Then and Now

OK, today's post will be about how old I've been feeling when I look at kids and how they behave. Today driving around, doing our errands, I've noticed some kids (girls) walking around in a VERY suburb area and the way they dressed... Man! My parents would not have let me go outside dressed like that, no way in hell! Oh yeah, that was back then, and this is now. Times are really different, thus my feeling like an old bag!

I've been wondering lately if it was only me feeling this way, or if things have really changed... I've been having this feeling that people have no respect anymore, no respect for oneself, for authority... they just don't respect anything anymore. I remember as a kid, playing in an alley and if, by bad luck. our ball would land in somebody's yard, we were all scared to go ring their bell and ask for our ball back. Today, they jump the fence, nevermind about asking us if they could come in our yard, they just go and get it themselves.

Back then, my parents chose my clothes and I didn't have much to say about it. Today, the kids choose their clothes (brand name please!), dress way older than they really are (the girls are) and their folks don't have a thing to say, just pay!

Back then, my folks knew my friends and most importantly they knew (at all time) where I was. Ok my parents were a little paranoid and were watching me like a hawk. I had a very limited area to play in (the front window of our restaurant or the back alley) and I'd better be in it when they looked out! I wasn't allowed to go to my friends' houses. I could have as many friends as I wanted over, but I couldn't go over there. They wanted me where they could see me. Today, some parents forget to drop their kids off at school or daycare... Remember a few years ago, that father who forgot his kid in the back seat of his car?! or to pick them up. Not to mention the parents who have no clues who their kids are hanging out with or where exactly they are hanging...

Those are a few of the things that I've noticed, but then again I probably don't know what I'm talking about 'cause I'm not a mother! That is why I chose NOT to be a mother! I didn't want that responsability... I made a conscious decision, unlike many parents (who didn't really choose to become parents).

As a kid I remember feeling angry at my parents because they were so strict - I hated it (and them at times!), but NOW, I'm happy they had some guidelines for me to follow. They gave me structure and most of all a sense of responsability and respect for authority.
I hated feeling "different" from my friends, having to dress different as well. I wasn't allowed to wear jeans until 4 months before my 18th birthday. Jeans were to be worn for cow milking on a farm. We lived downtown Montreal and I surely didn't milk cows, so no need for jeans. Plus, I was a girl, and girls wore skirts & dresses. I'm not saying that it didn't affect me, 'cause it did, but it didn't scar me for life (at least I don't think so!).

I get really upset when I see the young ones, telling me to "F off" when I tell them not to play in our yard. Respect is dead in today's society. We no longer respect our elders, the laws and ourselves and most of all, we have no respect for authority.
Back then I remember feeling a little scared when I would see a police officer. Now days, the kids tell the cops to get lost. They tell their parents worst things and we, as a society, simply accept it. Is it a symptom of our generation? A reflection of our society? Or simply the way the things have changed?...



...Things that make you go hummm...