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The world is changing
Old 03-13-2017, 04:15 PM   #1
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The world is changing

I got up this morning mowed /edged my grass raked my lawn and bagged it . Enough for today beer time . My neighbor boy came in I started talking to him . He is going to college 20 years old and has never had a job . I joked with him since he is home he could mow his parents lawn . He laughed and said the lawn men come every Thursday. What happened with kids working I had a paper route when I was 14 . My parents had two words when I asked for money ( were broke ) it worked I worked. These kids ( some of them ) have it made !

I see kids driving better cars then I have ever had , where do the parents get the money to give the kids or are they mortgaging their retirement ?
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:18 PM   #2
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I could go on a long rant on the subject and get banned in no time at all. therefore I STFU.
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:21 PM   #3
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"In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o’ tea."


"A cup o’ cold tea."


"Without milk or sugar."


"Or tea."
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:22 PM   #4
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Forgot to include this
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:26 PM   #5
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That was Warren Buffet time. I paid my nephews $25 an hour for 4 hours max to help with my garden, they are tall strapping boys, 6'2 and over. While they like the cash but they didn't seem to latch on the part that while they are young they should do some physical work to earn money.
Only my kids drove old beaten up cars when they first started driving, everybody else in my immediate family has nice car.
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:29 PM   #6
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I see kids driving better cars then I have ever had , where do the parents get the money to give the kids or are they mortgaging their retirement ?
I have no idea. I knew of kids in my high school class whose parents gave them a new car when they turned 16 but sadly I was not one of them. I got a slightly used one from a junkyard and had to put the transmission in it before I could drive it, but at least it was a set of wheels, more than a lot of other kids had. Basically it was a "spare" for my parent's cars if one of those broke down but when all were up and running I could use it. Dad and I did all the car maintenance, including engine rebuilding. The only time our cars went to a shop was for stuff that needed expensive equipment to do like a front end alignment.

I mowed lawns and shoveled snow for spending money starting at around 13 or 14, then got a job in a gas station when I was 17 (back when they had guys pump the gas, check the oil, clean the windshield). I could also do light maintenance like oil changes, wheel balancing, tire repair/replacement and the like. Starting in 1967 it paid $1.25/hour.

Like someone else here wrote I was born with a plastic spoon.
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:36 PM   #7
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"In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o’ tea."


"A cup o’ cold tea."


"Without milk or sugar."


"Or tea."
You had a cup? Luxury!
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:39 PM   #8
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You had a cup? Luxury!
"Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper."
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:43 PM   #9
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Boy I've been on these forums awhile I guess because I now know where those references come from, and I'll take the next inevitable step of posting:

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Old 03-13-2017, 04:43 PM   #10
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"Oh, we never had a cup. We used to have to drink out of a rolled up newspaper."
"You had a newspaper? I had to compete with the dogs to lap up puddles from the floor!"

"You had dogs?"
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:48 PM   #11
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Time for a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier, eh?
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:54 PM   #12
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Time for a good glass of Chateau de Chassilier, eh?
You have a glass? We used to chew sour grapes and make believe it was wine...
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Old 03-13-2017, 04:56 PM   #13
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I could go on a long rant on the subject and get banned in no time at all. therefore I STFU.
Same for me. There's no way I could rant about this issue without getting political. So I'll shut my yapper
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:08 PM   #14
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Interesting, I don't see this as political in the least and can't begin to make it so in my mind.


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Old 03-13-2017, 05:28 PM   #15
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Their parents have more money than yours did, I suppose.

Nothing about this seems terribly different from when I was a kid. Other kids' dads made more than mine did (even though my dad worked much harder). Ergo, the kids had more stuff and did less work than I did.

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What happened with kids working I had a paper route when I was 14 . My parents had two words when I asked for money ( were broke ) it worked I worked. These kids ( some of them ) have it made !
I see kids driving better cars then I have ever had , where do the parents get the money to give the kids or are they mortgaging their retirement ?
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:33 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Breedlove View Post
I got up this morning mowed /edged my grass raked my lawn and bagged it . Enough for today beer time . My neighbor boy came in I started talking to him . He is going to college 20 years old and has never had a job . I joked with him since he is home he could mow his parents lawn . He laughed and said the lawn men come every Thursday. What happened with kids working I had a paper route when I was 14 . My parents had two words when I asked for money ( were broke ) it worked I worked. These kids ( some of them ) have it made !

I see kids driving better cars then I have ever had , where do the parents get the money to give the kids or are they mortgaging their retirement ?
When I was 7 or 8 I was collecting coke bottles for the deposit. There's no deposit refund anymore, and in many places if kids that young were wandering around they'd end up in foster care and their parents would be in jail.

At 11 I got a paper route, had to start work at 5 am so it was all finished before school started. By the time I was in my 20s adults had taken all the routes and delivered by car. Kids were out of luck. Plus, see above re kids on bikes in the dark and jail.

When I was 12 I worked weekends on a farm (after the papers were delivered) for $5/day. Today that would be considered child labor and someone would be in jail, probably the farmer and the parents.

As a young teen I mowed grass, shoveled snow, and raked leaves. Nowadays those are jobs that adults fill, and even if kids tried to do them they'd need licenses and certifications.

At 15 I started at McDonalds, then went through various food service, construction, and retail sales jobs. I guess kids could do that now, but by the time they are in their late teens and haven't ever developed (or needed) to earn money, they see no reason to.

I know many people think kids are snowflakes now, and I don't totally disagree. And there's so much emphasis on school and grades and getting into college these days that many parents would never consider letting their kids work. Plus kids don't have the freedom of movement that we did, and most of them are in regulated activities after school. But I think the bigger reason is over-regulation that has totally locked them out of developing a work ethic. You can read about kids' lemonade stands being shut down by gov't officials every summer. I'm sure it's a combination of being spoiled and gov't interference, but I really can't blame the kids that much for it.
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:37 PM   #17
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Why do I suspect our grandparents generation thought the same about us when we were 20-something's? Every generation actually.
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:39 PM   #18
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Interesting, I don't see this as political in the least and can't begin to make it so in my mind.
"You had a mind?"
Don't you think it is the responsibility of every parent to loan their child $1,000,000 so they can start a business ?
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:42 PM   #19
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I worked when I was a kid because I wanted money, not because I had some notion of the inherent dignity of labor. If I could have obtained money without working, I would have done that.

List of things I did to get money prior to college:

Picked up bottles for the deposit
Picked wild blackberries and sold them to the farmers market
Delivered newspapers
Mowed lawns
Shoveled snow
Babysat children
Caddied at the country club
Bussed tables at the country club
Bagged groceries
Flipped burgers at McDonald's
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Old 03-13-2017, 05:44 PM   #20
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As the mother of teens I'll weigh in here. My kids regularly complain that their friends are given more stuff, fewer chores, and more freedom. I just smile and point out that the friends have nice parents, lucky them.

But in truth some kids have little responsibility, some have more. Some are given silver spoons, some have to work hard and save for the plastic spoon. Life isn't fair.
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