Posted on 05/29/2006 6:17:29 PM PDT by rhema
I n the romantic comedy "Failure to Launch," Matthew McConaughey plays a young man who is affable, intelligent, good-looking -- and completely unmotivated. He still lives at home and seems to have no ambitions beyond playing video games, hanging out with buddies and having sex. In desperation, his parents hire a professional motivation consultant, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, who pretends to fall in love with McConaughey's character to motivate him to grow up and get a life.
I was struck by how this theme matches what I see in my office with greater and greater frequency; a son goes off to college for a year or two, wastes thousands of dollars of his parents' money, then gets bored and comes back to live in his old room. Now he's working part time at Kinko's or part time at Starbucks.
It is a phenomenon that is getting a lot of media attention as part of the so-called "boy crisis" and one that cuts across all demographics -- rich, poor, black, white, urban and rural. According to the Census Bureau, one-third of young men ages 22 to 34 are still living at home with their parents -- a roughly 100 percent increase in the past 20 years. That is not true of young women. Why?
Before growing into unmotivated young adults, boys are more likely than girls to be diagnosed with ADHD, be in remedial classes and become dropouts. Boys are now significantly less likely than girls to go to college.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
that says alot about you......guess your sons just materialized out of thin air.....
and maybe when or if your sons have children, you can pay for an early ultrasound and get rid of any would be grand-dtrs since you seem to detest them so much....
or move to China or India...they feel like you and don't want dtrs either, except they just kill them there....
< ]B^P)
I have a lot of respect for that.
I own a business too, and I typically employ single dads of young kids. The mentoring isn't quite the same as what you're dealing with, but from time to time I have to put on a counselor's hat.
Keep up the good work, my friend.
Read my post again. I said, "I've heard of Steinbeck and Hemingway, but..."
I've been inside Hemingway's house, fer crying out loud! There are still a bunch of inbred cats running around the property.
MY COMMENT WAS ABOUT THESE OTHER FEMINIST AUTHORS.
Getting them off of the drugs and letting them be Boys would help tremendously too.
Shout it from the housetops, FRiend! Until fathers take a stand to raise their sons, instead of surrendering them to the enemy, it's only going to get worse.
I'm always amazed, when we have boys out at Scout camp for a weekend, how the "ADD" ones do just fine, as long as there's constant effort, high-protein food, and no electronics. Their parents are amazed, too ... but they don't seem to think twice about drugging them up on Monday and sending them back to the government warehouse for another week.
Yes, it's much more important that we all get along, and that we're sensitive to each others feelings, than it is to get anything accomplished. < /sarcasm >
One thing I've noticed is that when you have an issue with a woman, you're in deep doo-doo with every other woman around. When a woman complains to an all-female HR about how insensitive a man is for demanding she make things happen, you can be sure that the women who is not doing her job is NOT the one who gets into hot water and reassigned
"Penis" is not an improper word that requires the use of asterisks. It is the correct medical Latin word for the male member and is not a vulgarity or colloquialism.
Keeping them "in line" as you put it, is necessary, boys need guidance, not drugs. Kudos to you for your work with them, I'm sure that takes alot of patience. Probably alot more than I have.
"A lot of dads nowadays are absolute wimps. My neighbor was raised up hunting and fishing and when I asked him why he doesn't hunt now he said his (lefty, school teacher) wife won't let him keep any firearms. My wife and I settled that a long time ago when we got married. I won't put up with that BS for a minute."
Agreed. I look at some men in this country now and wonder what the hell they are thinking. I've had friends of mine begin to change their attitudes when I begin embarassing them. I've also had some who never talked to me again because their wives don't like me.
Se la vie, changing the minds of men one day at a time. I'm making that my mission in life.
It's time they stood up, zipped up and started ACTING like it.
"It starts before Kindergarten, in day care. Boys need to be allowed to be boys. When they are not, they lose interest. We have to get the control of public education out of the hands of the women's movement."
You're right, but I'm afraid it's too late for that. The best thing to do at this point is to get them OUT of public education and get them into private schools (that are far more responsive to their paying clients) or into home schooling.
If we don't make some radical changes in the way our sons are raised, this Country will not last. They need to be tough to face the challenges ahead, right now I don't think most of them can do it.
You nailed it TC. Get them out of there and into a high activity weekend, lots of running, jumping, swimming, whatever, get them out, get them active and let them by god BE boys.
There needs to be a national movement on this front, but I have no clue how to go about starting something even locally.
We need to start changing the attitude of parents one set at a time. Get them to see the light of what's happening to their boys. Get the lads off of the drugs and onto vitamins and good food. Lots of exercise, activities and fun things to do. They need that after sitting in a boring classroom 8 hours a day.
I know I certainly did lol.
I'm reading "Beloved" right now for a class called (get this) "Hysteria in the Novel." I actually like it.
"Beloved" is, of course, by Morrison.
I read Morrison's "Bluest Eye" several years ago, when my daughter had to read it. I still have images in my head I'd like to purge from that novel. It surprises me that she would have wanted people to see such a seedy side of African American culture.
Great post - I agree. My sons and I do not hunt animals, but we have a great time hunting people. This weekend we spent an entire day playing paintball (woodsball) and I have about 25 welts to prove it (the game where a player was out only if he took a mask hit was particularly painful, but I gave more than I received - I love full auto! he he). They learn teamwork, strategy, patience, planning, leadership and many other lessons too numerous to list. The game has a better safety record than bowling. You dads out there who are looking for a predominantly guy activity may want to give this a try (but you better be in shape or have tylenol at your desk)!
Say "Hi" to your brother, Oy... ;-P
Most people think "The Sun Also Rises" is his best novel - his first. I recommend his short stories which are wonderful and his memoir "A Moveable Feast." How sad he's no longer taught in schools.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.