I want my environment to be a product of me...
Today is the boy's b-day. He turns two. So, it seemed fitting to my wife to have 3 birthday parties. One each day over the weekend. Friends tonight, family tomorrow, more family on Sunday. I asked her why all weekend? She said, its Jake's B-day. I'll have a party everyday if I want. Its my baby boy! (GOOD CHRIST!)
This bothers the shit out of me. Really, I see this type of stuff everyday. Johhny this, Betty that.. blah blah blah... We celebrate mediocrity by having sports leagues where every single participant "wins". Everyone gets a trophy. Birthdays last weeks, a simple weekly test where the student might have received a A gets a million stickers, and praise from the School administration.
I might sound like a sour asshole right now, but it is what it is. For that, I get labeled as mean, and not having any compassion by friends and family. Praise is good, but I think they get more out of discipline than they ever would out of over celebrating, or too much praise. And no. You are not getting lunch at Burger King because you got and A on your math test. But I will take you to Best Buy when you bring your report card home for the whole year and show me first honors in everything. See where I'm getting at?
"Justin is taking Latin!" was part of a conversation I had with a good friend just the other day. "hes really good at it!". Justin is 2. He was proud as all hell to let that one out as well. So, to be a good conversationalist, I asked "why?". He said I was the first one to ask that question, and thought the answer was pretty obvious. I explained that I thought it was pretty obvious to me that Justin was taking latin because he wanted to TELL everyone that his son was taking latin. He called me a dope, and I asked him seriously, why? He said studies show that subjecting children to the bock bock bock bock bock B"GAWK!!!
I said, listen man, when Justin can annunciate more than 25% of the words in the english language, then maybe latin may be a good thing. Until then, let the goddamn kid grow up. In 4 years, the kid is going to be inundated with a schedule that will include sports events, school, extra curricular activities, and other things that will keep him busier than most working adults. And thats at the age of 6. Let him enjoy his time now. And for whatever reason YOU have him taking latin, just tone it down.
BAH, to each his own I guess...
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Numb asked me on BDR the other night my top 10 movies. I gave them but they weren't even close to my top 10. SO I have to set the record straight:
A Few Good Men
Major League
Outlaw Josey Wales
Wyatt Earp
Rounders
Wall Street
A River Runs Through It
The Sting
Office Space
Swingers
6 comments:
A River Runs Through it!
What a great flick!
Oh.... and since it took four years of solid A's and honours throughout for me to send not-so-mini-Peb's on her trip, I guess I stand with you on the over-praise issue.
Call it mean if you want I guess. I prefer original old-school life lessons instead though.
See! Bam Bam gets it
But, but... but... umm... if we don't celebrate mediocrity, then the mediocre kids will feel bad and their mediocre parents will feel like their mediocre lives have been wasted because their progeny aren't being fawned over by everyone!
I'm with you. You, me, and Tragedy could get into a serious series of rants about the sense of entitlement this creates in people. After being told half-assedness is good enough their entire lives, these kids enter the real world and either can't hack it or find an environment where they're still mollycoddled, making that environment weaker because of it.
Pain in my lazy, procrastinating ass.
Loved this post. All I can say is bingo. I see the effects of this indulgence every day, and frankly they're not pretty.
We raise our kids with the same attitude. I'll hand out the praise (in spoken words) when my 8 year-old gets a perfect score on a test. That always gets the atta girl. But we save the big prize for the big dead.
I see the 3 day birthday fests and just shake my head. I had about 3 birthday parties growing up. Usually, birthdays were spent at home with Mom and Dad and my brother, a cake, some presents and that was it. Holy crap! People are dropping hundreds of dollars now a days on lavish parties at Chucky Cheese. Why? Doesn't your kid feel special enough? Try a hug and reading a book to them...works for us.
BTW: Tombstone > Wyatt Earp IMHO
Nice post
dude bdays in my family are just another day.. no one makes a big todo about it. A friend of mine skipped league nite for his sister's 4o something or other bday party. I dont think it was a milestone year. I mean really who throws bday parties for themselves at that age.
As for the kids learning latin. its a dead language why not French or spanish or russian or arabic for crimeneys sake.
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