Comments on: Parenting: Then and Now

By: Jen

Jen — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:37:00 +0000

how areyou?

By: Jen G.

Jen G. — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 13:48:00 +0000

times haven’t change for some…still!

I grew up with Dominicans and Cubans and my husband is puerto rican. I am def Latina by osmosis I think. let me tell ya, I relate to this. my best friend was Cuban and her mom used to make us shakes with raw eggs!! my mom used to leave me in the store when I cried for something. literally. the stories I could share…

By: Michelle

Michelle — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:55:04 +0000

So true. I remember falling on the floor of the car when we got hit a couple of times (no car seats of course or seat belts) and sleeping in the back seat when we'd go on trips. Also we'd stop on the side of the highway to sleep on trips because there weren't hotels or we couldn't afford them. I wouldn't ever think of doing that now. How about riding bikes or skating around the entire town. My kids can't even cross the street alone. Maybe we are too paranoid…

By: unknownmami

unknownmami — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:41:17 +0000

I crashed our car into the garage when I was 10 and blamed it on my 2 year old brother because my mom used to send us to warm up the car in the mornings without her.

By: Cheeseboy

Cheeseboy — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 01:08:47 +0000

I remember bouncing around on the front seat with my mom driving as a little kid. Sometimes she would even sit me on her lap and I would pretend to “drive”. What the heck were people thinking back then? (Mom?!)

By: Tina

Tina — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 00:22:59 +0000

I remember riding in the back window of the car to lay down for long car trips. I am like you though…I try not to overdo the safety thing. Plus, everyone wants to scare the crap out of you over every little thing!
Best,
Tina

By: Honeypiehorse

Honeypiehorse — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:01:33 +0000

To be fair, more kids died then. But maybe the ones who survived were less wussy than our kids are probably going to be. Oh, wait, that would be us. Maybe not.

By: Donda

Donda — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:16:51 +0000

just a little note….I had a wv that made me think of you and your disdain for the wv lady. it was “movelych” which sounds like “movebitch” then I thought of that rap song that goes something like “moooove bitch, get outta my way”. Now the wv lady just became a dope rapper!

By: melani

melani — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:19:27 +0000

yes I am with you. I was never in a carseat, but I always buckle the kids up. Times have really changed and yes you can teach your kid the word “No”…just wait until terrible two's! I have moved all the cleaning stuff out of the house in the garage or up high where he can't reach it…he has this thing with squirting things, anything with whatever he can get his hands on…one day he got into the kitchen cabinet under the sink and squirted the Ginger Boy I babysit all over the head with a vinegar cleaner I have, luckily he didn't get him in the eyes!

By: Kablooey

Kablooey — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 06:56:39 +0000

I used to stand up in the car and pretend I was surfing. We'd get sent out to play and we'd explore roofs and building basements, cut through alleys, and return 8 hours later. And this was in dangerous NYC in the '70's. I walked a kid to school when I was in first grade for 50 cents a week. And I always licked the beaters when mom made cake. Good times. Oh, I plugged you in my comments, Mami. http://kablooeyquest.blogspot.com/2010/06/52-pr…

By: mom2miahaudrey

mom2miahaudrey — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:38:03 +0000

I love this. So true. I used to go out for hours as a child..friends homes, bike riding, up the street to the candy store. Now, I don't even let my kid go across the street.

Makes me think how much easier life was, and how much fun I am taking away from my son.

By: The Bipolar Diva

The Bipolar Diva — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:28:21 +0000

My grandmother ( a total loon ) told me that she would put my dad in a playpen and go to work. She’d have the downstairs neighbor come up every four hours to give him a bottle and change him. (No wonder he wasn’t able to tell us he loved us unless he was intoxicated!)
He grew up basically alone in the streets of New Orleans in the French Quarter and somehow he survived. It makes me crazy that she could even consider doing that to a child.
Raising 11 kids I’ve gone from sterilizing everything and childproofing the entire house to “I don’t care if it fell on the floor. As long as the dog didn’t lick, or there’s no mold on it-eat it” and “Oh well, I guess that’ll teach you not to run in the house.” Oh, and “If my door is closed and there’s no blood or broken bones, DO NOT knock!”
Although I do have their cell phones, laptops and the TV all on lockdown and they can’t go to the park, mall, etc alone. They have to have at least one other sibling with them. We were able to play outside from morning til night as long as we were home by the time the street lights came on. My kids have to tell me every single place they’ll be, who they’ll be with and have to call to check in.

By: Cat804

Cat804 — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:21:35 +0000

I love the point that sense isn't common until it's been around… interesting observations!

By: The Good Cook

The Good Cook — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:54:26 +0000

You know, I may…

By: unknownmami

unknownmami — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 01:07:16 +0000

Wow! I can not believe that bee story. I'm so glad you survived. My mother used to leave me to babysit my brother when I was 10 and he was 2. Once I was changing his diaper and needed more wipes. I left him on the ground and started to walk away. As soon as I turned my back, I got a funny feeling so I looked back and he had gotten on top of a rocking chair and promptly fell off and hit his forehead on the corner of a desk. He got a big open gash that would not stop bleeding. I was freaking out and this was before cellphones. I had no idea where my mother was. I called every relative that I could get a hold of and by the time my mom got home the place was swarmed with cars and relatives. He ended up getting 4 stitches. Did that stop her from having me babysit? Nope.

By: Kaylen

Kaylen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 00:50:24 +0000

Ha – love this! My folks have pictures of me sleeping in a pulled out dresser drawer as a baby. Not the bottom dresser drawer..the top one -easier for them. This is probably why I still sleep in one position and never move during the night. Straight fear of falling out of a dresser.
They also used to leave me in a playpen outside nearby my sisters (5 yrs older). Which led to me being stung by over 70 bees as a 7month old-one of my sisters stuck a stick into an in-ground bee hive and then the older kids all ran and left the baby in the playpen. This is why people think playpens are dangerous, right?

By: unknownmami

unknownmami — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:57:28 +0000

You should turn this into a post.

By: The Good Cook

The Good Cook — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 08:23:00 +0000

We drank out of the hose when we were thirsty.
We walked to school.
We rode the bus.
We did not wear helmets, or protective pads when playing sports. Mostly we played "pick up games" in the street and just stood to the side when a car came.
We knew our neighbors.
Our neighbors knew us.
We shared our lunches and no one had "nut" allergies.
We laid down in the back of our parent's station wagons (no seat belts)
I'm pretty sure my mother smoked when she was pregnant.
Teething? Rub your babies gums with alcohol (bourbon, vodka, whatever)
Problem with a teacher? YOUR problem. I went to Catholic School.. problem with a nun? Major YOUR problem.
We went swimming in creeks, ponds and rivers. No lifeguards.
Ear Ache? My mother put vodka in my ears.
When it was hot (in the summertime) we slept outside on the porch.
We experimented with alcohol, pot, cigarettes and sex. It was the 60's, 70's and 80's.
Me and my siblings are aged 35 through 55.
Somehow we made it.
Between us we are: engineers, VP's, business owners, teachers, career military, nurses, parents, grandparents, solid homeowners, citizens, voters, school board members and community leaders.
Go figure.

By: unknownmami

unknownmami — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:47:41 +0000

We only have one cabinet childproofed and that's the only one she ever tries to get into because she knows she can't. The other ones she's been told no and leaves them alone.

By: Coby

Coby — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 05:09:47 +0000

Hubby and I don't really childproof our house, except for the electrical outlets. This concerned my dad, who once said, “What if the kids try to get into the cabinets?” He looked at me like I was crazy when I said, “We'll tell them 'no'.” What a concept!