Are we raising a generation of whiners?

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Jean — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:01:58 GMT

I am a 32 year old white female. I have a husband and 2 children. We both have parents who done well for themselfs. We work hard both of us over 40 hours a week. Daycare is extremely costly so my parents pay half of our daycare expenses to help us out. $300.00 a week would make it immposiable to justifiy working, infact I would stay at home if I didn't need health insurance. I grew up as a competitive swimmer and I belive compitition in key in giving children goals. You don't have to be the best to feel successfull you just have to do the best you can do. We are not all created equal but we all have the right to inspire to be more than we are. This will only hold true as long as america remains free. We need to teach our children the values of our ancestors and make sure they understand the consitution. We need to stop changing our consitution to make whinners as I have heard so many of you say feel good. We are one nation under God and we should stay that way. You can choose who your God is I truely don't care but don't tell me who mine should be. I think the old have a right to *** about there social security disapearing. I think we all have a right to *** about it. Any one who has worked and paid taxes should be intitled to this benifit. If you never worked or paid taxes to bad you don't get it. We need to stop handing out money. If people are hungry give them food. If they need a roof over there heads give them a shelter. If they want more than this they will learn to work like the rest of us. All children should learn the value of money and education and that needs to really be inforced in schools since there are so many crappy parents these days. If a child want the best and newest make them work for it and don't get caught up in brand names, every child should have items from goodwill and salvation army. Vacations are great only if you can afford them and make them special not 3 times a year. Read to your kids, make them help you clean the house and wash your car. Take family bike rides and walk your dog and make time on sundays to worship who ever inspires you, even if its yourself. This generation of children is scary. I see parents who don't disipline there children or make them follow rules. I see every kid getting an award for doing what they are supposed to, not for truely being special. If we don't chang our ways we will fail our children and america as we know it will be gone forever. There is a qoute I love. History is doomed to repeat it's self. If you don't teach your children the past we will live it again. I fear we are already heading back to our roots. Look at the taxes we pay to live in this country. Seems to me we are being taxed back the very economics our great great great forfathers got on boats to escape.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

LB — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 05:17:05 GMT

I totally agree with WD. The Gen X and Y are given anything they ask for money, cars, education totally paid for, and when something doesnt go right in their life, turned down for a job, they dont know how to deal with rejection. And it is partially the fault of the baby boomer generation. They feel they need to give their kids everything they didnt have, which is a big mistake.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

rick — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 04:10:36 GMT

What isn't addressed is the lack of direction that my generation (Born 1958) and THE my kids generation after that was affected by the breakup of families and the lack of good male and female examples. Yes there was abuse and societal problems.

The big difference is the l a c k o f s h a m e for wrong harmful behavior and consequence for paticipation in it. We celebrate immorality and irresponsibilty through the media and in life, and then wonder why people, boomers and their children are messed up.

This blog is replete with people saying that "they turned out ok" or that others are messed up not their kids. Truth be told we all fall short of the mark but the big difference that we see nowadays is that people don't care.

We can do better. One way to start is to go outside your house. If you were outside sitting on the porch inviting people up for a beverage on a hot night, your life and your neighborhood would change. Crime would drop. People would begin to care about their neighborhood and fix broken windows, rehab blighted properties. In light of the higher cost of fuel maybe move back from suburbia and the long commute and from a house with a secluded backyeard to a social front porch.

Turn off the TV limit the computer to essential work only. Unplug your children and hug them. Even if they are bigger than you. play ball go for walks to the store, talk to people that are outside your comfort zone. Build bridges of responsibilty instead of working to destroy bastions of moral behavior, i.e .the stupid suit against the Boy Scouts. Teach kids how to do something that you take for granted, a craft or skill.

(Hello grams and gramps!!!) When they learn the satisfaction that comes with something erned and sweated over and the seld respect that comes with it they will be less likely to be a problem in society.

By the way I teach middle school and high school and before I started i thought that "schools were messing up our kids". Mostly we work with what you give us.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

cman — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:48:26 GMT

wwII generation seen the depression and spoiled their kids (Baby boomers) and made them selfish.Most got devorced and neglected their kids.Who are the 35-45 year old generation now and they spoil their kids But this is the 18-30 year olds that do not understand responsability . Its a cycle that has been going on a long time.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Tony — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:14:29 GMT

Kid these days are whiners and are being trained to be that way by their parents and articles like this. Everyone in this country has all the opportunities they need. It just seems that most are too lazy to act upon them. WAKE UP AMERICA!!! It's time to stop looking for the free ride to the American Dream. Get off your dead ass and do something. I work hard everyday to get what little I have for me and my family. If everyone would quit concerning themselves with what's wrong with the world and the economy and start doing something about it, we wouldn't be in this mess. If you want to whine about something, whine about how lazy YOU are and how YOU are teaching your kids to be just like you.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Kent — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:49:30 GMT

As Jim said, there is a difference between whining and asserting--the difference is action. We live in a society that is sick in many ways--pampered, unmotivated kids, overly greedy multimillionaires (Dick Grasso, listen up), apathetic adults, religious zealots on the extreme right, goofy and radical lefties on the extreme left, people who don't vote, too many gas guzzlers on the roads, Medicare bankruptcy looming, and on and on. Pick your favorite and write to your congressperson about it. Do something, do anything. That's assertiveness, not whining; and tell those who would call you a whiner to screw off--those with the rose-colored glasses are the worst. They're why the country is in trouble.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:07:09 GMT

I suggest teaching your children value of money early in their lives. Let them save up for it. Show them you faced the same choices.

Once the children gets older, let them manage their finances and do not bail them out.

I was financially under the gun for my teenage and college years and learn fast about "time value of money" and fortunate enough to learn personal finance in high school (which is a shame now those courses are gone.)

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Tony — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:36:18 GMT

the answer to that question is YES. This country is full of whiners. Incompetent whiners at that. Nobody owes you anything. Get off the union bandwagon and goto school and compete with the world. Don't look to the government, because the government does not care about you. You are your own private business in this world, and you need to make the best product/service for the best price. Government regulation, liberals, and "we're all winners" attitudes made the country weak and dependant. It's time to leave Sesame st and face reality.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Mike — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:32:52 GMT

I'm 29 years old and I might be concidered a whinner. You're darn right I'm gonna speak up if I see American corporations like GM slash thousands of jobs, it cost $75 dollars a week to fill up my tiny car, $1000 per month for my two kids to go to daycare, unaffordale healthcare, a stock market that is at two year lows, and oh, we're in the middle of a war that is bankrupting us. This is supposed to be the land of opportunity and advancement. The problem is that I'm from Arizona not Beijing.

re: Are we raising a generation of whiners?

Snatty — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 22:14:22 GMT

I don't think they are whiners, but they are ill prepared for the change in the standard of living that's headed their way.