It was good enough for me...

In my poll a few weeks ago, most people said they enjoyed my rants... I find that funny, but hey isn't it true?

I'm not sure what made this pop into my head this morning, but when I was thinking about it I said... there's a blog post for you.

I never understood why people think that the argument "It was good enough when I was a kid" or "It was good enough when I had kids" is valid. Yes there are things that may have been better in "the old days". People did things slower, they were more connected to the land, they spent more time with extended family. But, these aren't the area that people usually use this argument about.

It seems to me that this argument is usually used when people are talking about car safety, discipline and educational issues.

In Florida they recently passed a new law that says that children need to be in booster seats until the age of 7. People have an issue with this... when I was a kid we didn't even use seat belts never mind child restraints. Ummm and? Yep so you didn't get in a car crash, but do you want to be the parent who does get in the crash and does not have their child restrained?? There is a reason that they have done research on child restraining devices... and it because children have been killed... not just to cause you to spend more money.

Are there issues with the "new ways of parenting" yes. But, to each their own with that theory. Does that mean we need to go back to the time when it was ok to beat your child when they did anything wrong... NO! There are effective means of disciple that does not involve teaching children that might make right. No one can tell me that the "old ways" worked for everyone. If that were true, we would not have people in counseling because of their childhood. If that were true there would not have been behavior problems in school before. The changes in discipline did not make the behavioral problems we have now. Do I feel that a lack of discipline is part of the problem... yes. I think that there are many parents out there today who would rather be their child's friend than their parent. But, that is another topic. We don't need to go back to the old ways, we just need to use the new ones correctly.

Don't even get me started on the arguments with education. All I need to say is... in your day computers didn't exist. Now the teacher is not the only way to learn. Now there is more to learn and a greater need to learn it. In the old days, once you learned to read and do basic math you were set. Now that won't get you anywhere. When I was growing up my mother used to tell us we'd need a college education to sweep streets soon. Looks like she may have been right. Education is an ever changing current. There is no one method that works with every child. Teachers don't just teach anymore... so is education the same as when you were a child... no but neither is society.

I often want to laugh at them and say according to your argument that it was good enough for you when you were a child... then we might as well go back to using lead paint, asbestos and telling everyone it's ok to smoke. Times change. Research is done.

Change is good... even if it is different from when you a child