Oh, you see it all the time! The post on Facebook about how when "our" generation was younger we ate dirt and walked 20 miles through bear country to get to the out house etc. Well, maybe not the generation that is currently raising children but you get my drift. We were more like, we had to listen to the radio to "record" and tape our favorite song - and not download it to our Ipod etc. We did our school a papers out of an encyclopedia instead of Google.
But, I think I'm loosing my train on thought, my goal with this little experiment of mine is to shine a light on myself so I can see if what I teach, do, think, talk about, believe, and live out all match up through this self reflection of a blog exercise.
Today I tackle how raising 3 children in Johnson County KS has it's challenges. 1st World Problems, sigh....
Here a little bit out my community of Johnson County....(thanks Wiki)
- The county contains many of Kansas City's affluent southwestern suburbs. The county has the highest median household income and highest per-capita income in Kansas and is among the most affluent in the United States, with the 19th highest median household income in 2000 and the 46th highest per-capita income in 2005. In 2010, Money magazine, in its list of the 100 Best Cities in the United States in which to live, ranked Overland Park 7th (ranked 6th in 2006 and 9th in 2008) and Shawnee 17th (ranked 39th in 2008).[3] In 2008 the same magazine also ranked Olathe 11th.[4]
- The median income for a household in the county was $73,733, and the median income for a family was $90,380.
- The racial makeup of the county was (in 2010) 86.0% White, 4.2%Asian, 4.3% Black or African American, 0.4% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.55% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races.
- The county was largely rural until the early 20th century, when housing subdivisions were developed in the northeastern portion of the county adjacent to Kansas City, Missouri. Developer J.C. Nichols spurred the boom in 1914 when he built the Mission Hills Country Club to lure upscale residents who previously had been reluctant to move from Missouri to Kansas.[6] Suburban development continued at a steady pace until the close of World War II. Following the war, the pace of development exploded, triggered by the return of soldiers in need of housing and white flight, a common occurrence throughout the United States during the post-war period. The US Supreme Court 1954 school desegregation ruling and its impact in Kansas City, Missouri contributed to white flight throughout the region, resulting in increased migration from Kansas City, Missouri to the county and the furthering the county's reputation as a destination for quality public schools and as a good location for families. This growth slowed slightly in the 1970s, however beginning in the mid-1980s the pace of growth increased significantly, with the county adding 100,000 residents each decade between the 1990 census and 2010 census.
Need a re-cap?... Johnson County KS
money, money, money
and everybody looks the same!
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I've read those blog posts on Huffington about how to raise grateful children, how not to spoil yours kids, how to produce well adjusted adults that have a good work ethic in a "give me" society.
And frankly it's still a daily battle. I'm not going to pretend to have it all worked out, I have 3 kids ages 9-4 years and we struggle with things daily. Here are a few things that I wonder about.....
1) Lack of Role Models - It's a bit harder to show my kids how to act politely, show respect, take turns, it's better to give than receive, patience is a virtue, all that jazz when the adults in Target, Restaurants, etc are acting worse than the toddlers.
It's not ok to throw a fit while waiting in line at Target to check out! We all need to take our turn. I say this just as much to my 4 year old as I do the 44 year old huffy and puffing behind me and stink eyes employee to open up another register so they can quickly run there in front of everybody else and cut in line, because well... they are in just that much more of hurry.
Or telling the grade schooler's to wait in line patiently that everybody will get a chance to climb the rope in gym, when that morning their parent cut in front of everybody else in the car drop off line. Probably because their job or appointment is more important than what ever the 20 people they just decided were less important then their schedule.
2) Birthday Parties - is the party the present? I remember parties being awesome sleep overs, movies with my friends, and homemade cakes my mom painstakingly made that were my favorite Disney character that was decorated with all these frosting dots that I'm sure made her hand cramp like crazy.
Maybe if you were really lucky you had a "Chucky Cheese" style party but back then it was called Showbiz Pizza Place. But that was as rarity not a standard.
3) Vacations - Maybe it's just my personal experience growing up. We were a typical middle class, not poor, not rich, right down the middle family. I remember one vacation to Disney ( a present from my grandparents to the whole family). Our vacations were long week-end trips to see my family members. I didn't ride on a plane until college. A get out of town vacation, to a hotel, and eat out every meal, and buy toys at over prices places was a really big treat! Not something we did yearly... but like once a decade!
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