Are kids getting more rude than they used to be?  They are getting more bored that's for sure and it's because their lives are ruled by tv, computers and video games.  But how about the rudeness?  It seems that the kids I'm around on a regular basis seem to have lost all respect for their parents and anyone more than a few years older than them.  Their snide and have a vocabulary and sentence structure that screams demands.  "Can I have some popcorn?" "No, you just had lunch." "No I didn't.  I'm HUNGRY." "Have a banana."  "EWWW!!! I hate bananas!  I WANT A COOKIE!!!"

It's not always the parents' fault either.  I mean I know some pretty lame parents who think disciplining their kids is equal to sending them to the guillotine(sp?).  But some really do try but the children have some sort of chemical imbalance or biological malfunction in their brains that makes them go ape in the house.  I  have an 8 year old in my house who seems to be bouncing off the walls everyday and ever since we disconnected the cable the only thing he knows how to say is, "I'm bored.  What can I do?"  How do you teach them to entertain themselves?  Do you remember being that age and keeping yourself busy for hours?

I remember a long time ago when I was that age and I had my routine.  Yes it involved tv but not much of it.  I watched three shows each day: Mr. Dress-Up, Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street.  Occasionally I'd watch Romper Room but only because I wanted the lady to call say my name.  I don't think she ever did.  Anyway, once I was finished watching tv which was generally 11 am I'd go play by myself.  I had an older sister but she was quite a bit older than me so we never played together.  I invented ways to play bored games by myself or I'd play with my toys in the basement.  Bike rides were my favourite thing.  We had a park not far away that I would race to and play on the jungle gym.  Sometimes my friends would join me other times I'd be alone but I loved it.

We never had Playstations or X-boxes.  We had a nintendo but we never played it for long.  Maybe an hour or two and that was it.  My mother never had to tell me to stop and I never went to her saying I was bored.  My mother had one rule and that was we could never be bored.  There was always something to do.  There was always a book to read or a garden to weed.  Never in all my life did I witness my mother or my father getting frustrated because we were bored or in her way.

It was routine I suppose that got us through childhood.  We woke up with breakfast on the table.  Even when my mother had to work the morning shift we still got ourselves out the door and to school.  My sister helped me a lot when I was younger and we were never late.  When we got home there was my mom happily awaiting with a snack.  We always had two cookies but never any more than two because then we wouldn't be hungry for dinner.  After dinner we helped with dishes then it was quiet time before bed.  Usually we did homework or played a game.  I'd go play with my friends but had to be home before dark.

I miss those days.  Carefree and calm.  We never shouted.  We never ran around the house.  There were too many things that were breakable.  We probably didn't have anything that could have REALLY  broken by falling on the carpet but my mother told us that so we wouldn't run around the house.  If we did something wrong we got punished of course.  If it was really bad and my dad was home we'd get a spanking with the wooden spoon. My mother never hit us.  She'd just send us to sit in the corner, staring at the wall for five minutes and every time we looked away she added a minute.  Now that's considered child abuse.  You can't even send your kid to the corner because it's cruel and unusual punishment.  We all turned out fine didn't we?  We're not a generation full of mentally deranged serial killers are we?

Those were the good old days.  We were independent and free.  We never bothered a soul.  The rivers were cleaner, the air was cleaner and seatbelts weren't the law but we survived.  What are we surrounded by now?  Tv shows for kids that are flashy and fast moving because they have an attention span of 2.3 seconds.  We have video games that keep getting bigger and better because the last one that came out six months ago is obsolete and boring.  Juice is made with 90% sugar because that's what kids are craving now.  Anything less and they go through withdrawl like a crack addict.

Is this really the world we want to be a part of or can we somehow change it?