As a child of the 80's I remember having about 10 tv channels, playing outside all day in the summer, getting dirty, eating food my mom actually cooked, living in a house with 1 bathroom and a lot of other things that are unheard of today. Birthday parties didn't cost much, you had real friends that you actually saw face to face, your clothes had satuday morning cartoon characters on them. The other thing I remember is most adults I knew went to work everyday, they all lived in their house until they decided to move, they drove the same cars for a long time, and they paid bills with money that was their own.
Unfortunately nowadays this way of life is gone. And we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have become a nation that worships celebrities, allows tv to raise our children, allows mcdonalds to feed them and sits idly by while other countries start to own us one outsourced job at a time. And as individuals we are allowing banks to own us one credit card swipe at a time.
American's need to start taking back control of our own lifes and our country. Right now your children pay more attention to Kim Kardashian than they do their math teacher. Which could be why we have a whole generation of tech savvy mindless drones who can't write a complete sentence or do basic math calculations. Ask an average 16 year old who Taylor Swift is dating and they will tell you, ask them to tell you how much would 9% sales tax on $100.00 be and they will need to get out their iphone to use the calculator. About 30% of the blame for this can be attributed to the education system in this country which is more concerned with standardized test scores than learning. But the majority of the blame falls to the parents and this country's social decline. Once upon a time coming home from school meant, doing your homework, eating dinner with your family, maybe talking to your friend on the phone for a few minutes, a couple hours of scripted sitcoms on tv then off to bed. Or if you were old enough you might have an after school job which you earned money to buy the extras you wanted. Todays children come home, spend 3 or 4 hours texting, tweeting and facebooking, eat whatever mom picked up at the drive through or thawed out in the microwave, then retreating to their rooms to watch shows about knocked up teenagers, spoiled celebutantes who have everything yet no job, and drunk losers who bake themselves in a tanning bed. When your toddler knows how to play angry birds on the iphone but doesnt have a clue what finger paint is for then you have a problem.
Of course it would be kinda hypocritical to expect more from your children when as adults we are no better. Why bother teaching your kids the value of money if you have no concept of it yourself. When you consider the limit on your credit card or the overdraft protection on your checking account as income then you are the american that corporate america has come to know and love.
The biggest changes always start small. So each time I post I will issue a challenge to you, to start taking back your life and with any luck our country.
This challenge: For those with kids - I challenge you to ban the phone and the internet for 4 hours a week, 2 hours 2 nights a week. Force your family to sit down together with no interruptions and play a board game or watch a movie, or better yet go outside and do something together.
For those without kids - I challenge you to stay off facebook for 3 days during which time you need to get together face to face with a couple friends or your family for something, whether its dinner, playing a game or going for a walk.
