By Colleen Pulley
I passed by a grandmother that was telling her granddaughter about the joy of climbing her favorite oak tree when she was young. I smiled to myself as I thought of the many stories I had passed on to my grandchildren about my own childhood. This got me thinking about the differences between the generations.
During my childhood families were bigger, usually four or more children in each house. I do not remember my mother or father monitoring my activities. The older children were generally the day-to-day teachers of the younger ones. Everyone walked to school together, without our parents. As soon as the younger children knew their way to school, they were expected to walk to school with the other younger children. Generally, we were expected to complete our school assignments with little help from mom or dad.
I grew up in a small unincorporated town in Oregon. It had a grammar school that was originally built in the late 1890’s. It had been updated over the years, but maintained its outward appearance. It taught 1st through 5th grade, and then a school bus took you into the next town for middle school and high school.
Unless we had specific chores that needed to be done, our time was pretty much free. There were few restrictions on us as children. I was never afraid to go anywhere.
By the time I was seven, I could tell mom that I was going to a friend’s house three to four blocks away. I was free to go, unsupervised. By the time I was eight, I would go to a friend’s house six to eight blocks away.
My husband grew up in a small town in Washington. His childhood was similar to mine. He walked the seven to eight blocks to school on his own, despite the weather. Kids could arrive at school by 8:00 AM, grab the sports equipment and go out and play unsupervised on the playground for 45 minutes. There was such freedom in outdoor activities at school.
By eight he would pack a sack lunch, tell his mom he was going to Snipe’s Mountain, about a a mile away, with his friend Kirk. Together they would pull his red wagon to the top of Snipes Mountain and be gone several hours.
By age 9 he was beginning to help his older sister mow and trim the lawn. By age 10 he was doing the lawn with a power mower by himself.
Both of us were free to explore and experience life, stumble and fall, learn from our mistakes, then get up and keep growing. This is different than what our children experienced and very different from what our grandchildren are experiencing.
Things have certainly changed since those days. By the time we were parents, we made sure we knew where our kids were and who they were with. We knew who their teachers were and what their assignments were, and whether we needed to help them with a project. And we trusted the adults they were interacting with.
For our children who are parents today, things are quite different. Whereas we could trust the adult teaching our children, they cannot. Parents today must be on the guard for what is being taught in the schools, as well as others influences in a child’s life. For example, teachers can be teaching their child that sexuality is fluid. That if they feel like a girl, though they are a boy, they can be a girl.
During the 70s women fought for the right to be recognized as female athletes and have female sports teams. Now those rights are being challenged by biological males who are competing for positions on female teams, and scholarships.
More and more women are sounding the alarm about trusted organizations such as the YMCA where a middle-aged man was in the women’s showers. When it was reported to the front desk, they were told he had the right to be there. In another situation, parents were told by their daughter an overnight field trip would allow boys to sleep with the girls if they said they identified as a girl. When the parents approached the school board, they were informed that if their daughter felt uncomfortable, she could be put in a room by herself. What in the world is happening here?
Parents today need to be on the offensive when it comes to their children. This is why more and more parents are opting to home-school their children or pick a conservative Christian based school for their children.
Just something to think about. Until later, Colleen.
Key Words – generations, childhood, few restrictions, unsupervised, parents, schools, home school, conservative Christian based school
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