Reminiscing about times past and comparing them to today!
Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.
Reminiscing
Reminiscing about the differences between yesterday and today became a topic in my classroom, when I answered a students question regarding it. I told my class one of the biggest differences was in the form of communication. Obviously with the cellphone, texting email, skyping,computer online games, things have changed. All we had was a telephone, letter writing, and going over to someone’s home to actually communicate face to face. So I believe we did more face to face communication.
I told my class, how on Mother’s Day, a group of boys were sitting at the dining room table, not talking to one another, but texting others. I found that very impersonal, and it takes away from the social skills of kids today!
Another difference between yesterday and today, is the willingness of our generation to get jobs, have a great work ethic, and put up with more obstacles, at work than today’s kids. One kid told me, ” I am not putting up with a picky boss, or nasty customers.” People learned how to deal with obstacles as I was growing up. We did not get as many material things, as today’s kids do. If we wanted something, we had to earn it. My first job was at the age of eleven. That is when I began my babysitting career!
As I reminsced with the class about the differences, I brought up something we had to do, because we did not have all the entertaining electronics. We had to create our own fun; we learned to be creative and use our imagination! Sadly, today kids don’t have to create their own fun or use their imagination. The games we had, made us interact face to face with other people.
Today’s kids are in a microwave society. They are used to getting anything fast! If I wanted something, I had to save up and then buy it! For a lot of kids, mom and dad buy it for them and put it on the credit card!
I believe my growing up years prepared me better for my adult years. It allowed me to be socially more interactive with others, better prepared for any job, and prepared to handle any obtacles that come my way. As I was reminscing, most of the students agreed with my summation of how my growing up years did a better job to prepare me for my adult years!