Momservation: How does a generation of fearlessly unsupervised kids turn into a bunch of hyper-vigilant parents anxious to send their kids away to college?
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We were badass weren’t we?
We survived riding in cars without seat belts, riding in backs of trucks with our dogs, riding bicycles without helmets.
We drank from hoses, ate raw cookie dough, and played on swing sets that could’ve killed us.
We fell out of trees, stacked it being pulled behind bikes on our roller skates, and wore out the bottoms of our shoes using them as brakes down the monster hill on our Big Wheels—because we actually played outside for fun.
But heaven forbid we let our children apply for a college without visiting it first.
What happened to reckless abandon? What happened to ignorance is bliss? What happened to literally flying by the seat of our pants?
Kids are what happened to us.
And in one generation it made us Helicopter Parents who try to shield our kids from failure and disappointment, dutifully smoothing out challenges and adversity, while making sure they want for nothing.
With a start like we had, what made us become so skittish?
Maybe we are so over-protective of our children because we look back and do surprisingly realize we made it out of our childhoods alive—there are damn good reasons for seatbelts, helmets, and safer playgrounds.
Maybe we look back and wonder where the hell our responsible parents were when we were building half-pipes from the roof so we could drop-in on a skateboard. Or who had no clue where the heck we were and what the gall darn we were up to between the hours of breakfast and dinner.
Our generation didn’t visit colleges to make sure it would be a good fit. Getting into college at all was a good fit! You picked San Diego State for the beaches you heard were there or you picked Chico State because you heard it was a party school and it’s what your parents could afford. And you could do it with 2.5 GPA and without an essay and for $350 a semester.
Okay, so those days are gone (in California anyway) along with the wind through your hair in the back of a Chevy Stepside on the freeway.
So, maybe that’s what makes us arrange our vacations around college tours and help our kids select a university like an arranged marriage. (She better be a looker and get you out in four years for our $40k a year!) We want to make sure we are the responsible parents that our parents, for all evidential purposes, were not. And that includes making sure our kids get that good college education that sets you up for a much better shot at a heck of a good life (rather than just surviving it).
So as much fun as I had cheating death on merry-go-rounds, walking barefoot in glass filled creek beds, and squeaking into college because I didn’t know any better, I’d rather not leave my children’s future to ignorance or chance.
I wonder if we have enough frequent flyer miles to go see Arizona State?
#ChildOfThe70s #NoOffenseMom&Dad #College Tours