Auteur: I couldn't agree with you more. Somewhere between my parents generation and the parents of my generation we've changed the center of the universe. Children are now the center of the parent's universe that revolves around their every need (errr, want) of the children. Personally, I believe it's the cause of so many hapless twenty-somethings wandering around the world looking for a new center because the world doesn't work that way. And, why so many end up back home to retake their throwns. I'm not suggesting that my parents didn't provide for me or make sacrifices but my schedule and desires had to fit around theirs and not vice versa. Co-dependency is an epidemic and not healthy for the parents or children. I've worked with many of these twenty-something entitled brats and it's not pretty in the work world at all. I even had a parent call me for making "Johnny" work too many weekends. Seriously.

Okay, I'll stop ranting and get back to world. Thanks for listening.

Our bus stop stops at each individual house as well. I remember walking quite far to meet the bus and I still live in same small town. It's amazing how times change.

I tend to have aneurysms at the drop off line at the elementary school. I get so worked up as I am on my way to WORK when I am dropping off my daughter and you have these parents that pull up to the curb and sit and chat with their kids, comb their hair, and then get out of their damn cars, walk around to open the kids car door and help them into the school. WTF? This drives me crazy. Cars are lined up way behind them and they are apparently oblivious to the fact that we are all waiting for them to move their asses out of the way. If your kid cant yet open a car door then perhaps they ought to ride the big yellow thing.

There was a big fiasco here in our area a few years ago-because it was snowing and icing and they ended up calling off school. They did not call it off until the last minute though and some of the kids were already out at the bus stop (in their own driveways). Parents complained that their kids were cold and had to wait until the parent inside the house got the call that school was cancelled and had to go outside and get them. What if a parent hadnt been home they cried? Poor junior would have been standing outside ALL DAY long obviously not bright enough to walk up the driveway and inside his own home. No wonder we have a generation of idiots.

We live out in the sticks and the bus does not even come this far...but I agree with you. I'll go even further and point out how we teach them entitlement when we make a whole bunch of cars and trucks come to a stop when we want to cross, when we could have waited a couple of minutes. Making cars and trucks come to a complete stop, and then get going again, actually creates more pollution than we saved by walking....I see it all the time. I am a pedestrian, I have a kid, you all better stop right this second!!Never mind safety or consideration. Just one more way we teach our kids entitlement.
Another big one.....making sure they have their own room..

Auteur, great post as always.

You just reminded me about something that really bothers me - and it always has and I never knew why.

When fskids are with BM her 50% of the time, take a good guess where their bus stop is?!? YEP, their bus stop is right in front of BM's house!! At the end of the driveway. This has always bothered me and I never knew why. Feels better that other people think these things like I do.

I don't have any biochildren of my own. With that said, I know for CERTAIN that I would NOT teach my kids to be ANYTHING like this generation's ENTITLEMENT mindset. The kids nowadays are so selfish - ME, ME, ME, ME is all they EVER think about.

I agree with you 100%. Why can't these parents realize that there are OTHER PEOPLE THAT EXIST other than their precious spawn instead of sitting there taking pictures and hugging/kissing their kids for 15 minutes at the bus??? HELLO??? Meanwhile, cars just line up behind the bus for miles. Do they even NOTICE??? Selfishness at its worst.

Auteur thanks for naming that! Parents not only block traffic on our busy cross-street, they freaking park on our little street, blocking our own access. All so little precious won't have to walk a few blocks. And that's for middle school and high school!!! Gaggg!!!

Our neighborhood middle school bus has a particular "spot" and all kids go there.

With elementary they used to have designated stops every few houses-now they seem to do each house.

BUT, (and I blogged about it once)...our neighborhood did have a very scary bus incident that should have never happened-and they started stopping more often at the homes because the kids were freaked out....actually I think they did it to appease the parents becaues we really could have sued the transportation authority for what happened.

Luckily my neighborhood isn't very heavy traffic- I have to say I like the idea of them stopping until they can cross the street safely -at least in elementary age..I don't think it's necessary by middle/high when kids are mature enough to remember to wait/watch, etc....but again I'm biased-my brothers bestfriend and classmate was in 2nd grade when the policy didn't exist and died by blunt head trauma exiting the bus-hit by another one-till this day those parents are broken. Was preventable.

I agree that we overprotect and exaggerate though....dont' get me started on car pool lane. I HATE it....typically it's the entitled adults w/the big ass suv's, take 5 min to exit the kids from the car-car is so damn big kids can't get on/off safely...or try to fix back pack, what have you...do you not realize the line behind you or you just don't give a shit? UGHHHH

No doubt about it. These are the kids that can't tie their own shoes by age 5-6, need someone to wipe their asses at age 5-6, can't blow their own noses, put on their own jackets, etc....

And their pathetic inability is their parent's fault.

We used to walk a block and a half to the bus stop (up hill ... one way) stand in the snow, rain, etc... until the bus arrived. Mom and dad stayed warm and dry in the house.

Even my own kid waited at the bus stop with the other kids for 1st and second grade. When the new school opened in our neighborhood we dropped him off at school but we had the drop off Nazi keeping the child adoration nation moving efficiently. We could barely slow down when dropping out kid off at school with the Nazi around. Not that we would have lingered had she not been around. "Get the hell out of car and get you ass to class" works wonders to get a kid moving toward self sufficiency and confidence.

When he promoted to Middle School... he got a key to the house and he walked the ~1mile to and from school. He was home alone for ~1yr every school day until either his mom or I got home.

We used to ride our bikes several miles to elementary school and Jr. HS occassionally. We would play outside all weekend long whether it was cold, wet, hot, etc.... without an adult within a mile of more of us. We would ride bikes without helmets, the only helmet I ever wore was when I was riding my motorcycle (I got my first one at 6yo) or playing organized football. Even football we played in the neighborhood with no protective equipment what so ever.

Back in my day the only kids that wore bike helmets had an old head injury or a drooling problem and the only place to get those helmets was from a Doctor's office. No offense intended.

Many cars did not even have seatbealts. Though I am a firm believer in their manditory use. The first car I owned with seatbelts actually saved my life. Why I automatically put them on in that vehicle I have no idea when the first two cars I owned did not even have them.

I remember sleeping on the shelf behind the back seat of the car when on road trips as a kid.

Child Adoration Nation .... Aut, you need a talk show by that name.

HA!! Reminds me of this:

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; whatwith walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... uphillBOTH ways .. yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in hell I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that...I'm over the ripe old age of thirty plus, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we want ed to know something, we had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!

There was no email! We had to actually write somebody a letter
...with a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it In the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3's or Napsters! You wanted to steal music, you had To hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you Had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ's usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

And talk of about hardship? You couldn't just download porn! You had To steal it from your brother or bribe some homeless dude to buy you a copy of "Hustler" at the 7-11! Those were your options!

We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the
Phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the ph one
rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Play station video games with
high-resolution 3-D graphics!! We had the Atari 2600! With games
like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics sucked! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!
And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and
Harder and faster and faster until you died! ... Just like LIFE!

When yo u went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu and no remote control! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your a$$ and walk over to the TV to change the channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up. We had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire... imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing and Shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it
Too easy. You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards ,

The 30 Something crowd

Overit.... I am sitting here cracking up! You are SO right!