on during weekend mornings. Getting up to watch cartoons was a treat.
While my kids were young there was no cable TV.
There were no computers until my kids were in high school. If they wanted or needed to do research they had to go to the library and read it in a book.
Until my kids were in high school we had to rent the VCR at the same time that we rented a movie.
My kids were expected to do their best in school. If they didn’t – and again here is where we differ from our parents – we would send them to a counselor to see what was upsetting them.
And, yet, they survived.
Parenting Today
Now I look at my grandchildren and wonder what all the fuss is about. Why so many restrictions on child rearing. We survived, our children survived, so what is the big deal. Yet, I would never consider driving in the car with them if they weren’t in a car seat.
When I watch them, I wouldn’t dare put them to sleep on their stomachs.
Baby Einstein is great. I do wonder though why they keep coming up with more TV programs for babies but state over and over again not to let your toddler watch too much TV. Hmmmm
My grand daughter is in school now and when her parents cannot take her or pick her up from school, I make sure I can help with that. I wouldn’t consider letting her walk to or from school alone.
They are not spanked. They are told why what they did was wrong. And, again, I would never think of spanking them or even that their parents would spank them.
When they make a mistake they are told why that was a mistake and what to do next time to avoid that same mistake.
Computers are a way of life and cable or satellite TV is a must.
And they will survive too.
It is interesting to see how generations of parents change. We tend to think of our time as a better time but I think that the parents need to change with the times. My parents could not have parented the way they did if all of the present day tech toys and available technology were present in their lives. It will be interesting to me to see how my grandchildren choose to raise their kids.
