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Blaming Mr. Rogers
Jul. 5th, 2007 01:33 pmThe WSJ has an article about the feeling of entitlement exhibited by young adults, and has come to the conclusion that it is Mr. Rogers' fault.
Is it? Is it really?
I grew up with Mr. Rogers, and I would like to add my two cents to the discussion. If you are one of the people who do not believe that people without children are allowed to have an opinion on what constitutes good parenting, you might want to stop reading this post.
Mr. Rogers told me I was special. Mr. Rogers told me that I didn't have to change who I was in order for people to love me. Mr. Rogers told me I could do anything I wanted to do when I grew up. Mr. Rogers told me that other people might be different, but they were still cool and friendly and interesting, and worthy of consideration and politeness. From whence comes this feeling of entitlement? From Fred Rogers? No, my friend; from poor parenting.
When I see children throwing tantrums in the grocery store, when I see students acting like they were robbed by the teacher when they didn't receive an 'A' grade for 'C' work, when I see young adults who are unable to grasp the concept of a 'work ethic', do I blame Fred Rogers? Nope. Poor parenting, that's the ticket.
And I see a LOT of it.
I see it every day, in many age groups. I see adults who are still children, and I see children whom I fear will never grow up to be productive members of society. I have to admit, I don't recall seeing this when I was a child. I don't recall temper tantrums (in fact, just pinging my mother, she affirms my recollection). I recall learning to respect my elders, learning not to yell in public buildings, learning to work hard in school, and learning to take responsibility for my own actions. I recall learning these amazing things from my parents. They taught and I listened, and learned.
How did they do this? I have no idea. Where have these parenting techniques gone? Again, I am at a loss. Although, for the most part, I see some really good parenting techniques in my own circle of friends, I have to admit that this is the exception rather than the rule. I go out in public and am exposed to shockingly poorly behaved children, with parents who do nothing to stop it. What is wrong with these people? What has changed from when I was a child?
I haven't seen as much of this in the other countries I have visited, but I really haven't been looking. I think I'll spend some time observing parent-child relations while I'm in Asia next week, just as a comparison. Is it just an American phenomenon?
Is it? Is it really?
I grew up with Mr. Rogers, and I would like to add my two cents to the discussion. If you are one of the people who do not believe that people without children are allowed to have an opinion on what constitutes good parenting, you might want to stop reading this post.
Mr. Rogers told me I was special. Mr. Rogers told me that I didn't have to change who I was in order for people to love me. Mr. Rogers told me I could do anything I wanted to do when I grew up. Mr. Rogers told me that other people might be different, but they were still cool and friendly and interesting, and worthy of consideration and politeness. From whence comes this feeling of entitlement? From Fred Rogers? No, my friend; from poor parenting.
When I see children throwing tantrums in the grocery store, when I see students acting like they were robbed by the teacher when they didn't receive an 'A' grade for 'C' work, when I see young adults who are unable to grasp the concept of a 'work ethic', do I blame Fred Rogers? Nope. Poor parenting, that's the ticket.
And I see a LOT of it.
I see it every day, in many age groups. I see adults who are still children, and I see children whom I fear will never grow up to be productive members of society. I have to admit, I don't recall seeing this when I was a child. I don't recall temper tantrums (in fact, just pinging my mother, she affirms my recollection). I recall learning to respect my elders, learning not to yell in public buildings, learning to work hard in school, and learning to take responsibility for my own actions. I recall learning these amazing things from my parents. They taught and I listened, and learned.
How did they do this? I have no idea. Where have these parenting techniques gone? Again, I am at a loss. Although, for the most part, I see some really good parenting techniques in my own circle of friends, I have to admit that this is the exception rather than the rule. I go out in public and am exposed to shockingly poorly behaved children, with parents who do nothing to stop it. What is wrong with these people? What has changed from when I was a child?
I haven't seen as much of this in the other countries I have visited, but I really haven't been looking. I think I'll spend some time observing parent-child relations while I'm in Asia next week, just as a comparison. Is it just an American phenomenon?
