I’ve wanted us to have a blog for a little while now, because I wanted to offer some help for any parents that would like it. It’s such a shame that we receive no training for the most important job of our lives (parenting), but get trained for any other job we might take, no matter how simple it might be. Our national parenting style has undergone a radical change in a relatively short time. When my grandmother was a child, the attitude of parents to their children could be expressed by, ‘Children should be seen and not heard’. Today, children are the centers of their parents’ universe. Neither extreme seems healthy to me. In my Nana’s time, children were left to their own imaginations and were certainly supervised less than they are today. The world was geared toward adults and their interests, and children played with the few toys available and created other tools with which to play. Children didn’t get nearly as much attention as they do now, but they had a lot to look forward to. Becoming an adult was like gaining an identity. Certainly they had an identity before, but they gained rights and privileges they had long looked forward to. Nowadays, children are advertised to and have access to children’s programming on television 24 hours a day. Now, children have more toys than they could count, and consequently care less about any particular toy or stuffed animal. Children expect toys from restaurant visits, toy store visits and even other children’s birthday parties! When I was growing up, I could only expect gifts on my birthday, Hanukah, and maybe if we went on a trip. How many parents have gotten their child(ren) a toy in the last 24 hours? In the last week? What was the occasion? Before, many children were meek when interacting with adults, but now they are often downright rude and disrespectful – even to their own parents! Before, parents would order their children, and now they ask permission.
In the coming weeks, I’ll be going into detail about some of the above and other topics as well. I’ll try to make daily entries, so I’m not sure how long or short they’ll be, and as this is my first try at ‘blogging’, please let me know if there’s anything I can be doing better or any topics you’d like to discuss.

Todd