Reminder: Your Kids Don't Need You To Make Every Decision For Them

from the cutting-the-virtual-apron-strings dept

Tue, Sep 5th 2006 11:04pm — Mike Masnick

It's that time of year, when kids go off to college for the first time, and parents are suddenly that much more thankful for new technologies that make staying in touch easier. It really is nice that parents and kids can better communicate through technology, but it raises issues for parents who need to learn how to cut the virtual apron strings. This isn't a new idea, but parents sometimes have trouble letting kids grow up in the digital age. Just because you can always be in contact, it doesn't mean you should be -- especially if it means holding back kids' ability to develop on their own and learn how to make decisions without relying on input from home.

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9 Comments

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Tek'a, 6 Sep 2006 @ 12:23am

All they need..
children just need a few simple guidelines in life. and some beatings. easy as "falling out of a tree"
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- JDM, 6 Sep 2006 @ 4:18am
  
  Re: All they need..
  This is why the apple does not fall far from the tree :)
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Anonymous Coward, 6 Sep 2006 @ 12:53am

I'm in college right now and for the first two years of being here my old man would try to call me every day. Every day. And he would expect to be able to talk for ~= half an hour. Every day. Most days I would just not answer or simply turn the phone off. But then because he couldn't get through then suddenly "something had happened and I could be hurt." It drove me nuts. I finally managed to convince him to wait for me to call him (once every 2 weeks or so) and since then my life has vastly improved.
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?, 6 Sep 2006 @ 1:03am

Are you trying to tell me that kids can operate without constant supervision?

What the fuck? They can hardly control their own mouths without supervision.
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- James (profile), 6 Sep 2006 @ 4:15am
  
  Re:
  That doesn't change when you become an adult, apparently.
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Adudethathasbeenthereanddonethat, 6 Sep 2006 @ 2:08am

Parenting?
Wow, you mean like you are supposed to raise kids properly? I thought all you needed was a video game system (preferablly XXX and violent) and cable TV! So now who exactly expects kids to listen to their parents if they have no respect for anyone anymore.
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Michael Vilain, 6 Sep 2006 @ 12:23pm

Re: All they need...
Isn't it easier to just provide a free washer and dryer with a nice meal? That's all my parents had to do to have me come by on Fridays.

When my nephew goes off to college, I think my brother is adding to this by offering to "fix his laptop". I told them to get a Macintosh, but I guess my brother still wants to be the family support tech.
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WowWasIbroughtUpWrong, 6 Sep 2006 @ 2:46pm

Guidelines?
All that my folks did for me when I was growing up was give me the basic "Guidelines of life". (Yeah, a couple of beatings too...) And I could not thank them more for that. It was pretty simple... 1. Before you do something... Think about what will happen. 2. If you don't know... Find out more first. 3. If you think you know... Repeat steps 1 & 2....
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Lisa-Marie, 6 Sep 2006 @ 3:42pm

Kids? Aren't these people in COLLEGE!!!
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