GOLDEN AGE
My parents always complained that my brother, sister, and I never had to work for anything. When my parents were young, they had to walk five miles to school, in the snow, uphill both ways. The funny thing is, when talking to my grandpa, he used to say the same thing, that he and his 7 brothers had to work hard for everything and that my dad never had to work for anything. I think the same thing about my children, that they have everything handed to them and never seem to have to work for it. WHY DOES EVERY GENERATION SEEM TO THINK THAT THE ONE THAT CAME BEFORE IT IS LAZY? DO YOU SEE EXAMPLES OF THIS FROM YOUR FAMILY? WHAT DOES IT MEAN, THAT PEOPLE FOR SOME REASON WANT TO SEE THEMSELVES AS HAVING HAD TO WORK HARDER THAN THE YOUNGER GENERATION? ANALYZE THIS STRANGE HUMAN PHENOMENON.
..My parents are always saying how hard they had and easy we did. Yeah I can understand that my dad lived in poverty in Mexico and sometimes didn't have money for shoes or even food. The do forget that we live in a differt time, and a lot of things are made easier. My older sister and her husband are always critizing that the way I talk or do certain thing. They think since they're are older that we're stupid and they know more. They were teenagers 10 years ago, so a lot of thing have changed. Sometimes I see my little sister and I think she's immature because she's 15, but when I wa that age, I thought I was smart. I bet someone thought I was stupid at the age. It mainly just depends on what your parents or any other older generation think is laziness. If its washing clothes in the washing machine, spending 20 min to look for the remote to change the channel, or not cleaning the house, when they clean the clothes by hand, most likey didn't have a tv, and had to clean the house everyday with their bare hands then its ok. If they complain, like my dad, about when they were little at the age of 11 they were already working to make money. I didn't know of a place that hired 11 year olds to work. He forgets that he lived in Mexico in the 1970's. Different time and different country.
ReplyDeleteWell personally, my parents, or well my mom, never said she had to work hard. I know when I was younger, I did have everything handed to me, but I think its natural for parents to hand everything to us, because we haven't came to the age where we are able to do things on our own. Now that I'm older I realize it was their job to do that until we reach the age we are now. Some of the parents don't lie when they say they had to work hard to get where they're at, and thats understandable because nothing in life is free. I think it's just a natural human habit to compare how hard or easy people have it in different generations.
ReplyDeleteMy parents always complain about my sisters and I having everything we want. My whole family was born in Peru besides me. I was the first one born in the US. They still think we live in the old times where they had to wake up at 3 in the morning and saddle the horse, make breakfast for my grandparents, go sell cheese for the whole day and make dinner. They had to sleep before 8 p.m. everyday. They don't realize that nobody can do that. I can't get up that early and get a job when i was 6, or cook dinner. Well i kind of help cooking but i can't cook by myself yet. We are in a different time where we do things different. My parents always complain and say "You need to work hard for whatever you want." Every generation is different in their own way. This maybe off topic but in my senior year in high school looking at the junior class, they were all party addicts. I knew a lot of juniors and around 75% of them went to parties. They would tell me that they would go on Fri. Sat. and Sun. and they wouldn't go home until Monday night. They didn't really care about school no more. They always complained that school is too hard.
ReplyDeleteMy step dad and my mom always say how me and my sister never do anything and that we get everything handed to us. But, they don't realize what accomplishments we do have because they don't appreciate it. We keep the house clean and are doing good in school, comp[ared to some of the other kids out there we look like angels. My mom never really said she had to work when she was younger, but my grandma is always talking about how she had it so hard when she was little because her dad was strict and made her work and cook the meals. Each generation thinks that the next one is lazy is because they don't understand the new generation and that the technology and stuff has advanced so much that the kids hardly have work. The parents aren't strict anymore, so it gives us more freedom which they think is horrible because they "never had any freedom." I think Joyce is right when she says that its just natural human habit to compare how hard or easy we have it in different generations.
ReplyDeleteI hear the same thing from my family. So I decided to get a job as soon as I was able to and I have worked ever since, or up until college. It's not my fault I don't have to walk to school in the snow. We live in Bakersfield, and it never snows! I did have to walk to school for a short period of time in my life, but i had a bike so i just rode that and i never walked. It's not my fault my parents bought me a bike. I believe nowadays we have more technology and we take advantage of that. Back in the day when they did walk to school in the snow, it was because they didn't have cars. I think the older generation is jealous because we have more than they had as children and they try to make us feel bad. Even though it's not out fault.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gio because parents do forget we are living in a new time. We're no longer living in the 1970's.
ReplyDeleteWow!! Well, my parents are from Mexico. They both have worked so hard for everything they have. My dad works at his farm everyday. He leaves at 5am and doesn't come back home until 8pm. He has bought me a truck and he is paying for it. He doesn't think of me being lazy because I am doing what he wants me to do;go to school and get my education. I think the reason why the generations before us say that we are lazy is because our generation get easier to live in. Our technology is so advanced that we don't have to put much effort in anything we do. Maybe thats a reason why previous generations say that about us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hector, nobody can get up that early! haha
ReplyDeleteI think every generation is different, because every generation has the chance to be educated, therefore allowing the next generation to be priveleged to have certain jobs or opportunities to make more money. In my family its usually my grandparents that inflict this concept upon us grandchildren, we think its funny. But at the same time understand that they did have it a little harder due to the economy at the tiem, or certain technology, things like that help our generation. LIke it makes it a little easier for us now , compared to back then in the day.
ReplyDeleteMy parents say Im fat because I go through drive thru at restaurants.
ReplyDeleteIts not my fault there werent any in Mexico!
They say that Im lucky to be in the position im in because they had to make their own food, sew their own clothes, and move away from their family so they can have a better future for us.
They say we are all lazy ungratful people.
Thats funny how that really does happen to a lot of people. my mom and step dad say the same thing about me but i honestly think they only say that when they are upset . when i clean up or do something to make them happy they award me. i think its my parents fault, my mom especially because she spoils me . she does everything for me i appreciate her and everything but i think she made me lazy lol. im not really lazy but when i came to school i had to wash my clothes but im not use to that because my mom does that for me.compared to back in the day i doubt that their mothers did that.
ReplyDeleteI hear this a lot from my family except about our creativity as far as music and art goes. My family is really big on music and they always say that our generation has no creativity and we steal from our elders. The truth is, everything is recycled nothing else can really be invented at this point, only reinvented. They also say we don't have to work for anything with the way that we communicate. My family always gets upset when I'm texting and they tell me to write a letter. They're just mad because it didn't exist when they were kids.
ReplyDeleteMy parents always tell my sister and I that we're spoiled. They claim that we "have it so easy" and I wouldn't disagree. Growing up, my parents and grandparents have never lectured me on the hardships of their past, but I know they've worked hard to get where they are today. Even though my parents tell me that I'm spoiled, they never nag on me for not working hard enough. I think the reason that I'm spoiled is because I work hard at everything I do, and thats why my parents reward me with things that make it look as if I'm spoiled. As far as each generation getting "lazier", I wouldn't exactly say that. I think the technology and just the way our world evolves requires less of walking 5 miles, or making fire to cook food.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole generation thing will continue every time. The reason being that as time goes on life gets a little easier because we are evolving and progressing on ways to make life easier for us and the next generations to come. I mean our parents and there parents say oh your lazy and life was so hard for us and not for u, but each generation wants there kids to have a life better than theirs. Wouldnt u want an easier life for your children so they dont have to go through the struggles u once went through? I know i would. So i think they say that because they want us to realize that life was hard for them and was a struggle. Our generation before us just wants us to see and appreciate how less difficult life is now and thank them for making it that way.
ReplyDeleteWhat Uanaizabel said is sort of how our country evolves. Since we have a drive-thru, there's less of a purpose to go inside. Simple things like that don't make us lazier, they just give alternatives for our benefit.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are always saying that... My dad tells me everyday how his father used to make him and his brothers work in my grandpa's liquor store and how much hard work they had to do. But my grandpa tells me that my dad had it easy being born in America, and that he was the one who had life tough moving to the U.S. in his teens after his mom died. I don't think that the later the generation, the easier life is. However, I do believe that later generations have much easier technology and learning advancements that make it much simpler to make a better living.
ReplyDelete@Loren.. your completely right about everything being recycled! Except it is the exact opposite with my parents. I stick with email and phone calls while my mom and dad are Facebooking each other whats for dinner!!
Also, parents give us chores and things they want us to do, and we do them, but if there's one time we dont do them, that's when they mention this. When we run errands for them, and do every single thing they ask us to do, they don't complain about how everything is handed to us.
ReplyDeleteMy parents complain about the same thing too. I do understand why they say it thought. They have being working hard since they were young to help out their families and now they have to work even harder to give us a better life then what they had. I think they sometimes exagerate though because they tell us that they work hard so that we could get the best but then later they are complaining that we had life to easy.
ReplyDeleteIts always easier somehow when its not you at the time, but every teenager no matter what era goes through the same kind of stuff!
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that it all depends on the situation your meant to be in. Such as if your born into a wealthy family you might not have to work harsh labor than some other who are in totally different situations. So i dont believe that the later generations have it easier because in all ours lives we all face different obstacles. The thought that some people have that they worked harder than the younger generations, is probably a defense mechanism they have as older folks. Possibly it makes them feel a bit younger.
ReplyDeleteMy parents really have never said that to me. but then again I make sure that I work hard and do what I need to. I think the reason that it seems easier is because of all the technology that we have. If you were to take away everything people would go crazy. older generations don't se ethe difficulty in making and using the technology they just see the usses that are for them. My parents get mad that all work eventually needs you to be technology knowledgeable. it the changes that people aren't use to and to blame something helps them cope.
ReplyDeletei agree with you joyce, thats so true they only pull the "You kids have it to easy these days" line when we dont do all the chores they give us ha.
ReplyDeleteMy mom read a book a few years back, whose title I can't remember, but after she had gone through a few chapters, she decided to lecture me on some of the philosophy within it. She told me that when I make a mistake I can't say something along the lines of: "But Mom, you got to do it when YOU were 16..." She said that I have to take responsibility and just deal with the consequences because she was born in a different time than myself. And I understand now, not then, what she meant. Every generation has been brought up differently because of the time their parents were born, so with those time periods comes different ways of thinking, and that can go a long way. Also, technology has made newer generations' lives so much easier than that of the generations when they were still attempting to create technology rather than improve the technology that we have now. So, even if we feel like we do a lot, it still won't be enough.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sal, the difficulty of your life can also depend on your wealth, whether your parents can afford a maid or not. Things like that.
ReplyDeleteIn my family, it's always my mom and her side of the family that are always saying things like that. My dad is more reserved. He never talks about his past openly. Most of the things I found out about my dad came from my mom. She would say it and then my dad would agree, but whenever I hear my mom talk about how her generation had to work hard I agree with her. I don't agree with the whole being lazy part, but in a sense it's true. Generations before us have had to live harder lives simply, because a lot of the resources we have today in this generation didn't exist in a times past. Today thing's TRULY are made easy for us and if a person who had to live life without the many invention's that make life easy for us, then I can see why they would think we are lazy. I agree completely when they say that they had to struggle more, because of the many things that we have that they didn't.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why parents are telling this to their kids. It could be that they want them to appreciate what they have. Because most children that are born into well off families are usually selfish and don't appreciate the little things. I know for a fact that my Mother had it ten times worse than me and my brothers. And I use to take what I had for granted. So maybe it varies from family to family. For example; the royal family of england cant complain to much about having it hard, but the peasants sure can.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little my parents never told me that they had to work hard becasue they were poor and lived in Mexico, but I know they did since I know the enviroment they grew up in. My parents were poor when they were little and when they came to the US to live their lives I know they gave up alot so that we their kids could have it better and would be able to get a great education that they didnt get to have. I appreciate everything they ever gave me. We were poor when we were little. We still are very poor but now it doesnt show as much since I still wear clthes I had my freshman year since I'm still really short and it fits. So I have lots of clothes since I never throw anything away.My parents never made me work all they ever want is for me to get an education even though they were struggling alot, but ever since I turned 15 I began to work becasue I wanted to help them relax a little bit. I would slip money into my mom's purse or my dad's wallet when they weren't looking becasue they wanted me to save everything so I wouldn't have to struggle like them. The only thing my mom ever said was that she wanted us to get an education and a career so that when we get married and it doesn't work out we would still be able to pay our bills and not be dependant on our spouces. Just yesterday I asked my dad if I could apply for this job as a teacher's assistant but he said not yet until he was sure I was succeeding in school first. So I would always have something to fall back on. My parents are very limitied and I believe that it's not hat we're lazy it's that things have gotten easier and theres not as much to do. I have never been the girl that likes to shop so all the money I get goes in the bank so that when I'm able to I can tell my dad to stop working and I can support him.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sal it does depend on what kind of family you were born into. I was born into a ppoor family and my parents struggle and i've worked but I also know people my age that have never worked a day in there lives and don't even know how to pumo their own gas. My parents only said that one of their 3 kids were spoiled and it wasn't me. I never asked for anything since I knew I didn't need anything. but my sister always asked for new clothes and shoes and make up it made my mom sad when she couldn't affrod to buy my sister some things
ReplyDeleteI think we just gotta look at things from their point of view and see how hard their really trying
I agree with Joyce. If we just do everything our parents ask, we will never have to hear about this ever again. End of story!
ReplyDeletei do see that in my family.of course the world and technology and stuff is changing every single day and the lazyness opinion changes with every generation.i agree with sal,that they just say its easy on us when we dont do what they tell us.but it just depends on each family.
ReplyDeleteMy parents are actually pretty good about this kind of stuff. They just remeind me that I should be thankful for everything that I have, whether I've worked for it or not. I think that the older Generation has lived longer and has been in the 'real world' having to work for things they want, therefore they make it known to us that they worked hard, whether it was when they were a kid or not. Either way, I believe that as long as us children are thankful for what we have and make it known to our parents, we wont have to listen to thier moaning of how hard they worked.
ReplyDelete-Blake Foreshee
With my parents it was always my dad that was telling me how I'm lazy and how he had it harder than me when he was a kid. But what I believe is that every generation tells the other that so that their kids will be grateful for every thing that they have had the privelage of having. What I also think is that this just keeps going on and on because no matter what every single generation has to go through some kind of hardship which ends up helping them usually succeed in the future.
ReplyDeleteman my dad nags to me all the damn time. ive noticed most families feel that their children are handed everything so easy but in my family its the complete opposite. i paid for my tuition, gas, clothes and whatever useless things i need. my parents are there to fully support me when i need it but i think its more of them trying to make me value the things i have in life. im sure most of our parents have had it hard and you know what.....theres always going to be a generation that worker harder before them. people sometimes just like to brag about how hard theyve worked but i believe it should be about value of things we have.
ReplyDeletei agree with jordan. Your parents just want u to appreciate what u have and to be thankful.
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