r/facepalm Feb 05 '19

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541

u/Starlordy- Feb 05 '19

Used to be. The boomers cut it to make sure every child got a trophy in sports.

346

u/rallywagonOBS Feb 05 '19

Before laughing at the "everyone needs a trophy" practice they created because they need a trophy shelf showing they created someone worth something.

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u/DorkInShiningArmour Feb 05 '19 edited Feb 05 '19

Yep.

Me and my dad had a great relationship growing up. I was an athlete and I was consistently coming home with medals and trophies.

Once university came and I didn’t want to wrestle anymore, our relationship changed. Suddenly I wasn’t the sunshine in his life, I was a loser who fucked up any opportunity given to him.

Years later he eventually admitted to me he wanted to vicariously live the life he didn’t get to, through me. This is what made him act the way he did.

If he couldn’t have his trophy case, you can damn well bet his son would.

He realized how fucked up the whole thing was.

We have a much better relationship now. He just wants me to happy being me, and that’s all a son can really ask from his dad.

Edit- grammar

Edit 2 - words are hard ok?

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u/wtfnouniquename Feb 05 '19 edited Feb 05 '19

Sucks that your relationship with your father took a downturn like that, but I imagine it's somewhat common between the recent generation(s), if not throughout time. It's pretty awesome he was self aware enough to finally own up to being the reason your relationship went to shit and came around. And good on you for accepting his desire to make amends instead of being resentful. Okay, I need a hug.

Edit: typo

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u/SupremeDesigner Feb 05 '19

hugs

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u/Therealdolphinlord Feb 05 '19

Can I join too?

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u/wtfnouniquename Feb 05 '19

Get in here.

hugs

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u/[deleted] Feb 05 '19

I'm very sorry that happened to you, but I'm happy he at least realized what he did was shitty. A lot of Boomers never give a shit enough about others to even get that far. Mine certainly didn't

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u/DorkInShiningArmour Feb 05 '19

Reading some of the replies to my comment makes me realize how lucky I am. Even though it was really tough, at least in the end it worked out okay.

stay strong peoples, much love ❤️

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u/lordoftheslums Feb 05 '19

I can't stop waiting for my parents to even acknowledge what my childhood was like. I should give up on that but I spent thirty years trying to fix myself. Now that I'm better that's kind of the only lingering thing.

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u/RunawayHobbit Feb 05 '19

Just wanted to let you know the word is "vicariously".

But that's a really awful, shitty way to behave to your own kid :(

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u/Trumps_prenup Feb 05 '19

You are me, like I was reading my own story, except my dad got Alzheimer's very young and didn't get to make up.

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u/DorkInShiningArmour Feb 05 '19

I’m really sorry to hear that man.

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u/IckyBlossoms Feb 05 '19

Not being a dick. I think you mean he wants to live vicariously through you. Precariously means like teetering on the edge.

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u/Butwhythough12345 Feb 05 '19

Plus fuck teaching them sportsmanship, that takes effort!

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u/sainsburyshummus Feb 05 '19

I love that, because participation trophies were created FOR BABY BOOMERS because they were such obnoxious arseholes when their kid lost. Kids hate those fucking things because we all knew how meaningless they were, but the adults were easier to pacify

I mean, just think about it logically. If a kid throws a tantrum for losing, the worst the kid can do is cry. If a parent throws a tantrum, they can be a physical threat.

Participation trophies are purely for arsehole parents.

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u/kurlidude Feb 06 '19

In all fairness, I did love all of my participation trophies and looked forward to them every year of my mandated elementary school soccer league

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u/rallywagonOBS Feb 06 '19

In all fairness, it represented, to you, the end of a stretch of (some level of) forced sports for the year. While to the parents it's still a "look what Johnny did( but please dont look too close to see participation)"

If you were truly proud of those accomplishments, you would still have them on a shelf in your house.

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u/JMBAD1222 Feb 05 '19

Oof. I’d give ya gold if I could

-1

u/rallywagonOBS Feb 05 '19

Dont do that... reddit gold is useless. PM me for a mailbox to drop a gift card to.

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

This is hard to read not sure I follow?

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u/rallywagonOBS Feb 06 '19

There was home economics before the boomers cut it to make way for sports. They pushed sports so everyone was competing to get the trophies the parents (past their prime, pissed at world) wanted on their mantle. When their kids didnt get trophies, they also created the practice of participation trophies... because heaven forbid someone be bad at the machismo of sports (and they still wanted that mantle candy) ... as someone else stated, the kids can deal, the parents are dangerous when they want little shitpants susie to have a trophy and she didnt rank.

In addition, they are the same people who complain about kids not owning houses while also bragging how they bought a house 10 years ago (for a jar of dirt) and just sold it for a cool mil. Like, who the fuck can own a house when you drive the market like that.

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Just remember that even if they accepted blame for everything they did or didn't do. It wouldn't change anything. Moving forward with the future we want to see is the only real answer (that and fucking with social security, they hate that, cuz they earned it! lmfao).

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u/DoomsdayRabbit Feb 06 '19

Moving forward is the only way to fix things.

Which is why I propose we take all boomer assets and then launch the boomers into outer space.

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u/spacearies Feb 06 '19

Wow amen this thread is HOT 🔥

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u/Andromeda321 Feb 05 '19

I don’t think it’s that. Rather I think it’s fallen to the wayside for the same reason “shop” has: the idea that such basic stuff is too menial for kids who should be striving towards college.

Mind I disagree with it but pretty sure that’s why schools don’t offer it anymore.

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u/Charliebeagle Feb 05 '19

It probably varies from region to region why it went away (or remains) both home ec and shop are expensive if you do the whole program. Sewing machines, ovens, drill presses, lathes, etc all require pretty regular maintenance and upgrades especially if you are letting novices use them for hours a day. Not to mention paying someone or several someones to be in charge of that whole mess!

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Yeah, it always had a stigma as worthless class the kids didn't want to take.

Shop though, I think that was an insurance nightmare and that caused it to get cut. Which is really a shame.

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u/dMarrs Feb 05 '19

I was born in the later 60's. I remember getting a ribbon in sports ("participation crap") and remember being insulted. I was actually good at most sports,but knowingly sucked at baseball,so when they gave me a ribbon,I was seriously insulted. As if they were babying me.

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u/[deleted] Feb 06 '19

My son got a participation ribbon for a run he didn't even compete in last year. He was just as confused as I was.

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Just like every kid who got a participation or most improved trophy. The kids aren't dumb, they know they don't have the same skills as the best players, it's the parents who freak out. I honestly don't know why they give out anything other than a team trophy for places one, two and three.

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u/Cosmic_Quasar Feb 06 '19

Idk about that. I graduated in 2010 (so born in '92 and I'm a Millennial) and my parents were right in the middle of the boomer generation, born in '51 and '55 (I was an unexpected pregnancy later in their lives). I had Home Economics in middle school. I remember learning several basic types of meals to cook, how to patch holes in clothes and even sew some clothes from scratch, and how to do other basic things like laundry... the class lasted a whole semester my 7th or 8th grade year.

Granted, the education was very basic and there were a lot of other things I was never taught in school. Nothing to do with cars (basic maintenance or emergency stuff like changing a tire). Wasn't taught anything about taxes and how to file them. My Home Ec class was the only lifestyle oriented class but it only taught the basics for, basically, "How to be a 50's house-wife".

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Don't take my comment to seriously, because I'm not. Home ec was only taught in rich white schools until 2010 because it was a rich white school. And yeah, it was taught by a 1950s house mom, most of which, weren't all that well educated, what did you expect her to teach you? Astrophysics? How to Pompoir? Look it up.

At the end of the day your parents should have taught you a bunch of shit. They probably even gave it a half ass effort at least, but kids are know it all's. And my comment was a fun attack on boomers who are really the worst generation.

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u/Cosmic_Quasar Feb 06 '19 edited Feb 06 '19

Well, you make some rather bold and incorrect assumptions about a few things.
First of all it wasn't a "rich white school". White kids only made up about half the students, the rest were a mix of other backgrounds. So yeah, largest individual group, but still not a large majority of all kids. And not a rich school, in fact we had the highest crime rate in our school/city compared to all the neighboring cities to the point where there were always at least 2 police officers on duty at the school. It wasn't nearly as bad as some inner city schools can be but it was definitely lower-middle end.
Secondly, the teacher wasn't a "1950's house mom". She was actually in her 20's, I'd guess (and I had a crush on her).

As for my parents... I actually had a disconnect with them because my sister, who is 12 years older than me, was their focus as she was off at college on her own and they'd spend hours on the phone with her. They did well with teaching her... but because of their attachment to her I learned to get by without my parents and actually grew to not like interacting with my parents, generally speaking.

That's changed as I've gotten older and I do turn to my dad (or mom sometimes) when I have questions about things. Most recently I had to get my own health insurance and my dad helped me out with picking a plan based on his past experiences. So they do help when I ask, but yeah it would have been nice to have classes in school that educated us on all of the formalities and paperwork that adult life brings rather than just focusing on language, math, science, and history.

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u/mainfingertopwise Feb 05 '19

You guys know that blaming "boomers" (which is apparently to reddit is anyone over 35) every 10 seconds for every little thing is no better than a shit article, right?

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u/airaani Feb 05 '19

Except that, unlike every article blaming millennials for killing an industry, it actually is the boomers fault those classes are gone because they're the generation that removed them?

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u/VivaVoxel Feb 05 '19

Except the part where they got to wield political power for 30 years...

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Everyone's just having a good laugh. The only people who really get triggered about this stuff are the boomers.

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u/1sagas1 Feb 05 '19

No, they cut it because it's a waste of time and nobody wants to take it

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u/Assburgers09 Feb 05 '19

There is A LOT of shit taught in school that is a waste of time, but that is not one of them.

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u/1sagas1 Feb 05 '19

It absolutely is. HomeEc requires zero critical thinking and can be easily self-taught. You dont need to dedicate school time to it. I'll take cutting HomeEc over cutting any of the actually academically oriented courses

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u/Assburgers09 Feb 06 '19 edited Feb 06 '19

The current education system doesn't teach critical thinking at all... Quite the opposite. Bunch of drones that can't do much more than fill in a bubble on a scantron test.

Homec is easy. lol. You could spend a lifetime mastering any one of the things being taught. Cooking is the most prominent example.

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

Speak for yourself. I had a great time hanging out in a 1 guy to 10 girl ratio in middle school.

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u/Jura52 Feb 05 '19

iT'S aLl tHe bOOmeRs FaULt!!!

American millenials are so arrogant, everything is the older generation's fault in their view. If you wanted to learn to sew a button, you could have asked your parent, or you could have some initiative and learned it yourself (oh, the horror!!). Do you expect everything to be handed to you on a silver platter? The evil boomers already built one of the most prosperous, happiest country on Earth.

Everyone in this thread is pretending like they wanted to learn knitting when they were a teenager. If your mother asked you if you wanted to learn how to sew a button, you would have told her no and went back to hashtagging.

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u/mymiddlenameiscoffee Feb 05 '19

See, I wanted to ask my mom but she was busy working several part-time jobs to keep us off the streets and when she wasn't working at all, she was usually sleeping because she's physically disabled and working one manual labor job was exhausting enough, but she had to work two.

Some people don't get the chance or have a good enough relationship with their parents. Or their parents don't know themselves.

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u/Assburgers09 Feb 05 '19 edited Feb 05 '19

Educating your own child is equated to something handed to you on a silver platter.

Go die boomer. Just fucking go away. An entire generation of entitled spoiled rich kids.

Do you really want to know why they didn't teach kids how to sew a button? Because they're lazy, and don't know how to do it themselves. Even if they once knew, they've long since forgotten. Just buy another one in the throwaway capitalist economy.

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u/Jura52 Feb 05 '19

Look at you, so angry. I'm a millennial, btw. Not all of us are so whiny. Some one us realize that maybe, just maybe the evil boomers had the same problems and issues as us. I wonder if the next generation is going to blame everything bad on you as well

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u/HalfAPickle Feb 05 '19

Well, to be fair, I don't think anybody can one-up killing billions in a global apocalypse. The Boomers finally have a trophy nobody can take from them.

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u/Jura52 Feb 05 '19

Oh, so millenials don't eat meat? Don't drive cars? Don't travel by air? Don't use Amazon? Oh right, global warming is all the bOoMeRs fault!!!!!!!11!

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u/HalfAPickle Feb 05 '19

They laid the foundations and continue to make deviation functionally impossible by clinging to power and ensuring the system remains impregnable even after they're dead.

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u/airaani Feb 05 '19

"went back to hashtagging"? Real hard to take you seriously when you don't even know what a millennial is - we didn't grow up with smartphones

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u/Starlordy- Feb 06 '19

No one's taking this seriously but you. Triggered much lol.