Spare the rod, spoil the child…hell no!

Recently my 85 year old mother visited me and my gang. You see I’m a do-it-again dad. We now have a 9 year old son, and twin daughters aged 7. The difference between her generation and mine with regard to child discipline is apparent.

In our house spanking is a definite no no. Children are treated with respect. Sure there is some yelling and fighting but with five individuals including three young ones, there are bound to be conflicts.

Mother gets taut like a spring just watching my active boy have fun. You can sense the urge to step in and bring him to heel. You can cut the tension. Heck he is just being a kid.

Proudly relates this little story to me whenever she visits,

Seems one time when I was a 6 year old kid back in the 1950′s there was I time when I didn’t come when I was called, too busy playing I guess. She came to get me with a flyswatter. She tells how she flicked my ass with it all the way home and boy did that ever make me listen. The point being the next time I was called I came.

Frankly I find this tale a disgusting example of the child discipline of the 1950′s. Talk about lack of respect for a child.
Much as I love my mother I am beginning to realize why I have so much deep seeded anger within my psyche.

My toughest job ever – being a Dad.

Think back to all the jobs you’ve ever held in you life. Okay now which one was or is the most difficult? I don’t know about you but without question or qualification it is being a good Dad.

Any man can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a good Dad. Those are the truest words I have heard uttered on the subject.  Failure at this job is just not a option in my mind. It is far too important to the children. The responsibility is at times I confess downright scary.

Unfortunately being human all fathers have failures sometimes. The thing to do is to recommit oneself and strive to be better. The rewards far outweigh the negative moments.

It is only now after all these years I realize the tough job fatherhood really is. However, the rewards are incalculable. Enjoy being a father, enjoy your children they are truly a gift.

The Boomer Generation

When the Second World War (1939 – 1945) ended millions of men returned home to wives and girlfriends most hadn’t seen in years. Guess what happened? Nine months later there began a baby boom the likes of which had never been seen, and hasn’t been seen since. In Canada anyone born between 1947 and 1967 is considered a “baby boomer” or “boomer” for short.

Truly effective birth control, the pill, wasn’t available until the mid 1960′s, so in most cases sex resulted in babies, lots of them. This was not a bad thing, after all these men and women wanted to return to a normal life after six long years of war abroad and on the home front.

Couples wanted to put the war behind them. They wanted marriage and family, and did they ever succeed. Some factoids on the baby boom:

• During the years 1947 to 1966 in Canada there were over 400,000 babies born each year. The highest year was 1959 with 479,000 born.
• In the United States during roughly the same period over 4,000,000 were born each year.
• At the height of the boom Canadian women averaged four offspring each.

I am a “boomer” as are my siblings. We were born in 1949, 1951, and 1955 respectively. Now over sixty years later our generation is beginning to enter our retirement years.

Our generation makes up the largest individual segment of the Canadian population (more than 30%). With retirement comes two key questions for Canadian society,

• Can the pension plans handle the massive numbers of retirees?
• Can the expertise lost by industry and government be replaced?

Most boomers are healther and wealthier than previous generations, but the cost of living has skyrocketed. Better health means longer lives and more stress on retirement income sources.

The anticipated retirement of workers from the workforce will mean more opportunity for the younger generations coming into the workforce.

Baby boomers have a tremendous impact on Canadian society and will continue to be a factor for many years to come. Some factoids on the impact of the boomer generation today (stats are from the United States, but are similar here in Canada.):

• Control over 80% of personal assets
• Control over 50% of discretionary spending.
• Account for more than half of consumer spending.
• Purchase 77% of all prescription drugs.
• Account for 80% of all leisure travel spending.

Stay tuned for more postings on my experiences as part of the Boomer Generation.

Fifty Years On – One Boomer’s Perspective

As a child in the 1950′s I often thought what life would be like fifty years on, especially when the new century started in the year 2000. It seemed so far away. Fifty years seemed a lifetime to a boy of ten. I am over sixty now and I wonder where the years went.

Age was always in the discussion. Why I’d be over fifty in the year 2000. Likely I would be married with children and working to support the family. What I’d be doing or where I’d be living, I had no idea; after all I was only ten years of age.

Some magazines of the time thought everyone would be riding in space cars and robots would be in every home. That sounded kind of neat. Many thought people would be working less and less, perhaps only a few days a week. Experts predicted more leisure time. Earlier retirement seemed a given based on predictions of experts.

The year 2000 is now past. We are ten years into the 21st century. Space cars don’t exist. The cars we drive have computers on-board controlling all the anti-pollution devices. They have global positioning systems (GPS) to help us find the mall. Some have video cameras on the rear to stop the driver from running over Suzie’s bicycle. Almost all have exotic sound systems to bombard us with favorite tunes as we speed down the highways and by-ways. Automobiles still do not have auto-pilot like airplanes. The driver still has to stay alert and awake.

Robots are not commonplace in our homes. The only one I know of is the vacuum that cleans floors by itself. It scoots around by-itself. Builders are wiring homes, so the owners can remotely control appliances and the furnace to cite two examples.

They are common in manufacturing plants. Robots even build cars in the new century.

In the working-world people work longer hours each day and more hours per week. People delay retirement longer and longer in this century. It seems many of us are fated to die at our desks.

There are so many “baby boomers” approaching old age and retirement that medical systems and pension plans are beginning to stress out. “Baby boomers” or “boomers” are the generation of children born post-Second World War, in the late 1940′s and the 1950′s. We make up the largest segment of the population. The boomers toiled all our working lives, paid taxes, and contributed to pension plans, but now governments deem us a liability. It is not fair. Society should have planned for this day.

The retirement of older workers will create opportunities for younger generations. On the downside knowledge will be lost with the death and retirement of the boomers. More on this issue to follow.

Carefree Childhood – Life Was Good

I spent my childhood in a small town of around 1,000 persons. Summer days were idyllic. Riding bikes all over, playing, or lying around. Collecting soda bottles, cashing them in for 2c each, taking the 25 or 30c to the variety store. Buying a comic book, bottle of pop (soda), bubble gum, and chips. Heading for the nearest large shade tree. Reading comic books and dining with good friends for hours.

Climbing trees in vacant lots. Making forts in the upper branches of large leafy trees. Life was good.

Serial killers, perverts, pedophiles? Who the heck heard of those in the 1950′s. Carefree was the byword in those days. We knew what time to go home in for lunch or supper. My friends and I policed ourselves. The freedom we had amazes me to this day.  No wonder we didn’t want to grow up and take responsibility.

Haiti – Please Help!

Father with dead daughter

As a father of four daughters this news photo touched me deeply. We need to help these people.

Check your local agencies, make sure you pick a reputable one, and then give what you can.

Where the Wild Things Are

Maurice Sendak is an Jewish-American writer and illustrator born June 10, 1928 in Brooklyn, New York. He both wrote and illustrated the book. It was published in 1963 and became an immediate hit. The story received the Caldecott prize for Most Distinguished American Picture book for children in 1964.  Sendak’s books are somewhat controversial because of his drawings and subject matter, but the kids eat it up.

“Where the Wild Things Are” is now a major motion picture. In 1966 the United States Postal Service issued a set of stamps for the best children’s books. His story was one of the stamps.

Sendak’s “Little Bear” stories are now a TV series and appear on Treehouse TV here in Canada.  Sendak is still living and is now 81. He helped write the screenplay for this movie.

Empty Nesters – Get a Monkey Baby

Rhesus monkey - your next child?

Last evening on “The Learning Channel” (TLC) they had a show about people who adopt Rhesus monkeys and raise them and treat them as if they were human children. One man’s quote floored me, “Don’t call her a monkey, she’s my daughter”!

Seems most of the people doing this are empter nesters, those whose children have grown up and left home. They just couldn’t get enough of bottles and diapers so now having these monkeys gives them that forever.

One couple tried to take theirs into a restaurant and were denied access, they didn’t allow animals into the establishment.

So for all you empty nesters out there looking to carry on nurturing adopt one. They cost $4500 and if you get tired of it, send it to a zoo.