The majority of American families today are in the second and third generations of plenty. It's a challenge to teach a parent who never heard the word "no" to say that same word to their children.
As G. Michael Hopf wrote, "good times make weak men ... and weak men create hard times."
I love this. I grew up without much and my mom had to say no to many requests. We could not afford Brownies or Girl Scouts, or lessons or activities so I read and wrote. I got into Yale and did well. I worked while there and had to deal with the stress of not having the money that many of my classmates did to go out to pizza or whatever. I got better jobs and worked a lot. Learned how to make it.
I grew up in the 1950's in a middle-class home. I was not deprived -- except that I wanted a horse and never got one. Could my parents have managed a horse for me? Probably, but for many reasons, they didn't think it was wise. I lived. And flourished. 😄
+ the risk of a kid on a horse is a very big thing; my late, great Mother fell off a horse when she was a kid & suffered migraine headaches the rest of her life. It’s the same reason my parents would never get me a dirt bike (motorcycle) when I was a teenager. Our family ran a funeral home for over thirty years & my Dad wouldn’t hear of it; he’d buried too many kids who got killed on one.
I knew my parents did a decent job with us when dad told me after I graduated highschool he would gladly work an additional 4 yrs so I could go to college. I replied no pops, you have worked long enough you go to the Mississippi with mom and float on your houseboat I will be enrolling in Vocational school and will work nights to pay for it. You have done more than your share... My friends and I in the trades always took our tools home as we all had side gigs one job just didn't cut it when we all had kids. No regrets, that's what we were taught.
Sounds to me like an extremely balanced family tree Michael...
Exactly! My family was poor and couldn't afford "frills." I still remember, probably at about age 15, wanting go-go boots. They were THE thing. I knew enough to know it was a stretch to even want them and, naturally, the answer was not only "No," but "they'll be out of style so fast, anyway." Well, Mom was right (as, it turns out, she was about a lot of things).
Government does that, too. People who can work but don't, and get some sort of welfare benefits, shouldn't get them. Period. And we can all see which side caves to that type of emotion.
The majority of American families today are in the second and third generations of plenty. It's a challenge to teach a parent who never heard the word "no" to say that same word to their children.
As G. Michael Hopf wrote, "good times make weak men ... and weak men create hard times."
I love this. I grew up without much and my mom had to say no to many requests. We could not afford Brownies or Girl Scouts, or lessons or activities so I read and wrote. I got into Yale and did well. I worked while there and had to deal with the stress of not having the money that many of my classmates did to go out to pizza or whatever. I got better jobs and worked a lot. Learned how to make it.
I grew up in the 1950's in a middle-class home. I was not deprived -- except that I wanted a horse and never got one. Could my parents have managed a horse for me? Probably, but for many reasons, they didn't think it was wise. I lived. And flourished. 😄
+ the risk of a kid on a horse is a very big thing; my late, great Mother fell off a horse when she was a kid & suffered migraine headaches the rest of her life. It’s the same reason my parents would never get me a dirt bike (motorcycle) when I was a teenager. Our family ran a funeral home for over thirty years & my Dad wouldn’t hear of it; he’d buried too many kids who got killed on one.
I knew my parents did a decent job with us when dad told me after I graduated highschool he would gladly work an additional 4 yrs so I could go to college. I replied no pops, you have worked long enough you go to the Mississippi with mom and float on your houseboat I will be enrolling in Vocational school and will work nights to pay for it. You have done more than your share... My friends and I in the trades always took our tools home as we all had side gigs one job just didn't cut it when we all had kids. No regrets, that's what we were taught.
Sounds to me like an extremely balanced family tree Michael...
Exactly! My family was poor and couldn't afford "frills." I still remember, probably at about age 15, wanting go-go boots. They were THE thing. I knew enough to know it was a stretch to even want them and, naturally, the answer was not only "No," but "they'll be out of style so fast, anyway." Well, Mom was right (as, it turns out, she was about a lot of things).
Government does that, too. People who can work but don't, and get some sort of welfare benefits, shouldn't get them. Period. And we can all see which side caves to that type of emotion.