I OBJECT!

So you think only the old GUYS get rude and cranky? What do you think the women have been doing all these years? We have a right to be rude and cranky, too!

For all you people who remember when John Glenn went into space: Can you imagine how awful it would be if we got the chance to be a kid again starting today, but were still able to remember our original childhood? Look at the comparison... there IS no comparison!

I knew how to read, tell time and knew my numbers up to 20 when I started kindergarten. Every year, I got my new school books, read them from cover to cover right away, then spent the rest of the year bored out of my mind. The kids today don't know how to read, unless their parents actually took the time to teach them, and what are the chances of that? The schools aren't capable of teaching them to read, they're just prison wardens for twelve years. The kids don't know much more by the time they leave school than when they first entered it.

Remember when the only time we were indoors was when we were sick? We roamed for miles, visited friends from school, made up games with cardboard boxes, tree branches and wagons. Today's kids don't know how to do anything unless electricity or batteries are involved, not to mention a lot of money.

There was one main rule at home: be home in time for dinner. We never heard the term "child molester", and we sure didn't need a mean German Shepherd or a sitter with a shotgun to keep us safe. If we climbed into the flood control channel so we could slide down the sandy slope on cardboard and a hobo was coming along, one of the teenage boys from down the street would jump the fence and remind us not to talk to strangers, and hang around until the hobo was out of sight. The kids today can be taken right out of their own bedrooms. Whose fault is that?

My father bought a new television with an 11" screen, and the neighbors all came over to see it. When things really got modern and the remote control was invented, we had to take the collar off the dog because his rattling tags kept changing the channels. The kids today can't figure out how to get into their bright red, parent-provided, brand-new sports car if the battery dies in their electronic door opener.

We actually had to figure out the answer to some problems on our own. If the badminton bird flew up to the roof, Donna would have to bring the wooden stepladder from next door, I would find the 4-prong garden "claw", and Julie would hold the ladder while I climbed up and scraped it off the roof. Getting a baseball out of the drain was trickier. A kid on my street couldn't figure out how to get a frisbee out of a tree with a stick, two feet over his head.

If we smart-mouthed an adult, it was okay for them to knock our head off. They would be backed up by our parents who told us that it was our fault. Today, the kids physically attack someone, and their parents sue their victim for existing.

If we found a wallet or purse or folded money with a grocery list paperclipped to it, we turned it in to the most likely person to know who it belonged to. Most of the kids around here just steal what they want -- from strangers or friends.

We had to work for money. It was just a fact of life. Who was going to give us money for nothing? Nobody. Today's kid expect everything t be handed to them even before they know they want it. Some don't mind having a job, as long as it isn't too hard, they don't have to think, and if La Parent provides the car and the gas money (they never think of insurance).

Drugs were aspirin and castor oil. Now the kids know all the names of all the recreational drugs, and who is selling them.

I think we're nasty because we know there's no hope. The eight-year-old little #@%$& next door is never going to improve, and neither will his parents. The kids can't spell cat, but want their own credit card. The only reason kids manage to learn their numbers is so they can dial their cell phone. You can ask them a question, and they haven't got a clue to the answer, because they can't think.

And no, it's not all kids. The homeschooled ones are much better.

I feel sorry for today's kids. I wouldn't wish today on any of them. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Sue