Parenting In These Times

I'm terrified to be a parent, a reason why I'm not expecting yet. I see such bad parenting day in and day out....it's like parents don't parent anymore. They are too busy on their IPAD, IPOD, IPHONE, Droid, etc to watch their kids. Or they are after their own agenda (filling their calendar's, etc). Here are two things in the news and from what I hear that caught my attention.

First and foremost is this article http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/123895319.html?jCount=2#comments. A tragic accident had occured in Wildwood, NJ where an 11 year old girl was riding the ferris wheel by herself during a trip to the shore for having good grades. It was a school sponsored trip. She was alone in the ferris wheel which climbes to 150 feet. She fell out of her gondola at about 100 feet and tragically passed away. It is such a shame that this happened. There was no witnesses or anything so they have been investigating the cause since the beginning of June when it occured. Everything is pointing to the girl causing it, by either kneeling in the gondola or leaning out to talk to friends, etc. At this point, the parents are hiring lawyers to investigate further. In the years that Morey's Pier has been in operation, no such accident has occured before this one. Yes, it's sad, but your little girl was just buried and you're worried about money? Nobody hires a lawyer to investigate and expects not to receive any money. It seems the amusement park is not at fault and there was no negligence on their part, but yet the parents are already thinking lawsuit. They want it to be mandated that you cannot ride alone and that there be seatbelts. Okay, what about the poor single guy that goes to Wildwood alone to see the sights and would like to ride the ferris wheel....he can't if they pass this because you can't ride alone. Or even the third wheel in a group outing...guess that person will just have to ride in the gondola with the happy couple and watch them make out, or wait for them on the ground. Sounds like fun.

And seatbelts. I can see that, maybe. The gondola from what I remember is pretty much enclosed, but there are bars that you can peek your head/body out of and you can get out if you wanted to....WANTED to. When I rode that thing (it goes high) I didn't move an inch from where I was, in fear that if I did, I'd tip it over. I know now that can't happen, but whatever, that's nor hear nor there. But do parents teach their kids that when they are on a ride to sit still or follow the rules? I'm sure in this day in age, there's signs everywhere by rides saying to keep your hands and feet inside at all times. In Great Adventure, there's signs AND they are on the PA system by the ride explaining such things. But I bet you even with all those as precautions, if someone were to jump off a ride, the parents or family would sue.

Accidents happen..that's why they are called accidents. This shouldn't be a way for the parents to hit a jackpot. They should be mourning their loss of their child, and if they were serious about seatbelts, not riding alone, they should be talking to their congress people, not a lawyer.

I also heard on the radio that a friend had emailed the host about having a fight with the teachers at her child's school. Her son had taken a test and the teacher graded the test with a red pen...so if you got a question wrong, it was marked with an X or whatever with a red pen. She says that color is too harsh, like the teacher is yelling at the child and wanted the papers/tests to be graded in purple ink.

REALLY? What are we teaching kids at this age? In BOTH scenarios. And what are parents doing? Making it easy on them AND their children. These kids are growing up thinking they are entitled to this and that and the parents ENABLE them. Even on the Suze Orman Money Class show...she had interviewed kids regarding allowances. The kids that she talked to received allowance and when she asked what they did to get their money (thinking, dishes, laundry, chores, etc) she got answers like 'Well, I was born wasn't I?" and when asked if they got more then their younger siblings "Well, yea, I'm older, so I should get more money". Wow. These kids are in for a rude awakening when they grow up. Parents now make it so easy on little Johnny and Mary that when they don't get a job what are they going to do???? Even a guest on the Suze Orman show last week got to me. They were 28 years old, newly married. She has a master's degree and he had a JD. They had a lot of student loan debt and felt they deserved x, y, and z because they have worked so hard....at 28???? really? You went to school and just started working....yet you've 'worked' hard? What are they going to be thinking in 30 YEARS when they've worked for 30 years, not 1 or 2? It's really sad to see what people think and how skewed everything is.

I may take my parents for granted at times, but you know what? They raised me and look how I turned out? I think I turned out pretty damn well if I do say so myself. I may think they didn't parent me well growing up because I didn't always get what I want, but I have a friend that always got what he wanted and he's sooooo messed up it's not even funny. But me, who got grounded, told I couldn't have brand new clothes every year, couldn't have any new gadgets, etc grew up to have a great head on my shoulders. I just don't know if I can or could be half as wonderful as a parent that my parents were to me.