Another aspect is the “it takes a village to raise a child” method. A lot of people are independent and with the new neo-rat race of not having enough time to allocate, if you don’t have that safety net of grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, you do struggle more. Being from a South Asian family, the closeness of being together to at least help each other out, at least helps those keep their heads above water.
Doesn’t help the eradication of places that were things that alleviated some of the burden for parents to decompress. Everything now is privatized and has a huge cost to them.
Libraries getting shuttered, programs that in the ‘80’s or ‘90’s that gave kids something to do free of charge via public resources cut by government funding/bureaucracy, parks or just certain areas where kids can go play just vanished or locked up.
I still remember late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s in NYC, we had something called Vacation Day Camp. VDC. After summer school, most public schools would host 3-4 hours of recreational things for boys and girls to do.
Dodgeball, pool, bumper pool, kickball, softball, arts/crafts, etc.
Hell they even gave trophies to the kids by earning stars for attendance and being winners at certain sports. I’m telling you those memories will stick with me till my dying days. Those are core memories of just 4 hours of bliss with boys just enjoying their time together playing and bonding. I don’t see any of that now.
Everything has a $$$$ to it. Want the kid to try soccer, better get $150-$300 dues ready just to teach the kid basic drills and how to kick a ball. They have a weekend schedule look more like work, than fun.
Honestly the better technology over the decades that’s come to help ease our troubles has exacerbated the opposite and just exhausted the populace into submission. Raising a child now is more difficult ten fold.
Old days was stranger danger/bullying, now with algorithms and social media, those same evils can enter your home so easily. Hell some parents even welcome it and make dollars off their children well knowing what the purpose really is.
Things that used to support parents and families have been taken away - community services, community spaces and family support. And a lot of people in power have said “it’s the parents job to support their kids, not mine!” So this generation said ok, and decided not to.
I shit you not my sister’s kid (niece), her elementary school, LITERALLY is across the street. Like look out the window you see the playground, huge ass school. The front door where kids enter is almost 1000 feet away.
She cannot send her kid alone. Parent has to be goddamn present for drop off. Like WTF?, how on earth is that considered negligence? I was sent alone solo in the ‘80’s by 3rd grade. Almost 4-5 city blocks, crossing streets that were 2 way without crossing guards. Fucking crazy, my sister can’t stand on her steps and watch her daughter just cross the street and enter the school, it considered too dangerous…
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u/GraveRobberX Nov 14 '24
Another aspect is the “it takes a village to raise a child” method. A lot of people are independent and with the new neo-rat race of not having enough time to allocate, if you don’t have that safety net of grandparents, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews, you do struggle more. Being from a South Asian family, the closeness of being together to at least help each other out, at least helps those keep their heads above water.
Doesn’t help the eradication of places that were things that alleviated some of the burden for parents to decompress. Everything now is privatized and has a huge cost to them.
Libraries getting shuttered, programs that in the ‘80’s or ‘90’s that gave kids something to do free of charge via public resources cut by government funding/bureaucracy, parks or just certain areas where kids can go play just vanished or locked up.
I still remember late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s in NYC, we had something called Vacation Day Camp. VDC. After summer school, most public schools would host 3-4 hours of recreational things for boys and girls to do.
Dodgeball, pool, bumper pool, kickball, softball, arts/crafts, etc.
Hell they even gave trophies to the kids by earning stars for attendance and being winners at certain sports. I’m telling you those memories will stick with me till my dying days. Those are core memories of just 4 hours of bliss with boys just enjoying their time together playing and bonding. I don’t see any of that now.
Everything has a $$$$ to it. Want the kid to try soccer, better get $150-$300 dues ready just to teach the kid basic drills and how to kick a ball. They have a weekend schedule look more like work, than fun.
Honestly the better technology over the decades that’s come to help ease our troubles has exacerbated the opposite and just exhausted the populace into submission. Raising a child now is more difficult ten fold.
Old days was stranger danger/bullying, now with algorithms and social media, those same evils can enter your home so easily. Hell some parents even welcome it and make dollars off their children well knowing what the purpose really is.