Setting the Bar Too High for Our Kids

                  Here at Views, I tend to write about current events or technology updates and even the occasion sports story. Today I’m really not feeling anything in the news or tech toys and wanted to post a view on today’s family life, in specific, the way we may be setting the bar too high for our kids to be good parents. Now before everyone starts emailing me on how I shouldn’t tell anyone how to raise their kids, this is just an opinion and you have the right to disagree. I’m just looking at the world with my rose colored glasses on and see something that, I feel, is setting a precedent our children may not be able to keep.

                The parents of today have become maybe a little too over involved in their children’s lives. I remember when I was growing up that my mom was there for support but never felt the need to force me into doing something all the time. If it was a sport or activity I wanted to do she supported me the whole way but when I was just sitting at home either playing a video game or just lounging around, she never told me to go join or do something. And guess what? I wasn’t a heavy of fat child growing up. In today’s time, we as parents are constantly trying to get our children outside and involved in something. We feel the need that our kids need to be in an activity all year round and if they are then they are wasting time doing other non-active things. Maybe we have this backwards because as we have our children into active items, child obesity rate has gone thru the roof. Forcing our kids into playing or participating in something isn’t always the answer to a healthy child. We rushing from point A to point B with a car load of kids don’t make for an active child either.

                Another thing I have become familiar with is the proverbial vacation family trips. Now I love a good vacation like anyone else but with a family of 6, sometimes the economy, finances, or just plain old time cause things to not happen. Now my situation is not the same as others and good for you if you can go with the family and enjoy some time off. But what use to be trips to Cape Cod or New Hampshire has now turned into flights to the West Coast, Europe, and other places that were reserved for adults. Which brings me to my setting the bar too high thought; how on earth will our children top or even keep up with those types of vacations with their families? As adults you always want to try and do what was done for you as a child if not more but let’s be serious for a moment. What child needs to go to Disney every single year? Or better yet, what child needs to go on a Caribbean cruise? I can see Disney a few times but when I hear parents talk of how this will be their seventh or eighth trip, it becomes a little too much. Whether you want to believe it or not, you are setting a precedent in your child’s mind that if they don’t do what you have done or slightly better, then they are not a good parent. Don’t believe me? Reflect back to your own childhood and think of how you are trying to keep up or surpass your own vacations.

                I’m just concerned that as we continue to grow in an age of higher production costs and slumping job markets, we may be programming our children for failure. Sometimes just spending time with them sitting in the yard and watching them play ball or ride a bike can leave a much better impression than a $4,000 cruise. Both will be remember when they get older but which one would you like your child to compete with when raising your grandchildren?