The character and Mindset of America today. Where are we heading? (gallon, generation)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Got to thinking bout this whilst posting in another thread and felt it worthy of separate discussion. Things have radically changed in how kids grow up and are raised today. I'm not so up on the Millennial, Boomer, Gen Z etc thing and what age group fall into what category so be it.
I know I'm one of the last of the Boomers and Millennials are now the current older adults. 30s to early 40s now yes? The changes that have come about really show in more current crops of kids, adolescents and young adults.
Things that were unheard of to those of us that grew up with Saturday morning cartoon (uncensored Bug Bunny even. .. HORRORS) followed by attending to a chore list and then proceeding outside, and coming home at sundown (we didnt have street lights where I grew up) in a filthy, grimy, slimy and unfit for the supper table state are now commonplace.
A big example is these "challenges" circulating on the net. The "sucker punch game" "skull cracker challenge " "Tide pod" challenge and the like. Who dreams this sh!+ up man? And young people and even some full adults actually do this stuff.
Has life become so boring and lacking in adventure for younguns these days? So badly lacking that acts of brazen stupidity have become trendy?
Coming home from play in a condition of utterly filthy doesn't happen as much. Parents panic if their kid finds a mud hole. People are literally bathing their kids head to toe five times a day. The germophobia is just jaw dropping.
My Mom had to make me strip and bag my clothes on the porch when I came in of an evening. Of course a bath before supper but she didnt panic and gaul out a gallon of "antibacterial" soap. It's no wonder kids get sick so much these days.
Their immune system comes out of a plastic bottle. The contents of which are applied anytime they even get close to something that might be unsanitary. Like a mud hole, open field or the drain ditch down the way.
I'm not even going to get into what is being thrown at them in school. Folks can draw their own conclusions as to how that ties in cause and effect wise with where we're heading.
And all this REALLY shows as kids become adults and (maybe) go out on their own. Its concerning in it's own right how many "kids" that are in their 20s are still at home. And totally unable to function as an individual citizen.
I couldnt wait to get my own place after graduation and already had a job and my own vehicle. Which I had to pay for, register and insure and keep running. I see a LOT of youths today that don't even care about getting their driver's license. Many of those types are the ones still at home in their 20s.
There are young folks that are functioning citizens. Yes a lot of them. But the ones that aren't have become far to numerous. These are the ones who become professional protesters ( that have no clue what their protesting) or maybe are trying to make a living on YouTube. These are the future of America?
Makes me wonder what the people in charge of running the country are going to be like in a decade. I'll still be around then God willing so I guess I'll see. But I gotta say looking ahead scares the bejesus out of me.
People that are in their mid to late 20s and cant boil water now will be running the country then. How's that going to effect the landscape I wonder?
Anyway, just a few pondering over coffee on an early morning. Such is the start to this day.
Got to thinking bout this whilst posting in another thread and felt it worthy of separate discussion. Things have radically changed in how kids grow up and are raised today. I'm not so up on the Millennial, Boomer, Gen Z etc thing and what age group fall into what category so be it.
I know I'm one of the last of the Boomers and Millennials are now the current older adults. 30s to early 40s now yes? The changes that have come about really show in more current crops of kids, adolescents and young adults.
Things that were unheard of to those of us that grew up with Saturday morning cartoon (uncensored Bug Bunny even. .. HORRORS) followed by attending to a chore list and then proceeding outside, and coming home at sundown (we didnt have street lights where I grew up) in a filthy, grimy, slimy and unfit for the supper table state are now commonplace.
A big example is these "challenges" circulating on the net. The "sucker punch game" "skull cracker challenge " "Tide pod" challenge and the like. Who dreams this sh!+ up man? And young people and even some full adults actually do this stuff.
Has life become so boring and lacking in adventure for younguns these days? So badly lacking that acts of brazen stupidity have become trendy?
Coming home from play in a condition of utterly filthy doesn't happen as much. Parents panic if their kid finds a mud hole. People are literally bathing their kids head to toe five times a day. The germophobia is just jaw dropping.
My Mom had to make me strip and bag my clothes on the porch when I came in of an evening. Of course a bath before supper but she didnt panic and gaul out a gallon of "antibacterial" soap. It's no wonder kids get sick so much these days.
Their immune system comes out of a plastic bottle. The contents of which are applied anytime they even get close to something that might be unsanitary. Like a mud hole, open field or the drain ditch down the way.
I'm not even going to get into what is being thrown at them in school. Folks can draw their own conclusions as to how that ties in cause and effect wise with where we're heading.
And all this REALLY shows as kids become adults and (maybe) go out on their own. Its concerning in it's own right how many "kids" that are in their 20s are still at home. And totally unable to function as an individual citizen.
I couldnt wait to get my own place after graduation and already had a job and my own vehicle. Which I had to pay for, register and insure and keep running. I see a LOT of youths today that don't even care about getting their driver's license. Many of those types are the ones still at home in their 20s.
There are young folks that are functioning citizens. Yes a lot of them. But the ones that aren't have become far to numerous. These are the ones who become professional protesters ( that have no clue what their protesting) or maybe are trying to make a living on YouTube. These are the future of America?
Makes me wonder what the people in charge of running the country are going to be like in a decade. I'll still be around then God willing so I guess I'll see. But I gotta say looking ahead scares the bejesus out of me.
People that are in their mid to late 20s and cant boil water now will be running the country then. How's that going to effect the landscape I wonder?
Anyway, just a few pondering over coffee on an early morning. Such is the start to this day.
Indeed- less ability to function independently. What we are seeing is a further prolongation of adolescence.
My sibs and I think of ourselves as being "ferrel" children, in that we were never inside the house except to do homework and sleep. We were all independent financially of our parents at age 16; that was not considered abnormal then.
It certainly will be interesting to watch. I don't have a lot of good answers at all.
OP, like you, I am one of the last of the Boomers depending on what chart you look at. Born pretty much on New Year's Eve of 1963. I certainly don't feel like a Boomer.
I had the same upbringing. I was out of the house from morning until dusk. Filthy. Barefoot. Got stung by so many bees in my life from playing around without shoes, it was remarkable. My own kids (now in their 20s) I don't think have ever been stung.
I was also pretty "feral" by today's standards but it was normal back then. I couldn't *wait* to be old enough to get out of the house and live on my own.
The saddest part is: I think it was partly my age group that started getting weird with our kids. Well, I take that back. I remember being about 15 years old and my next door neighbor, who was in her early 30s, had two young children (ages 2 and infant) that I sometimes babysat for. It was with them that I started to notice some more overprotectedness that, even as a teen back then, made me go Hmmmm...
By the time my cohorts started having children, it was VASTLY different in how we raised them versus say 10 years prior to what we were doing. Honestly, I think a more heightened media presence started it with "missing children" and abductions and so forth and it has spiraled from there. So were no kids abducted when we were little or were they and it was just not something the media concerned itself with. I don't know.
Hmm. Some interesting thought posted. Yeah, the increase in abductions was a concern for me raising my son. However, like me whenever he ventured out alone he wasnt truly by himself. He would have the dogs tagging along.
Anyone trying to grab him would have had a couple serious critters to get through. An advantage of living in a very rural setting.
So staying at home is a "smart" move. Mmm. Smart for who? For a youngster I suppose it could be seen that way in terms of being eased into Independent life. But as a parent I stressed the importance of independence to my son at an early age. He could function on his own without me and his mother by the time he was 10.
Had a few disagreements with his mother (now my ex) over child rearing methods. Shes an ex for a reason. But I stuck with her till my son was grown and ready to become a real man.
Which he has handily accomplished. As it should be. He turned 24 last Thursday, has his own family which he did WAY earlier in life than me, a great job in a skilled trade,works hard and plays hard, has good things in life and did it all himself.
I helped him pay for trade school, so there is that but what he accomplished with that is all him. Affluence and staying at home. Yeah. Fine. If that's what you wanna do and the financial situation allows it hunky dory. I have never been "rich" so I cant speak as to that.
As to "ok boomer" I dont know if you were serious or being facetious. If the former (yawn) if the latter LOL.
Hmm. Some interesting thought posted. Yeah, the increase in abductions was a concern for me raising my son. However, like me whenever he ventured out alone he wasnt truly by himself. He would have the dogs tagging along.
Anyone trying to grab him would have had a couple serious critters to get through. An advantage of living in a very rural setting.
So staying at home is a "smart" move. Mmm. Smart for who? For a youngster I suppose it could be seen that way in terms of being eased into Independent life. But as a parent I stressed the importance of independence to my son at an early age. He could function on his own without me and his mother by the time he was 10.
Had a few disagreements with his mother (now my ex) over child rearing methods. Shes an ex for a reason. But I stuck with her till my son was grown and ready to become a real man.
Which he has handily accomplished. As it should be. He turned 24 last Thursday, has his own family which he did WAY earlier in life than me, a great job in a skilled trade,works hard and plays hard, has good things in life and did it all himself.
I helped him pay for trade school, so there is that but what he accomplished with that is all him. Affluence and staying at home. Yeah. Fine. If that's what you wanna do and the financial situation allows it hunky dory. I have never been "rich" so I cant speak as to that.
As to "ok boomer" I dont know if you were serious or being facetious. If the former (yawn) if the latter LOL.
part of the problem is that in the rare cases where parents don't want to micromange their kids, and want them to have a small semblance of the freedom that they enjoyed at that age, all hell breaks loose.
these parents almost lost their kids because they trusted them to walk the 2.5 blocks from their house to the museum. https://www.pri.org/stories/2015-04-...r-family-apart
Generation Jones (tail end Boomer) and been hearing this for a while now. Yea we played outside all the time as kids, got dirty, that was life. But we didn't have video games and internet which is responsible for people of just about all age groups staying indoors more now. Technology has changed the way we live.
Last edited by raggedjim; 02-20-2020 at 08:30 AM..
Reason: Love to edit!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
