Have we turned our children into wimps?

[Nograts]

Kids need to study like the Chinese before they do any work. I want a robot sex slave before I die dagnabit.....zzzzz....

 

[Mixolydian]

Kids need to study like the Chinese before they do any work. I want a robot sex slave before I die dagnabit.....zzzzz....

That's the biggest part of it IMO. Society values education more than anything else these days.

 

[Deeko]

Yeah but those last generation things were a bit shit... I mean not at the time but its not like anyone got hooked on atari like people get hooked on MMO's

Mega drive/Genesis was my childhood console and I still went outside plenty because I got bored with it after a while. Multiplayer changes the game significantly, it takes much longer to get bored playing with/against other people and games have more depth.

Disagree. I had a save game on FF3 where I got every character up to level 99. There's a lot of characters in that game. You could absolutely get just as hooked on those systems.

 

[Art&Science]

Have we turned our children into wimps?

Oh absolutely we have.

 

[waggy]

i gotta say i doubt you were out playing football in -20 with wind. you can't stay out long without getting hurt.


I think a big part of if kids are active or not is where they live and the parents. we only have 3 acres but its enough to take care of. both my kids (8 and 12) work hard on it (they grow tomatoes!).

They are also in sports. my daughter does 16-24 hours of gymnastics a week. My son used to do a ton of diffrent martial arts. he decided he wants to do gymnastics (and loves it). now he does 3 days of gymnastics (3.5 hours a week) and a few hours of a MMA style class. no punching though so more like a catch wrestling or submission wrestling.

all the my kids friends are busy too. from taking care of animals to working on farms (in the summer my kids help). I gotta admit i dont know of any lazy kids.

As for doing the lawn we are on 3 acres. i did pay the neighbor $30 to mow it 2-3 times when i was sick (and my daughter couldn't reach the peddles..lol she still can't). We get far to many drifts for them to shovel. though i make htem do the walkway from the door to the driveway.

Disagree. I had a save game on FF3 where I got every character up to level 99. There's a lot of characters in that game. You could absolutely get just as hooked on those systems.

lol i did the same. I played that game for years until my SNES died and i couldn't find another. I had nearly every toon level 99.

 

[krose]

Kids today have everything handed to them, no need to work for money.

 

[feralkid]

Kids today have everything handed to them, no need to work for money.

Really? Where do we get these handouts?

 

[brianmanahan]

yet another way that the french are much, much better than us

 

[ninaholic37]

Fun Fact. Your seniors probably though the exact same thing about you old farts.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/52209/15-historical-complaints-about-young-people-ruining-everything

Haha, I remember a commercial from the 80s or 90s, with a grandpa telling his grandkids: "When I was your age, I used to walk 50 miles to school every day... through 20 feet of snow... and molten lava... barefoot in my pajamas... upsidedown" or something like that. His story kept changing and getting more ridiculous as he told it. Wish I could find the commercial again.

 

[manimal]

I gotta admit i dont know of any lazy kids.

Pretty much. Kids these days have so many more activities and shit they can do its not even funny. We are pretty lucky we can afford to do what we do for our kids but for the most part all my wifes friends kids are running around like crazy at all ages.


Shrug


Now most of them are brats but thats a different thread

 

[bradly1101]

I don't have children. When I was younger I shoveled snow to make extra money. In the summer I cut lawns.

We used to perch ourselves across from the ravine at the ninth hole of a local tony golf course, and when the inevitable ball didn't make it across we'd go shag it for anything from a nickel to the rare dollar. But back then a soda and a candy bar (foods that were normally forbidden) cost less than a quarter for both.

 

[HeXen]

And those parents said the EXACT SAME SHIT about the kids who played that crap.

Same as when the TV came out, before that radio, before that comic books, before that pulp fiction novels, again and again and again.

Every single generation will find something dumb to gripe about with the new generation.

Definitely true but there is actual harm in some ways today that weren't so much in previous generations. Example: those that got so addicted to MMO's that they skipped a lot of school, stayed up for days straight..etc.
Cell phone addiction appears equally harmful with texting and driving. Some people use it so much that they ignore everyone around them at all times.
Energy drink addictions...then again my gen had coke/lsd and other drug addictions as well but I'm referring to marketed legal stuff and I don't recall junk food and drinks being so addictive as a kid other than maybe sugary stuff like cereal or yoohoo drinks.

At least with my TV/NES generation, we had ways to cope without them if the electricity went out where kids today act out in anger or some weird ADHD fit when the electric is out and batteries run dry. I can read a book, clean or whatever but my step kids and their friends either have anger fits, annoy others to a rage or just can't sit still long enough to focus on doing alternative things....it's pretty sad. A natural evolution of our society perhaps.

Just as sad is that for some reason, my generation is full of helicopter moms which certainly isn't going to make leaders out of their kids.

 

[Crono]

Stop whining, OP. Back in my day, we didn't whine... because we didn't have time for it.

Time-wasting whippersnappers.

 

[StrangerGuy]

And those parents said the EXACT SAME SHIT about the kids who played that crap.

Same as when the TV came out, before that radio, before that comic books, before that pulp fiction novels, again and again and again.

Every single generation will find something dumb to gripe about with the new generation.

I noticed a pattern, it's always the same dumbasses who don't embrace new technology that can easily benefit them but instead spend all the time and effort to deride those who uses as are dumb/lazy/whatever.

 

[pcgeek11]

Sounds like sour grapes to me.
Lets face it.
If you had iPhone, and xBox back in the 50's, 60's, 70's or even 80's, and if your parent asked you to go out and shovel snow, you'd reply as kids of today reply.
"Go Fuck Yourself, mom. I'm on level 15".
Any more questions? I didn't think so.

Yeah... I can tell you know nothing about growing up back in the 1950's through the 60's.

If i said that to my parents ( either one or any adult ) I would be picking myself up out of the yard...

 

[KLin]

I wanna know why the OP says "Our" when he has no kids.

 

[turtile]

Around here, most people just pay for a service to cut there lawn because they don't want to deal with off chance that a teen might not be able to cut the lawn right when it needs it or stops working due to school activities.

And when someone wants a teen for price, they'll try to pay them $10 for a 1/4 lot... Why would anyone work for that cheap - much better just to get a job somewhere at minimum wage.

As for $40 for a professional service, I don't see how that's expensive. Generally, an employee will make $12 an hour cutting lawns. They have to drive to the lawn, use a company truck, company trailer, company mower, leaf blower, edger etc. The employer has to pay social security, Medicare, unemployment taxes on every hour the employee works. They have to pay for gas, oil, insurance and maintenance on all equipment. Pay for advertising, collect payments, communicate with customers, route plans... and pay the tax on what's left over.

So yes, that $40 is justified... Anyone who charges less will be out of business in no time!

 

[schmuckley]

Yep.
Here's a little secret on how to deal with a bully.
Punch him square in the nose as hard as you can and punching.
I got got bullied a lil bit.. the bigger kids stuck up for me, though.
I never back down.

 

[Black Octagon]

I always chuckle when folks do this..

"Kids these days have no work ethic / manners / (any other cliché)"

"When I was a kid I used to (blah blah blah)"

"I blame the PARENTS"

LOL. So in other words, you're really saying that parents aren't what they used to be. More importantly, the fault is yours and your contemporaries'

 

[pcgeek11]

And when someone wants a teen for price, they'll try to pay them $10 for a 1/4 lot... Why would anyone work for that cheap - much better just to get a job somewhere at minimum wage.

An idiot can cut a quarter acre lot in less than an hour. And he would be making better than minimum wage.

 

[CPA]

I used to walk 3 miles to and back from high school in the freaking winter and then when I got home shoveled snow!

/oldman rant

You weren't the only one.

 

[Puppies04]

Red squirrel 8.5/10

 

[NikolaeVarius]

An idiot can cut a quarter acre lot in less than an hour. And he would be making better than minimum wage.

Except a minimum wage job would allow more hours worked then the 1-2 hours it would take to mow a lawn.

 

[pcgeek11]

Except a minimum wage job would allow more hours worked then the 1-2 hours it would take to mow a lawn.

Maybe so, Maybe no. It all depends. There are too many variables.

Lets say the kid has 40 1/4 acre lots to cut a week... Then what? Your turn.

I have a little better than a quarter acre lot. I can cut it with a walk behind mower in about 50 minutes taking my time and I'm nearly 60.

I had a kid come by last summer and ask if I wanted my grass cut, no edging no bushes trimmed just the grass. I was feeling lazy so I asked him how much and he wanted to see the yard in back. He looked around and came back and said he could do it for 50$. I said No you cannot do it for 50$, what makes you think your time is worth over 50$ and hour? He had no viable answer.

That is the prevalent mentality of today's youth.

 

[Puppies04]

Maybe so, Maybe no. It all depends. There are too many variables.

Lets say the kid has 40 1/4 acre lots to cut a week... Then what? Your turn.

I have a little better than a quarter acre lot. I can cut it with a walk behind mower in about 50 minutes taking my time and I'm nearly 60.

I had a kid come by last summer and ask if I wanted my grass cut, no edging no bushes trimmed just the grass. I was feeling lazy so I asked him how much and he wanted to see the yard in back. He looked around and came back and said he could do it for 50$. I said No you cannot do it for 50$, what makes you think your time is worth over 50$ and hour? He had no viable answer.

That is the prevalent mentality of today's youth.

I hope you then yelled "Now get off my lawn".