"It is really difficult to parent teenagers these days!"
I am pretty sure that every generation of parents has made the following statement about every generation of children, but does this statement become more true for each generation? I think it might.
My parents were born in the 1940's, WWII, in the first half of the decade, followed by the Cold War and the post war boom which lasted well into the 1970's. The first computer was built and so was the first atomic bomb (ouch!) along with radar, ballistic missiles, jet aircraft, the Jeep, the commercial television, the slinky, the microwave oven, Velcro, Tupperware and the frisbee! I am sure parents of children born in the 1940's were concerned about what the future held for their rock 'n roll, hip gyrating, Elvis Presley and Beetle loving children's souls!
I was born in the 1970's when man first walked on the moon, the first face lifts were attempted and the first MRI image was published, this was the worst economic decade since the great depression. Nelson Mandela was already in jail and Maggie Thatcher was the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I grew up with TV games and video machines, tape decks, pocket calculators and the ingenious walkman! You were super cool if you had a cordless phone or an answering machine and smoking was unrestricted in public places and was even admired.
My first child was born in 1998, we had dial-up internet and many homes had personal computers with an amazing 16MB capacity! Apartheid had ended and Nelson Mandela was not only a free man but the President. Cell phones were widely used and e-commerce began to build. Digital cameras were commercially available and Apple introduced the iMac Computer. CD's had taken over from cassette tapes and computers came standard with a CD burner. The DVD format was introduced and pagers were widely popular.
My second child was born in 2000 - a millennium baby! A time for massive growth of the internet, 9/11 and the war on terror and later in this decade, the Global Financial Crisis. The first robot landed on Mars, space tourism began, broadband accelerated the internet and Facebook took over the world, along with smart phones and YouTube. These kids live their lives online and cannot comprehend a world without instant gratification.
It is scary parenting now. We have to protect our children from and educate them about the whole world-wide-web of information. There is nothing that they cannot find on Google and books are becoming obsolete, along with asking your parents for information. Today a good figure is all about the thigh gap and how short/tight/sexy your clothes are, is your hair and make-up okay for school? What does the future hold? As a mother of girls this can be a terrifying concept!
This week I watched the Video Music Awards with my daughters, I was really astounded by the tiny pieces of cloth these singers were clad in as well as the degree of sexuality that was displayed on stage. I wonder what my grandparents would think? Soft-porn was the description that sprung to my mind. I am not a prude and I believe that a woman is a sexual being and should be able to celebrate her sexuality as much as her male counterparts but watching the men perform, was not nearly as lewd. I recall last year when Mylie's twerking was all anyone could talk about (now most female artists are wearing what is essentially underwear and even dry humping their own hands on stage, etc).
What is happening? Why was there so much hype about Robin Thicke's "Good Girls" - because he dared to degrade and undermine women; where now they seem to be doing a pretty good job of that all by themselves. I was proud of NZ's own Lorde who walked out in her modest pants suit and showed that talent does not require near nakedness but wonder if there could not be a healthy balance please? Come on celebrities! You are setting a standard for what is acceptable for our teenagers to emulate and you all look like skanky ho's - shame on you! Everyone was raving about Beyonce's performance - she is an entertainer and a talented singer but her latest album is, in my opinion self-indulgent crap. Her performance was polished but rather than being called a display of feminism I am old fashioned enough to say it was overly suggestive, left nothing to the imagination and that I would be embarrassed if my children saw me moving around like that for the world to see, and not just because I am fat ;-)
Go to http://time.com/3169492/vmas-2014-recap-best-moments-highlights/ to see what I mean, although they all thought it was great?
Colby Callait made a fabulous video, TRY to show our girls that it is okay to just be yourself - sadly she was not featured at the VMA's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8
So far I know that by the time my children are adults people will be living on Mars. Maybe wonderful things will happen, perhaps a cure/vaccine for cancer, or maybe doctors will learn more about the nervous system and how to manage pain. I have no doubt that my girls will be wonderful and successful adults but the rest, at this stage, is really unpredictable and that is scary for a parent. I know the challenges that each generation face are unique but looking at how fast things are changing now what will that future look like?
I will have challenges of my own, e.g. Will I feel unable and/or unwilling to keep up with technology.
Oh well, que sera and hold thumbs!
I am pretty sure that every generation of parents has made the following statement about every generation of children, but does this statement become more true for each generation? I think it might.
My parents were born in the 1940's, WWII, in the first half of the decade, followed by the Cold War and the post war boom which lasted well into the 1970's. The first computer was built and so was the first atomic bomb (ouch!) along with radar, ballistic missiles, jet aircraft, the Jeep, the commercial television, the slinky, the microwave oven, Velcro, Tupperware and the frisbee! I am sure parents of children born in the 1940's were concerned about what the future held for their rock 'n roll, hip gyrating, Elvis Presley and Beetle loving children's souls!
I was born in the 1970's when man first walked on the moon, the first face lifts were attempted and the first MRI image was published, this was the worst economic decade since the great depression. Nelson Mandela was already in jail and Maggie Thatcher was the first woman Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I grew up with TV games and video machines, tape decks, pocket calculators and the ingenious walkman! You were super cool if you had a cordless phone or an answering machine and smoking was unrestricted in public places and was even admired.
My first child was born in 1998, we had dial-up internet and many homes had personal computers with an amazing 16MB capacity! Apartheid had ended and Nelson Mandela was not only a free man but the President. Cell phones were widely used and e-commerce began to build. Digital cameras were commercially available and Apple introduced the iMac Computer. CD's had taken over from cassette tapes and computers came standard with a CD burner. The DVD format was introduced and pagers were widely popular.
My second child was born in 2000 - a millennium baby! A time for massive growth of the internet, 9/11 and the war on terror and later in this decade, the Global Financial Crisis. The first robot landed on Mars, space tourism began, broadband accelerated the internet and Facebook took over the world, along with smart phones and YouTube. These kids live their lives online and cannot comprehend a world without instant gratification.
It is scary parenting now. We have to protect our children from and educate them about the whole world-wide-web of information. There is nothing that they cannot find on Google and books are becoming obsolete, along with asking your parents for information. Today a good figure is all about the thigh gap and how short/tight/sexy your clothes are, is your hair and make-up okay for school? What does the future hold? As a mother of girls this can be a terrifying concept!
This week I watched the Video Music Awards with my daughters, I was really astounded by the tiny pieces of cloth these singers were clad in as well as the degree of sexuality that was displayed on stage. I wonder what my grandparents would think? Soft-porn was the description that sprung to my mind. I am not a prude and I believe that a woman is a sexual being and should be able to celebrate her sexuality as much as her male counterparts but watching the men perform, was not nearly as lewd. I recall last year when Mylie's twerking was all anyone could talk about (now most female artists are wearing what is essentially underwear and even dry humping their own hands on stage, etc).
What is happening? Why was there so much hype about Robin Thicke's "Good Girls" - because he dared to degrade and undermine women; where now they seem to be doing a pretty good job of that all by themselves. I was proud of NZ's own Lorde who walked out in her modest pants suit and showed that talent does not require near nakedness but wonder if there could not be a healthy balance please? Come on celebrities! You are setting a standard for what is acceptable for our teenagers to emulate and you all look like skanky ho's - shame on you! Everyone was raving about Beyonce's performance - she is an entertainer and a talented singer but her latest album is, in my opinion self-indulgent crap. Her performance was polished but rather than being called a display of feminism I am old fashioned enough to say it was overly suggestive, left nothing to the imagination and that I would be embarrassed if my children saw me moving around like that for the world to see, and not just because I am fat ;-)
Go to http://time.com/3169492/vmas-2014-recap-best-moments-highlights/ to see what I mean, although they all thought it was great?
Colby Callait made a fabulous video, TRY to show our girls that it is okay to just be yourself - sadly she was not featured at the VMA's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8
So far I know that by the time my children are adults people will be living on Mars. Maybe wonderful things will happen, perhaps a cure/vaccine for cancer, or maybe doctors will learn more about the nervous system and how to manage pain. I have no doubt that my girls will be wonderful and successful adults but the rest, at this stage, is really unpredictable and that is scary for a parent. I know the challenges that each generation face are unique but looking at how fast things are changing now what will that future look like?
I will have challenges of my own, e.g. Will I feel unable and/or unwilling to keep up with technology.
Oh well, que sera and hold thumbs!
