As kids, we all heard stories of how hard life was when our parents were young. "When we were kids," my mom and dad would say, "our school was clear across town. And in order to get there, we had to walk."
When our parents bemoaned the hardships of their youth, we'd roll our eyes. Still, I can't let my daughter off the hook, so I tell her stories about my childhood. "When we were kids," I say, "our TV was clear across the room. And in order to change the channel, we had to walk."
I continue, as Kelly rolls her eyes. "In those days, the word "remote" referred to a possibility, as in, "there's a remote possibility that Kay will actually clean her room."
"Even if you didn't have a Remote Control," Kelly answers, "it's always the dad who changes the channel. Didn't your dad do it?"
"Uh..no." I explain that this physical labor was performed by the children, and each family had quite a few. The paternal unit would direct one of the children - usually the youngest - to change the TV "dial" to a particular station. Then the child would "tune it in" by fiddling with the "rabbit ears," while the remaining family members shouted various instructions. (Move the left one to the right! Now, the right one to the left! No, that's too far. Move it back....back... STOP RIGHT THERE!)
Obviously, today's families are much smaller. Once the Remote Control was invented, children were no longer needed for channel-changing, and the birthrate plummeted.
Changing the TV channel without a remote wasn't our only challenge. I think of other examples all the time. The other day, I was in the bathroom at the Olive Garden. Kelly was with me, so I felt compelled to enlighten her. "When we were kids," I shouted from my stall, "we had to flush our own toilets!" I'm not sure she heard me, because at that moment the water in the bowl jettisoned violently, splashing my nether-lands. I exited the stall and walked over to the sink. I held my hands under the faucet. As the sensor started the water running, I added, "and we certainly didn't have all this!" I moved my hand to the right to receive an automatic measure of soap. Then I walked to the towel dispenser and waved my hands in front of it, causing paper towels to magically appear.
Yep, kids nowadays have it pretty easy. It's hard to believe, but there will be even more improvements by the time Kelly has kids. Ones that will make her childhood seem difficult by comparison. Who knows? Maybe she'll tell them, "When we were kids, we had to chew our own food."
Here's what I do know; her kids will roll their eyes.
This is a great story. It brings me back to my childhood years and oh boy did I roll my eyes every time I heard one of these stories. I tell my kids many stories, which I'm sure they don't apprciate. I hope when they get older and have children of their own, they will become great story tellers. After all, that's the only thing the years doesn't take from us, good old memories.
Posted by: Jean | December 10, 2008 at 11:17 AM
OMG, is Olive Garden paying you a fee to advertise, via their link, on your blog?!! I clicked on it to see what happened and I got an online certificate for a free lunch! I love it!
NOT!!! So, what gives?
Posted by: Christie | December 11, 2008 at 09:43 PM
OMG, is Olive Garden paying you a fee to advertise, via their link, on your blog?!! I clicked on it to see what happened and I got an online certificate for a free lunch! I love it!
NOT!!! So, what gives? BTW, cute story!
Posted by: Christie | December 20, 2008 at 01:50 PM