So with my last blog entry, my comment about Dh wanting to buy $20+ of shrimp when ss was over just because it was on sale (and the responses) made me think of me as a kid.

Summer cabin trips with my cousin. 

The exact cabin that DH/SIL/SIL kids/SS are going to this weekend. 

My cousin and I had coloring books.  We did puzzles. Played with the hotwheels track.  We would run outside and catch fireflies at night, catch frogs during the day, fish off the dock.  The cabin windows overlook the lake and docks so my aunt would on occasion peek out at us to "check in".  We would make our own sandwiches for lunch if we were hungry, would get our own drinks if thirsty, get our own cereal in the morning. We would get permission to swim off the dock as long as we had life-jackets, they let us.  Yes we would do "family" things like go on the boat, have a campfire, go to the flea market, and dinner was always together at the table: but we knew better than to tell the adults that "we're bored" or cling/hang all over them 24/7.  The adults would enjoy the sun, have some beverages, play music that we could enjoy too from the dock.  If we were bored, the yard was HUGE we found something to do.  It was never 24/7 all about us. 

I watch how dh is with ss on camping trips.  SS doesn't even know how to make a sandwich, let alone even take the incentive to make one for himself instead of asking dh.  Can't pour his own cereal.  DH tried teaching him but SS would fill the bowl to the top then only eat half of it and toss the rest. He was never scolded for it, but now he doesn't get his own cereal anymore Instead of working with him and teaching him, DH just does it for him.

We are raising a bunch of "pansies".

  SS hates puzzles, needs to be constantly entertained by DH, will not play with the other kids on the playgrounds.  The entire campground playground filled with kids playing some type of "make believe" together could invite SS to play and he would say no.

  It could be a gorgeous day out and SS will be sitting on the couch with the TV on (not watching it) and on his tablet.  When his cousin comes over on occasion, they play video games.  We have to make them go outside to play, and that is only if SIL is there.  She is the only one who makes them go outside to play.  DH would never make SS go outside.  Kids these days have turned into entitled spoiled mini-adults instead of kids and it worries me but also makes me sad for them.  Other than an occasional "hey watch this!" I was never up my aunts butt at the cabin waiting for someone to entertain me.  It would never have occurred to my aunt to "bring a bigger TV" with to the cabin for our entertainment.  We were never allowed to watch the TV up there, we listened to music.  The TV was to check the weather.

You ate what was in front of you, if you didn't like it there was no "I'll make you something else", you either added catsup or BBQ sauce or something to make it bearable or you didn't eat.  Like somebody commented on my last post: if the adults ate steak and we ate spaghetti, we didn't; think anything of it.  They were the breadwinner.  Heck my parents made steak on occasion and if we were lucky my brother and I got to split a flank-steak or a bottom round.  Sometimes (OMG!) they made us BBQ chicken and they ate steak.  It never occurred to me to even question "where's mine?" I was happy as heck with the chicken.

  If you said you were bored, it didn't become a mad dash to come up with with an "activity"...you were usually told "go outside and find something".  They never bought us bottled water.   If we were at the store check out; if we were thirsty, we drank from the drinking fountain at the store (OMG the horror!).  If we were home, we either ran in and grabbed a glass or just drank from the hose on the side of the house.  I heard a 9 y/o tell her grandma she couldn't drink from the fountain she could only have "Dasani" water...and from the tone used, it wasn't due to a health issue. Oh give me a break.

  We climbed trees, rode bikes, played in the mud.  If it was hot, we didn't demand AC, we ate a "freezie" and sat in front of the box fan, then ran back outside.  Kids now have their faces glued to a screen on a couch.  IPhones, tablets, apple watch.  Man, I thought I was the coolest when I got the latest Barbie for my birthday.  My first phone, I bought. And it was huge lol.  I never would have thought to ask my parents for anything if it wasn't a special occasion.  A trip to the store didn't mean they "owed me something" for behaving.  If you didn't behave, you got "the look"...if you pushed your luck, then you got a swat when home. 

I understand there are more dangers now then before, you can't always let your kid ride their bike or go to the park alone like we used to.  It makes me sad.  I feel like we got the last, "true" childhood.