Posted on 11/09/2013 4:41:50 AM PST by Kaslin
For many American children, the floor has become their closet. This drives me crazy. I walk into a room where an urchin resides, and there are clothes scattered everywhere. Believe me, I know the passive-aggressive tactics that kids use to torture their parents, but something else is going on here.
More than a few times, I've heard parents describe their offspring as "amazing." If you look up that word, you will see this meaning: "To cause great wonder or astonishment." That's what "amazing" means. So occasionally, I will ask the parent of an "amazing" child to tell me exactly why that word applies to their tyke. What is the "great wonder" associated with him or her?
"He just is" comes the usual reply, along with a look that could kill a cactus.
Many children fully realize their parents see them as astonishing creatures and incorporate that into their daily presentations. That is, they throw their stuff on the floor because if you are truly amazing you can pretty much do what you want. Right?
When I confront the urchins about strewn clothing, I sometimes get a blank look. So I read their minds. And the brain waves come back this way: "Why are you bothering me? This is interfering with my texting. Someone will pick up my clothes. And if they don't, so what?"
American children are being done a great disservice by adult society. For reasons only Dr. Phil understands, many parents have decided to attach their own self-image to their children. So if the kid is amazing, that means the father or mother is amazing, as well. That's what's going on.
The huge downside is that it takes a lot of work and perseverance to become amazing, and most human beings never reach that status. But children are generally not told that. They are rarely confronted with the fact that life is tough and that to succeed you have be honest, industrious and disciplined. The discipline part kicks in when you hang up your clothing.
The disturbing thing about childhood these days is that some parents and grandparents excuse a lot of questionable behavior because they want their kids to approve of them. It all goes back to "amazing" again. If your extra-special kid doesn't like you at the moment, maybe you aren't topnotch.
Americans whose parents were raised during the Great Depression or World War II understand how drastically things have changed on the home front. My father did not care a whit whether I liked him, and it would have been unthinkable for him to pick up my stuff. There were rules in the house, and they were enforced.
So today, as an adult, I still pick up my stuff and recycle and keep a neat house. That is routine and not at all amazing. But I'm not sure that tradition will survive the next generation.
Hah! It was a 3 lb coffee can that was always about 3/4 full. They didn’t need to be strung since I lived with her and I was always there to pour them out on the kitchen table and sort them out to find what she needed. lol
My husband is much more organized than I am. He was in the military, though.
We once lived in a cape cod style home. The upstairs was one large room that had been wisely finished by building drawers into the eaves, 24 drawers in all. Across the end of the room were built in shelves and a cabinets perfect for the storage of games, etc. Occupying that room were two girls, ages 6 and 8 when we moved in, and 12 and 10 when we moved out.
The pile of clothing on the floor began at the top of the stairs and extended the full 24 foot length of the room to the shelves. Every drawer was empty. Each of the girls insisted her sister was responsible for the mess.
I came to hate that room. To this day the thought of it turns my stomach. These days the younger of the two is dealing with two teens of her own. ;)
My mother’s buttons were taken from the Prince Albert can, the big round one, and put into clear glass jars. The colorful buttons are thus a work of domestic art and the property of grand kids for display.
Ahhhh that’s sweet.
Your post makes me with FR had a “Like” button! :-)
K - I picked up that “recycle” too, was surprised by that. How do you account for all the uncompensated labor in recycling? It’s not economic, they just guilt people into to doing their work for them for free.
I think my parents must have given up on me.
I was an early adopter of the man cave concept.
I left a trail of chaos wherever I went. I would clean up only under duress, and within days, you would not be able to tell that anything had been done.
I’m still the same way decades later.
“Signs of homosexuality. Real men are slobs... why they get married”.
For what it’s worth, I found what you wrote as a joke/pun. Made me laugh. Hugs
I think it’s just a youth thing. I had two sisters who were complete slobs as teens. Clothing strewn everywhere in their rooms. But when they got older both became neatness freaks.
Part of it is cultural as well. For example, if you have more than an ounce of German blood in you, then after you hit your mid-twenties a disorganized room will likely offend your sense of “ordentlich”.
I live on a boat,
So my man cave floats.
No knocks from mormon missionaries,
`Cause they can`t cross the moat.
I had to chuckle. Frankly, I’ve lost 105 pounds and my 4X flannel shirts became foolishly way too big. My daughter took about 15 shirts and cut them into 5 inch squares.
Then she presented me with a “queen” sized flannel quilt made of countless plaid square flannel pieces. Warmest thing I ever slept under.
Joseph had his “Coat of Many Colors.”
I have my “Quilt of Many Plaids.”
It is so beautiful I feel guilty wrapping up in it.
That was very sweet and thoughtful of your daughter. I am sure you treasure it.
I still take buttons off clothes before throwing them away...if someone isn’t wearing something we take it to the second hand store so clothes only get tossed if they are rags. I used to make quilts, especially out of old jeans, those were so warm. I still recycle everything I can by getting it to someone that can use it.
I think most of us do that. I take all old clothes to our local Mission anything else goes to Goodwill. If furniture is still good I will run a free/cheap ad on Craigslist.
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