Back in my day

Back in my day

Today one of the most popular lines you hear old folks saying is usually “back in my day” in reference to when they were young. Yes, times have changed and they keep changing as many of us might have noticed. While some change with time, others simply question where our society is heading. Momentarily when I sit in retrospect and remember my childhood, I recall a discipline I can hardly see other parents practice in present time.

The generations behind us have lost the morals that many of our parents implemented. What can we do? Is not breaking news to find out that many of our young generations in the United States are having children. They are having them at a rate faster than the meat industry produces meat. Children having children is what I like to call it because the truth is that having a child and raising one is a hard task. You might be asking where this topic came from, it’s indeed out of my jurisdiction.

I come from a generation of playing sports and being outdoors, hiking and playing soccer on Saturdays and Sundays. My punishments consisted of losing the privilege of playing the sport that I most love, soccer (Besides the belt.) Today I look around and see young children with on the go video games. You no longer have to be a couch potato at home, you now have the opportunity to be a potato in the car.

This might be the reason why America has the largest number of obese kids in the world. Lazy parents who don’t cook and buy fast food every day which simply contributes to this epidemic. I recall my mothers stories of   walking miles for a bucket of water. It’s truly sad to see how our world keeps changing. I believe change should help us become better and not lazier.

Technology

We can’t completely blame technology for the direction we are heading in. This problem mostly occurs in the U.S. The rest of the world seems to still believe in old traditions, people still walk to most of their destinations or use public transportation. While people in the states drive to places or have things delivered. Can you blame these people for being in the group of unhealthy people in the world? There’s many reasons why we are where we are as a country. The question becomes, “Where does this begin and where does it end?”

The answer has always been simple and right in front of us, we simply choose to turn the other cheeck and pretend not see things happening. Your problem begins and ends at home. Although most of the time it only begins and it never ends, it just keeps going and progressing through future generations.

What I’m about to say is completely illegal, I don’t suggest you do any of the following to be clear. As a kid I grew up in a household where discipline and manners were the number one rule. The belt was the number one enemy at times. The belt symbolized that you had broken the rules of the house in the worse way possible. Yet my mother was never big on public exhibition. She simply gave you the look and whispered, “When we get home!” Now, many of my African American friends and Latino friends could relate to those words. When my mother was in a good mood my siblings and I would get a lecture, but we always exceeded expectation therefore we got the belt with full benefits.

My mother always said it was out of love, so she thought. My butt surely disagreed with her but I knew mom was right and I was wrong. I must admit one of the punishment I hated the most was going to the corner and getting on my knees for around an hour with my hands up in the air. That usually worked and I thought about doing things twice. I love my mother for all the things she did and has done for me. I no longer get punishments, I get lectures and life stories that I carry inside for when I have to correct my children in the future. My mother like most Latina mothers didn’t believe in “Go to your room.”  I could only imagine an answer like  “I hate you mom, you’re so not cool, I’m running away!” Those statements would have me toothless at a very young age.

Our change starts at home, it starts with us correcting our kids in a proper manner. Encouraging them to get out and play sports, getting involved with the community and socializing face to face. Yet again making smarter choices as parents and preventing our younger siblings and kids from being obese and bad behaved. I’m not super dad, but it does bother me seeing little children talk back to their parents, I wish my mother would pop out and say, “When we get home.” With the look of death she typically gave my siblings and I when we were kids. There’s too many people saying, “Where did I go wrong?” and not enough saying “Not in my watch buddy.”

No, my mother was not perfect, in all honesty there’s no perfect parent, they’ll commit mistakes and learn from them. Is our society changing? Yes. The problem is that is changing in the wrong direction. Imagine a generation of bad behaved children turning into parents and raising kids of their own, what then? There’s still time to change a lot of this. I wouldn’t be able to live in a world where parents taught their kids to shuffle instead of playing sports. “Please dear lord have mercy on us!”

Thank you for reading, please feel free to share on your favorite social media site. Follow me on Twitter: @mlinares10