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Sat 7 May, 2005 12:51 am
Teach your kids to be self sufficient.
I bet few of you have a clue.
You mean actually be a parent and raise respsonsible kids? Teach that they have to work for things, and that nothing is "owed" them? Teach them the values that you want them to have? Maybe the difference between right and wrong? And of course lets not forget, that their actions may include consequences? Great idea...Worked for me when my parents did it. Maybe if more did, it may actually work.
Too many of my fellow Baby Boomers decided, at some point in their parentage, to value coolness over effectiveness.
Ours was the first generation to not only defy, but denigrate our parents.
Our parents who jitter bugged to hyper-cool (for the time) Glen Miller might have thought their parents square for preferring Rudy Vallee, but they didn't sneer at their values and culture. We, for good or bad, did.
This anti-establishment attitude was expressed, to one extent or the other, as "cool." The antithesis of "cool" was the acceptance of our parents' values.
Our parents didn't worry about the endurance of their "coolness;" we did.
An absolutely sure sign of a failed parent is this comment:
"We're much more like sisters than mother and daughter."
The minute you are anything but a parent to your child you are in trouble, and the ill effect of that trouble bears down on your child more than you.
And here is the argument for some form of conservatism: Progressive Baby Boomers, in general, didn't get it right, unless they reverted to the traditional values of their parents.
Conservatism is the answer. Haw.
Finn - I'm at the tail (read: "young") end of the baby boom generation. I can pretty much agree with a lot of what you're saying - but I can't go along with politicizing this phenomenom. I think a lot of it has to do with characteristics such as selfishness and the need for instant gratification. I don't believe those traits have anything at all to do with whether one is conservative or liberal.
Re: How to Save America
cjhsa wrote:Teach your kids to be self sufficient.
I bet few of you have a clue.
So then we should increase Estate taxes instead of ending them?
Re: How to Save America
cjhsa wrote:Teach your kids to be self sufficient.
I bet few of you have a clue.
Not being a bit judgemental, eh?
edgarblythe wrote:Conservatism is the answer. Haw.
Actually, this is one area that I would have to agree that a more conservative approach would have been better. Of all the good things the Baby Boomer generation accomplished, parenting is not one of them.
Just curious -What characteristics of good parenting would you cite as "conservative" traits?
I was wondering about that, as well, Aidan. I was raised by my grandparents, both born in the 19th century. I was obliged to work at home, to launder and press my own clothing, to adhere to a schedule for chores and school and meals, and to work outside the home if i found my allowance to be too small. My grandfather was a Democratic precinct committeeman, and it would not by any stretch of the imagination be reasonable to describe either him or his wife as conservative.
I that question for me, I never mentioned conservative traits. I would have preffered as collective parents we would have taken a more traditional, less permissive approach. But that opens up a Pandora's Box of all sorts of societal ills. The Cleaver approach, if it ever existed, would not have worked in the seventies.
OTOH, cjhsa's simplisitic solution is absurd. Again, first, let's re-instate the Estate Tax.
Finn d'Abuzz wrote:
And here is the argument for some form of conservatism: Progressive Baby Boomers, in general, didn't get it right, unless they reverted to the traditional values of their parents.
Damn,
Somebody better tell Bill Gates he is a failure according to Finn.
Oh wait. Bill Gates Sr has those traditional values of caring for others. He oversees the Bill Gates foundation and has spoken out rather forcefully against the repeal of the estate tax.
Hmm... Seems conservatism has NOTHING to do with it.
Setanta - I on the other hand was raised by a politically very conservative father and a kind of middle of the road mother. My upbringing sounds a lot like yours - I was one of six kids and I was making supper for eight and ironing my dad's white shirts for work by the time I was ten - and this was in those "free-wheeling" seventies.
If I had to describe myself, I'm definitely more politically liberal, but I recognize the personal value to be found in hard work and independence and have raised my children in much the same way my parents raised me. I don't indulge them in the materialism or consumerism that has become an ingrained characteristic of American people of every political persuasion. I've taught them to be responsible, not only for themselves, but for others as well, and that kindness and compassion toward all people should be foremost in their thoughts - exactly as my conservative parents taught me. It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character.
We need to stop dividing our society in the name of politics and work together to instill character in our children.
Setanta wrote:I was wondering about that, as well, Aidan. I was raised by my grandparents, both born in the 19th century. I was obliged to work at home, to launder and press my own clothing, to adhere to a schedule for chores and school and meals, and to work outside the home if i found my allowance to be too small. My grandfather was a Democratic precinct committeeman, and it would not by any stretch of the imagination be reasonable to describe either him or his wife as conservative.
C,mon Setanta, everyone knows that democrats don't work or do anything. They are just lazy. Like my grandfather that was a democrat precint chairman, he was so lazy he delivered milk from a horsedrawn wagon for a while. All those democrats he delivered to must have been just too lazy to go to the supermarket and pick it up for themselves.
BTW I did not read Finn's post. I rarely do. I vehemently disagree that the permissive, lack of disciplinary approach had ANYTHING to do with the parents political beliefs. There are legions of politically conservative parents who take a slipshod approach to parenting.
aidan wrote:Setanta - I on the other hand was raised by a politically very conservative father and a kind of middle of the road mother. My upbringing sounds a lot like yours - I was one of six kids and I was making supper for eight and ironing my dad's white shirts for work by the time I was ten - and this was in those "free-wheeling" seventies.
If I had to describe myself, I'm definitely more politically liberal, but I recognize the personal value to be found in hard work and independence and have raised my children in much the same way my parents raised me. I don't indulge them in the materialism or consumerism that has become an ingrained characteristic of American people of every political persuasion. I've taught them to be responsible, not only for themselves, but for others as well, and that kindness and compassion toward all people should be foremost in their thoughts - exactly as my conservative parents taught me. It has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with character.
We need to stop dividing our society in the name of politics and work together to instill character in our children.
It seems the character some want to instill in their children is hatred for others that don't share their political views.
Character for me is the willingness to sacrifice something of yours to benefit somone else that is worse off than you are. The US has been at its best when we have been willing to do so. It is at its worst when we demand that we get to keep everything for ourselves.
Chrissee wrote:BTW I did not read Finn's post. I rarely do. I vehemently disagree that the permissive, lack of disciplinary approach had ANYTHING to do with the parents political beliefs. There are legions of politically conservative parents who take a slipshod approach to parenting.
Are you saying Paris Hilton had slipshod parenting?
Parados- Yes!!! - and it drives me insane - because I know and love so many wonderful conservative people and great liberal people and this incessant intolerance (from both sides) is just so non-productive. Who people are and what they need should transcend political ideology. We're dying here and we're arguing "isms". I'm so relieved to hear someone else say that.
And while I have you here - on a lighter note - I read one of your posts in which you mentioned Napoleon Dynamite and Best in Show as movies you found funny. (DrewDad's topic about crummy movies or somesuch). I love both of those and wondered if you had any other suggestions since we both seem to have a similar sense or humor (and political philosophy, it would seem as well). Sorry to do this here, but I can't pm yet. Thanks for any suggestions you might have.
You know, it just amazes how in a completely non political side taking post by Finn, just the mention of the word conservative has set off this big name calling, my side is better than your side affair. Place is getting to be just the US Congress. All name calling and mud slinging and nothing ever being discussed.
Did any of you realize that a conservative or liberal approach to something CAN be taken without being political? Case in point, after a recent shoulder operation my Dr said his approach to the rehab was rather conservative. Now I didn't think anything political about his comment, but rather that we were going to err on the side of catuion.
I also was raised by Democratic parents. Very conservative, raised in the Depression, Democrat parents, and they instilled in me very good values and a good work ethic.
Maybe, just maybe, that its possible that there are good parents and crappy parents from both sides of the political spectrum?
I think that's what everyone was saying.
It may have been me that politicized it - if so I didn't mean to. I was just asking what might "conservative" parenting methods entail that would be different than "liberal" parenting methods.
Sorry for any offense.
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