Lazy Kids?

Anna Gregoline | October 26, 2004
Here's a typical statement about the youth:

"The current generation is lazy and lacks discipline."

Do you agree?

Kris Weberg | October 26, 2004
It's always true, I think -- every generation tries to increase the standard of living for their kids. Every generation, until perhaps our parents,* has succeeded. But with a higher living standard generally comes more liesure time, and less discipline and effort needed. Or rather, the field in which effort is needed changes, so the older measures of effort can't keep up or perceive the new means of life.

*A number of social and economic critics believe that we will be the first generation to have a lower "real" standard of living than our parents -- I speak to the 20-30 year-olds on the boards.

Jackie Mason | October 31, 2004
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Kris Weberg | October 31, 2004
On the other hand, sometimes it's good to remember that, prior to the 20th century, not only were children usually made to enter a profession as soon as they could walk and talk, but adults literally expected children to behave as they did.

"Childhood" is really a development of the Victorian era. Before that, you don't even find children's books, just very graphic "moral" rhymes and fairy tales designed to scare children into propriety.

Scott Hardie | November 2, 2004
The Victorians came up with that? I thought it was Baby Boom parents in the 1950s. Granted, kids in the first half of the 20th century weren't exactly factory slaves, but I thought they were expected to keep up with lots of schoolwork and chores, and the idea of childhood playtime/innocence was a myth prior to the 1950s. Anyway, that's what I heard, but I don't know.

You're both right that there's a way to provide for our kids without spoiling them, and that's letting them think they earned it. I had everything I wanted when I was a kid, but I almost never had to do chores, so the smallest household task seems like a heavy burden to me as an adult, and I want to raise kids with a better sense of responsibility.

Kris Weberg | November 2, 2004
Alice in Wonderland is a great example of child culture in the Victorian era. It's when the first exclusively childrens' toys, like hobbyhorses and so on, spring up; and certainly it's the birth of a true children's literature.

Heck, watch A christmas Story, an account of a definitely pre-Boomer era. Boomer parents really did let their kids go wilder than parents before them, but the idea "children should be allowed to play" is Victorian invention, and can be contrasted to the apprenticeships of prior decades and centuries very clearly.

The difference between Boomer child culture and Victorian child culture is one of degree, not concept.

Melissa Erin | November 10, 2004
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