Think back to the 1950′s, or if you’re not that old, go watch a “Happy Days” or “Leave It To Beaver” rerun. Doesn’t it make you wonder how in the world people lived like that, given the resources we have at our disposal today? Those were the days when moms stayed home to cook, clean, do laundry, and make sure the kids were off to school and back home in time for supper. These women would meet their husbands at the front door with his slippers in hand after his long day at work. WOW, how times have changed.
Am I the only one who’s criticized today by for having his kids involved in dance, baseball, piano, basketball, football, volleyball, soccer, band, speech, debate, and whatever else a kid can possibly do? “When do you take time for yourself?” is a common question asked of my wife and I, and we’re most certainly not alone. Today’s world offers more opprotunity for kids to do things, connect, grow and learn than were available in the ’50′s. It also allows me to volunteer for baseball, basketball, football and softball coaching duties with my children and to volunteer for things like Junior Achievement in their elementary school classrooms. Dads in the ’50′s didn’t have that many opportunities…they were the breadwinners. Does that mean today’s world is bad? Not necessarily…it’s just different.
Social networking in my father’s day was a group of men (friends) meeting at the local grain elevator (platform) to discuss all the local gossip from the past week, upcoming events and business/agricultural trends (news feeds) that he and his friends observed. Each one would take his chance to speak (post) about what they knew, then others would add to the discussion (comment) . The only difference between then and now was that they did it in person without the internet and they were only sharing information with others within the same geographic location. Today, our horizons are expanded and no geographic boundaries exist. How cool is that?
A few weeks ago, I read a post that challenged readers to “give up their electronic devices for one day”. My thought: “And isolate myself from all of the awesome people I’ve connected with online over the last 3 years? Why in the world would I want to do that?” (My dad never missed a Saturday at the grain elevator, either.)