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Guess what? You, too, will get old. You'll still feel (on the inside) like the same young person you once were. You'll still think you're cool. But to people 30 years younger than you, you will look old and you will be old. The people who you consider old once thought they would never never really get old, either.
There's a saying I like, "Inside every old person is a young person, surprised."
Only farmers may have done more manual labor back then. Middle class men had white collar jobs. Women stayed home, or had secretarial jobs. Light housecleaning isn't much manual labor, certainly not enough to develop muscle tone, lol! People were flabby back then for a reason. Some middle class people didn't even do housework, they had maids. Gardening is exercise, but it's usually once a week, and it doesn't come close to a 3 times/wk gym exercise with weights. People who eat well and take care of themselves, work out, are in much better shape than people in the 50's.
You're way off. I grew up in the 1960s. Many middle class men were car mechanics, painters, carpenters, etc. People cut their own lawns and raked their leaves with rakes not blowers. Until the 1980s, very few people called in landscapers to come do those jobs for them. Housekeeping was not light. Women got down on their hands and knees and scrubbed floors, washed their walls, and carted heavy basketloads of laundry outdoors to hang on the clothesline. Most people didn't go to car washes--you washed your car in your driveway with a bucket and sponge. Life all around was much more physical just a few short decades ago than it is now. This may come as a giant shock to you, but go back to the 70s and no one ever heard of jogging. People may be in better "shape" from going to gyms now, but only in a cosmetic way because they've learned how to sculpt their bodies in a particular way to build muscles to look a certain way. Today's standards of beauty were not the same in the 1950s so you can't compare. Is it really progress when people spend so much of their time in an enclosed building climbing stairs that go nowhere, riding bikes that go nowhere and walking on stationary exercise equipment that takes them nowhere? Think about it.
Some middle class people didn't even do housework, they had maids. Gardening is exercise, but it's usually once a week, and it doesn't come close to a 3 times/wk gym exercise with weights. People who eat well and take care of themselves, work out, are in much better shape than people in the 50's.
Where were all these maids? I grew up middle class in the 50's-60's and the only maid I ever saw was Hazel in the comics.
(And if you think gardening isn't exercise come on over and help me clear brush. I'll have you in a size 4 and you won't have to pay a gym membership. )
Where were all these maids? I grew up middle class in the 50's-60's and the only maid I ever saw was Hazel in the comics.
(And if you think gardening isn't exercise come on over and help me clear brush. I'll have you in a size 4 and you won't have to pay a gym membership. )
Yes, who the heck had a MAID?
But you are really old, DewDrop. I only remember Hazel from the TV show.
My son converted, and has three quarters of a year left on his mission. While I don't like the religion and we have a rule of no converting in the family, I think its done him a world of good. When we split, his dad abusive, his dad couldn't have custody and I couldn't afford to even with the money from disability. His guardians (aunt and uncle) saw no point in the therapy and let him quit. So he drifted through school and left a lot of unaddressed questions. The way he's had adult responsibility, and how he works a lot with those with drug problems and other issues has connected him back with himself. He's grown up and can see things more clearly now. When he goes back to school this time I'm sure he'll apply himself because he wants to.
I really don't think it would be a bad thing between high school and college for kids to leave home, and do service work of a non-religious, non military bent. Such programs have been proposed but likely will never happen, but a space where kids could apply themselves to something and know better what they wanted would be good for them. So many waste college because they really don't have a clue what it is they want yet and end up wishing later they could do it all over again.
No compulsion. That's an absolute must.
This has been a recurrent problem for the Church. We get Young Men who put in for Missions because of family or (in majority/Mormon communities) peer pressure, and then have to abandon them halfway through because their hearts were never really in it. In recent years the admission criteria have been quite drastically tightened up, to try and winnow out those who have applied for the wrong reasons.
A lot of sulky "draftees" will just get in the way of those who really want the work. So nothing mandatory, and for preference as little government involvement as possible.
Our own College, Brigham Young University, is well adapted for dealing with this situation. They have students who go to College and then serve Missions, others who serve Missions and go to College on their return. Indeed, one Missionary from my own Ward, currently in Estonia, is actually halfway through a course at BYU, and on return plans to pick up (more or less) where he left off. The school is quite ok with that.
I wish your son all the very best. No doubt I'm prejudiced, but even by your account it is clear that he has made a very good choice.
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I certainly wouldn't want us to go back to when fourteen year olds were defacto adults, but I think we've extended the baby blanket way too far now. I don't advocate kicking your 18 year old out in the streets, but in exchange for the bed and breakfast, they should have to be learning to move on and taking responsibility in some form for what they get. Multi-generational families in one house once was the norm, but the adult kids contributed to the family. Even if they don't have money, there are a lot of ways to do that.
Pretty much agree. I didn't go to College, and jobs were hard to obtain in Kings Lynn, so I left home at 22 to take one in London, after being made redundant twice since leaving school. I didn't desperately want to, but after six months of unemployment I was getting a bit "stir crazy", and ready to try anything. But I get the impression not everyone has that attitude.
The WHO (World Health Organization) ran surveys and found that heavy smokers are actually more obese than nonsmokers. Research has also shown that smoking 4 cigarettes increases a persons EE (energy expenditure) by only about 3.3%. Smoking and HFCS have an effect, but the major culprit is serving size/calorie consumption and what selections of food we eat (along with the lack of physical activity). Sweets, desserts, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages account for nearly 25 percent of all calories consumed by Americans. Healthy fruits and vegetables make up only 10 percent of caloric intake in the U.S. diet. Lisa Young, Ph.D., R.D., nutrition consultant at New York University compared identical recipes in different editions of Joy of Cooking and discovered that the current recipes make fewer portions. For example, the same brownie recipe using identical ingredients yielded 30 brownies in the 1970s and 16 brownies now. Each brownie is now twice as big. All portions from breakfast and coffee all the way through dessert are way bigger than they ever were.
People's metabolisms must vary a great deal, then. I was seeing Dr Atkins years ago and on his very strict diet. I was losing weight every week and feeling great. He told me to stop smoking, which I did and gained 20 pounds, while still on the diet. No cheating.
I was going to college and took a survey of my profs who had stopped smoking. They each had gained from 15 to twenty pounds which took over a decade to come off.
People who stop smoking, most, not all, will gain weight just by their metabolism slowing down, and if their appetite increases and they eat more, it will be even worse.
Some agencies like the WHO, will fund projects and forget to follow up on inspecting methods, etc. So long as a report comes back regularly, they are satisfied.
Only farmers may have done more manual labor back then. Middle class men had white collar jobs. Women stayed home, or had secretarial jobs. Light housecleaning isn't much manual labor, certainly not enough to develop muscle tone, lol! People were flabby back then for a reason. Some middle class people didn't even do housework, they had maids. Gardening is exercise, but it's usually once a week, and it doesn't come close to a 3 times/wk gym exercise with weights. People who eat well and take care of themselves, work out, are in much better shape than people in the 50's.
Gee, you were really a lucky kid. We lived in a what was considered a middle class neighborhood. My father was a manual laborer who worked hard all day and then took extra work on at home from the neighborhood. My mom worked all day and then came home to cook and do housework. Neither parent had a weight problem nor were they flabby.
People who stop smoking, most, not all, will gain weight just by their metabolism slowing down, and if their appetite increases and they eat more, it will be even worse. .
Actually, within six months, the 4 to 6 pound weight gain should level out and they will go back to normal.
Frankly, I know way too many super fat people who smoke to make me ever think that smoking is a good weight loss method.
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