Generational question.

Jurnee - posted on 06/15/2012

I do notice a differnce between raising my 27 yr old to my 9 yr old. He and his friends woud at times prefer to play video games, or pc games than play outside. but i do make sure that he does get outside time as well, spend time reading, we play board games, etc.

Jennifer - posted on 06/13/2012

What bothers me the most is the lack of writing skills. I was shocked to find out they are no longer teaching cursive, and penmanship is all but gone, too! I can't decipher many text messages, and FB is crazy. Even some of the groups on here are so bad I stopped visiting them. One woman asked about homeschooling, and that was all I could get from a very long post. Scared me silly!!

As far as the other, I hate to see young kids with phones. Parents think those things are babysitters! I've heard my daughters friends lie to their mothers about where they are. Mom's think, "it's ok, I know where my kids are!" Also had a 15 year old boy stay at my house for a whole week, he never saw his parents, just texted them! I would not know either of his parents if I saw them on the street! That is very scary to me. It's also the parents fault, though.

Used wisely, phones are great. My grandmother had 8 pics of her first great grand child within hours of her birth. They were an 8 hour drive apart, but Gramma felt that she was a part of the whole thing. I e-mail my Gramma weekly. She is 87, and nearly deaf, and I am getting to the point that I can't hear either. E-mail and FB keeps us in contact with everyone, even though phones can't! (Gramma has a hearing impaired phone, but most of us can't afford them.) My son is fixing to move across the country. I am so glad that I will still be able to be apart of his life. It is a great time we are living in. We can live across the globe from family and friends, and still have daily contact. I use to loose contact with foriegn friends that I made in school, they'd move home, and letters would eventually stop. Now, e-mail and FB makes it feel like we are right beside each other!

Jakki - posted on 06/10/2012

It does still depend a bit on the individual eg my dad is 78 but is totally into facebook and my mum pesters him all the time to get off it. But she's really into my iphone and is trying to work out how to get one herself.

But obviously I agree there is a generational thing, but it doesn't mean that those of us who are older cannot become competent with the new technology.

Sharon - posted on 06/06/2012

I know that for my kids it is different, not better or worse, than when I was growing up. We didn't have TV, simply because we couldn't get reception. We learned to play with our siblings, outside and if we wanted to talk to a friend we phoned them or even rode our bikes 4 miles to town.

No, no sob stories. We had a good life. My kids text and will use the computer, but none of them are attached to the computer. Cell phones are a different matter, I encourage phoning as much as I can.

I feel sometimes that some parents are not disciplining either out of fear or belief, but I try to understand the mostly it's just different than what I do. Although . . .

I am 46 and I love to text, my husband drives truck so it I text he can read it when he is stopped rather than distract him with a call. I love my computer because we are 26 miles from town so to go for coffee is a bit much, but I can come here and *visit* with other moms.

My kids still have chores, as did I, but I also firmly believe that they need free time and being on the farm, they have to entertain themselves. We do have TV but sometimes even with 100's of channels, there is nothing on.

I truly believe that our choice to live on a farm is helping to raise my children without the distractions that are in urban areas. Until I was 16 we were on the farm and then moved to town. I was in town with my kids until the youngest was 9. They are better for having removed them from town. Watching my neices/nephews from the bigger cities I thank my lucky stars that I don't have to deal with that.

Just my 2 cents worth,

have a good day, eh.

Elfrieda - posted on 06/06/2012

I think it's okay to be old-fashioned. Teach your kids to behave in a way that *you* think is proper, and if you feel uncomfortable about something even after learning about it, don't let them do it even if they're the only ones in their class who don't.



I feel like I have it easier than my parents because I have enough money so that we're not constantly scrambling and can actually take the time to think about what we want our family to be like, friends, supportive family, the resources of the internet, and it seems like everyone is very enthusiastic about kids these days, so there are library programs and such things everywhere.



I'm 30, and I don't text, either. :) I actually cancelled my cell phone and cable tv so that we could have a less hectic life. It's nice.

Chris - posted on 06/02/2012

My answer is both yes and not. There is a 20 year gap between my oldest (now 34 with 3 children of her own) and my youngest (14). I am raising my youngest like I did the other 3 like my mom raised me and my siblings, like my dd is raising her children, and, as far as I know, like my grandmother raised my mom--with respect and common sense. Yes, there are technologies that I didn't have (I remember 3 fuzzy channels on a black and white TV) but the principles are the same--treat others with respect. Instead of having to ignore the phone ringing during dinner, I have caller id and voice mail on the land line and I can set my cell on silent. Texting and email can be ignored and answered later. Turn the TV off. But the underlying principles hasn't changed--interrupting is rude, so is ignoring the person you are with.



Other things have changed for the better. Car seats, vaccinations, and the internet have all made life better and easier. When I first started home schooling, my main resources was the public library and the Old English Dictionary. Now if we need to look something up, we have google. But I still have to teach discernment and how to tell fact from fiction.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 06/01/2012

My parents are in the early 50's and they're both terrible at using the computer. My dad is worse than my mom. She just got an iphone and is texting and learning how to use the phone. There are benefits like these mom forums where you can connect with other moms and get advice on things. I can also see where it presents a new parenting challenge too though. Facebook, cyber bulling, sexting were not issues that our parents had to deal much with, but I'm sure they had other issues that we don't have to deal with now.

Sherri - posted on 06/01/2012

It truly is no harder it is simply different. I am 40 with 4 kids from 15 to newborn. So I am aware of the dangers but things were significantly different from our grandparents to our parents too. Every generation says it is so much harder eh it isn't harder just a different world.



I personally love love love my computer and I love texting. I love it so much more than the phone most times and so does everyone I know that is my age. It has nothing to do with under 30 or over 30. Honestly, my generation uses it just as much as my kids generation.

Michelle - posted on 06/01/2012

I have 3 kids, 11yo boy, 8yo boy and a 2yo girl. When I was growing up we were outside playing all the time and on my school holidays I was always up at my Grandparents farm outside. We only had 4 TV channels in the city and 3 in the country :-)

I also agree with you Sarah regarding the communication skills. I am horrified at how the younger generation can't spell or even write neatly. My boys are different in that respect because I am a spelling nazi and make them do spelling and writing every night. They are also getting lazy with maths, our kids are getting to use calculators at such a young age they aren' learning to do it the "long" way anymore.

Louise - posted on 06/01/2012

I think we have turned into a bunch of lazy parents! Lets face it we all use the tv to babysit our kids at some point, we rely on computer games to teach rather than sit with our kids and play. I really dont think that the technology has done us any favours. I have two sons now adults that were raised very differently to my daughter who is 3.5 years old. I am 42 and my daughter stands out from most other children her own age because I raise her as I did my sons as best I can, but I still give in to media and technology every now and again. My daughter is very confident and chatty and happy to sit and play with a jigsaw or do some drawing rather than sitting with a hand held play station. Although I want her to be just as capable of using a computer as others, as this is the way forward for her generation.

Sarah - posted on 06/01/2012

I do notice a difference. I'm 33, even a few people I know under 30 (like even 28-29) seem SOOOOOO different. The parenting, the discipline, the ideas on acceptable behaviour, etc. Technology is one of these things. Personally, I HATE texting (I don't have it on my phone), but everyone I know under 30 uses it all the time. I worry we are losing our communication skills. We miss so much of the message. I'd rather talk to them in person, or pick up the phone. And there's so much reliance on technology I worry we're going to lose our abilities to problem solve. Technology isn't always a good thing.