Growing Up

School Days

Growing Up

It's a cloudy, almost dark, morning here today. Earlier, there was lightning in the southern skies, so I expect we'll be getting some rain, probably from the remnants of Hurricane Isaac which did so much damage in New Orleans.

It's not very pleasant for the kids who are lining up along the street and waiting for the school bus to take them off for the first day of the school year.

Busing it to school was pretty much unheard of when I was a youngster. We all walked to school in those days. No, I'm not going to throw in that old yarn about walking three miles to school and three miles home. I walked a block or two at best, and most days, I managed to get home for a hot lunch. No bag lunch or cafeteria slop for me.

Some kids did walk quite a ways, I guess. It was different then. In those days, it was safe to walk to school. No one worried about being scooped up by some paedophile in a blue car. If a guy stopped and offered you candy, you took it. It wasn't some creepy, lurid lure; it was just candy.

I'm not sure if today's kids face more challenges than I did, but they are certainly more aware of those challenges than I ever was. Sometimes, I think I grew up in a semi-conscious state. I won't say that it was blissful. Lord knows, we had bullies and creeps just like they do today. The difference was that, in my day, the bully might push you to the ground, and that was that — unless you were stupid enough to get up right away for a second dumping. I don't ever remember anyone getting something stolen, and I certainly don't remember anyone getting knifed or, God forbid, shot.

Things have changed, I guess.

When I was young, people used to say, "Kids ... they grow up too fast."

Today, I wonder if kids have to grow up before they even know they're kids. So much caution in the wind.

Of course, everything changes when today's child becomes a young adult. In my day, you couldn't wait to get out on your own. Most of us had no idea what that meant, but it didn't matter. Freedom from the control of our parents was everything we dreamed of discovering.

These days, young adults aren't so eager to step outside the comforts of home. Even those, who go away to college, usually return to live with their parents during vacations and after graduation.

For the life of me, I don't really get why so many young people are now remaining in the family home, with some staying well into their 30's.

I do understand that it is often for economic reasons. It's tough to support yourself out there with a minimum wage job, which certainly won't cover rent and food these days. Still, there must be some psychological effects on these stay-at-home adults.

The real enigma in all this is that some parents don't want to let go of their kids. Many mothers and fathers foster a relationship with their sons and daughters that borders on a kind of weird dependency between the two. Parents who won't let go are even stranger than the kids who decide not to go.

I guess growing up is not the same as growing older and wiser.