Saturday, September 8, 2012

TODAY'S YOUNG MOTHERS HAVE WOMANIZED TODAY'S YOUNG FATHERS

It's been a well-intentioned process by the more compassionate female of the species. And so it is that here in the 21st C, fathers have largely joined mothers in immunizing their children from failure! from defeat! from loss of any kind!

Now look, when mommy hugs the boo-boo's, that's perfectly natural and wonderful. But lately, mommy has convinced daddy, teacher, cop and neighbor that kids must be protected at all costs. For only then can they grow up to feel loved and valued and fulfilled. What's come of this conviction...?

PE classes where no one loses...contests where everyone wins...grades in which there are never any F's...life in which there is always a hand to immunize the little tyke from the pain of pain. The more  sophisticated the parents, the more likely pain has been flushed out of those protected lives.

So far the results are not yet in. If the old harsh, no-pain-no-gain culture bred a legion of John Wayne's and Clint Eastwood's, this current no-pain-all-gain ethos is bringing us a generation of sensitivity. Empathy. Accessibility. What for heaven's sake could be wrong with that...?

All I know is my old football coach and master sergeant wouldn't like it. Or understand it. But then I also know their culture of ass-kicking linebackers and missile-firing warriors has left my grandchildren a much lousier world than it might have been. If you're raising kids, guess that makes you "The Decider!"

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