Our eleven year old son, Ben, who has a flair for the dramatic, woke up today saying he didn’t know if he felt like playing his league basketball game.
Fortunately, I have my ear to the ground and know what is going on with America’s youth. I’m reading, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future. (See also a recent Owen Strachan post). Bauerlein concludes:
“The youth of America occupy a point in history like every other generation did and will, and their time will end. But, the effects of their habits will outlast them, and if things do not change they will be remembered as the fortunate ones who were unworthy of the privileges they inherited. They may even be recalled as the generation that lost their great American heritage, forever.
So, I told Ben, “Son, you are playing basketball today.” The rest of the country may let their kids stay home and play video games. In my house, we’re going to toughen up and be fit.
Epilogue
Turns out Ben was serious. White as a sheet, he bolted out the door during warm-ups and violently hurled in a trash. He is the talk of the league.
As I write, Ben is downstairs watching his brother play a video game. It was a victory for Ben’s generation today. I intend to keep fighting.
For his part, Ben will use this against his heartless parents for years to come.
It reminds of the time when Allison broker her arm and you told her to buck up . . . and then you took her to the ER and found out it was broke.
You are a good father! A legend. Keep it up, you’ll win the next one.
Yes, we’ve had a couple of those moments.
But, I am seriously concerned about how technology is shaping our young people.
Oh, my! This is just too funny!!!
It just so happens that I have a broken arm story of my own. We, too, raised one with a natural bent toward the dramatic. By the time this child fell out of a tree (not very far, mind you), we had already made at least one trip to the ER for nothing. Nothing appeared to be awry after his fall, so we tried to downplay his complaints that his arm hurt and sent him to bed with tylenol. The next day he continued to complain and I accused him of wanting to avoid his schoolwork. There were no bruises or abraisions, but I decided that after he went to sleep that second night I would move his arm where he said it hurt, and if he responded to pain in his sleep (which he did), then maybe he really was in pain. X-rays the next day revealed both bones in his arm were broken. Guess who didn’t have to do any written schoolwork for 6 weeks, and guess who felt like two cents waiting for change?
Oh, and the bunting. I wish I knew. He made an appearance several times in December, but never when I was outside for good photos. We had to take down the feeders for a while and I haven’t seen him since – but I have been particularly busy in recent weeks and haven’t had much time to sit leisurely outside and wait for him to visit.
A family came in to buy cell phones where I work recently. They were just browsing because they were waiting for their son’s report card to come out & the requirement to get new cell phones was that he had straight A’s. They mentioned someting about him failing short last quarter because of a B+.At first I thought that was kinda harsh but the more I thought about it I thought it was great. If your child is capable of getting good grades then it should be expected. You need to make your child(ren) live up to their expectations. They’ll thank you for it later!
I thought of Allison’s broken arm, too!!