Many people say that they prefer being older because when they were a kid they never had any freedom but i think we had freedom as kids but in a different way back then we didn't have to worry about work, our life carea, College etc. Back then we didn't need to have as much responsibilty as we do now. Now don't get me wrong being older has it's advantages as well like being able to drive, Staying out late and all that but i think that people do take their childhood for granted and rush things to fast when it comes to growing up, i'm guilty of doing this myself

Totally agree.  I kept thinking I liked the 90s because of the pop culture, but it's just cause that's when my childhood was.  Also, when you get older, you figure out how sick the world can be.  You think things have changed, but it's really all the same, it's just that you find out about it when you're older.

Many people say that they prefer being older because when they were a kid they never had any freedom but i think we had freedom as kids but in a different way back then we didn't have to worry about work, our life carea, College etc. Back then we didn't need to have as much responsibilty as we do now. Now don't get me wrong being older has it's advantages as well like being able to drive, Staying out late and all that but i think that people do take their childhood for granted and rush things to fast when it comes to growing up, i'm guilty of doing this myself




I don't know how far "back then" you refer to, but I can tell you that I had far more responsibility when I was growing up than I'd daresay 95% of the kids have today.

I learned the fundamentals of handling a firearm at an early age, by the time I was 10 I was allowed to carry a .22 caliber rifle on my own, because I had displayed the common sense, and responsibility needed to do so.

I carried a jack knife to school, it was standard practice for the guys back then to do it..nobody would have dared use it for anything except to sharpen pencils.  It was a guy thing.  Metal detectors and students going "postal" didn't happen.

I walked miles of marsh with my Dad trapping, starting at age 5 or so, and thats also the first year I started going along ice fishing.

I never got in trouble with the law as I was growing up.  In fact, the police would have been my saving grace had I been stupid enough to get in trouble, because for as long as they had me in jail, that would be one more minute I wouldn't have to face Dad.

I was taught good basic values.  Respect your parents and other adults.  Be polite, use words like sir, maam, and Mr and Mrs, even if you've been told it ok do do otherwise.

Work hard and you'll get ahead in life, nobody is going to hand you anything for nothing, there is always a price to be paid for getting what you want.

Chores were a part of growing up, and you didn't expect to be paid anything except an allowance.  Your pay was a roof, 3 squares a day, and a warm place to sleep.  If you wanted to make some real money, you went out and got a job, most guys up this way started when they were 12 or 13.  If you had a paper route, you started at about 10 years old.

Halloween, the worst thing you did was maybe soap and egg a window or two...nobody destroyed cars, or burned buildings or committed REAL acts of vandalism.

Now, what have we got for todays youth??

Oh yeah, we've got those wonderful video games that show police as targets for shootings, and drive by shootings, and lets not forget the fact in the majority of TV music programs today, women are treated like pieces of meat who serve one purpose only.  We've got a few dozen ratings for games now, as well as for TV...whatever happened to under/over 18 years of age??

We've got kids that come home to an empty house, and basically can do whatever they want.

Chores (for the most part) are a thing of the past, by todays standards what I and many others did growing up would be deemed "cruel and unusual" punishment by our more liberal minded brethren.  I doubt many kids have spent the majority of their summer vacation helping to cut  firewood for the upcoming winter, worked on a farm to earn extra cash, worked in the veggie garden, etc.  Most (not all) kids today act put out when asked to take out the garbage or mow the lawn.  Summer vacation was a time to get a lot of money made for things we wanted, like a car a couple years down the road...not many people had the luxury of our parents buying us a car or truck.

We had drugs back then, they have drugs today.  We had pot,,they have such idiotic things like "huffing" canned air, sniffing glue, hairspray, etc...stuff thats been known to kill people.

(most)Kids today want to be treated like adults, but with none of the responsibility that goes along with it...sorry for my rant..I'm sure I'll hear about it.....

My Father always said that to get respect I had to earn it.. and as a general rule of thumb I did.

I had chores and stuff to do and just did them.. I worked out real quick that it was easier, quicker and better to just do the work than try and get out of it. Because of this I was generally left to my own devices.
When I got my first car I paid half of it and the other half was a birthday present, I had to pay the insurance, tax etc myself with a part time job.

I used to get in a lot of trouble at school.. now when I was younger I'd get yelled at etc.. and until I was too big for it to be of any use my Dad would wail on my ass, as I got older he did say something that I remember - If you don't work now, you'll work harder later.. and then said, it's up to you.

I think I had a lot of freedom as a kid, but I had to earn it, pretty simple equation really.

My Parents were pretty laid back people and they did give me that freedom however i did have some responsbility's like Cleaning my room, Homework etc but to me that was neither here nor there. I remember talking to my 8 year old cosioun the other day and telling her that she shoudln't take her childhood for granted which is pretty funny because back when i was her age i had people telling my the same thing but of course with me being young and stupid i didn't take it in and now i'm telling my cosioun what people used to tell me 8-10 years ago.

Chores (for the most part) are a thing of the past, by todays standards what I and many others did growing up would be deemed "cruel and unusual" punishment by our more liberal minded brethren.  I doubt many kids have spent the majority of their summer vacation helping to cut  firewood for the upcoming winter, worked on a farm to earn extra cash, worked in the veggie garden, etc.  Most (not all) kids today act put out when asked to take out the garbage or mow the lawn.  Summer vacation was a time to get a lot of money made for things we wanted, like a car a couple years down the road...not many people had the luxury of our parents buying us a car or truck.


Actually, for me, from the time I was 4, till this past summer (because we're finally quitting), I've helped out with my parents shrub business.  Weeding, watering, hauling, potting, and selling the plants all summer.  I have this memory of me in the barn with my mom, we were both potting the shrubs....and then I had to leave because my kindergarten bus came.

And my parents always made us do dishes (not with a dishwasher but by hand), laundry, vacuuming, mowing the lawn, all the household stuff.....and I'm not gonna ask them for a car because I know they aren't just gonna hand it to me, I don't expect them to either.  Overall I would agree with you though.

Many people say that they prefer being older because when they were a kid they never had any freedom but i think we had freedom as kids but in a different way back then we didn't have to worry about work, our life carea, College etc. Back then we didn't need to have as much responsibilty as we do now. Now don't get me wrong being older has it's advantages as well like being able to drive, Staying out late and all that but i think that people do take their childhood for granted and rush things to fast when it comes to growing up, i'm guilty of doing this myself

Yeah, that's a very accurate description. I remember, whenever I'd casually complain to someone older than me about howit s*cked to be a kid, they'd say "Hey man, this is the only time you don't have to pay bills or worry about responsibilities. I wish I could go back to being your age. Enjoy it".

I'd usually brush that off, figuring they were just speaking from their own perspective. But, now I know what they meant because I can compare it with the past. When I was 10 sometimes my biggest "worry" was sitting in class wondering what was gonna be on VH1 when I got home, and hoping there were some Pizza Rolls in the freezer, lol.

Sure, my present life is still fun and enjoyable, but I'm working two jobs, saving up all the money I can and just overall worrying about things everyone does (i.e. career, getting a girlfriend/wife, having kids, or just how the rest of my life and the lives of people around me are gonna turn out). Even though, I worried about that stuff as a kid too, there was freedom in that I didn't have to.

I really miss that. ;)


I agree about the chores thing as well. Actually, my first job was assistant janitorial stuff after school when I was 14-15. I always enjoyed feeling like I really worked for money I got. Even just in general, doing it to help somebody out has always felt good to me.

Many people say that they prefer being older because when they were a kid they never had any freedom but i think we had freedom as kids but in a different way back then we didn't have to worry about work, our life carea, College etc. Back then we didn't need to have as much responsibilty as we do now. Now don't get me wrong being older has it's advantages as well like being able to drive, Staying out late and all that but i think that people do take their childhood for granted and rush things to fast when it comes to growing up, i'm guilty of doing this myself



Yeah, I agree. When I was yonger I couldn't wait until I was older, mostly so I could drive. But now with work and college alot of times I do wish I was younger, back when I didn't have quite as much to worry about.

My Father always said that to get respect I had to earn it.. and as a general rule of thumb I did.



Yeah...isn't it amazing how we've "devolved" from a point of earning respect through hard work, manners, and being sensible to just expecting it to be doled out to us?? 

Yeah...isn't it amazing how we've "devolved" from a point of earning respect through hard work, manners, and being sensible to just expecting it to be doled out to us?? 


Right. It's almost like now we have to earn the kids respect.  ;D

When I was a kid I had  chores, taking out the trash can to the end of our gravel street to the highway, feeding my cats, and cleaning up the dishes.  The former two were a chores that was  my parents gave me, the latter was one I had to do because my younger siblings were so damn messy and lazy no one else could do it.  They were only 2 years younger than me when i was a teenager, but every summer I would stay home and clean up after them because i couldn't bear to make my mother do it. I grew up in the suburbs, but I knew what drugs were.  When adaults told me," Jeff, drugs are something that a kid should not do," it felt like common sense, so i never tried drugs as a kid.  I realise that there are some people for whom that choice wasn't so easy. 

I remember the freedom of my childhood  watching all those good cartoons