Reply #54: i disagree, generally. [View All]

[ucmike]

it was interesting that she never came up with an answer to Stewart's questions about specifically where these things were happening. made me believe she was generalizing or presenting anecdotal evidence, but i agreed with her point about coddling kids.

i know many people who go to great lengths to make sure there is never any conflict, trauma, trouble, hardship of any kind for their children. i believe it makes for adults who have never dealt with anything on their own and get into the real world lacking tools to deal with adversity.
sure it sucks if you aren't any good at dodgeball, but the ability to survive the adverse conditions makes for better coping down the road.

if a child never gets any bumps and bruises and hurt feelings growing up then what training do they have for real life. this is the type of attitude that has college professors arguing with parents about the grades of 22 yr old students. the real world doesn't coddle or protect, and it doesn't care what your mom thinks.

my brothers competed in tournament karate for several years, i drove and coached and helped out at the tourneys. his sensei decided to stop competing in tournaments after the last one we went to. there were hundreds of people competing in a dozen weight classes. during the trophy presentations there was a commotion around the judges table concerning the 5-6 year olds. some soccer mom was screaming and making a big stink because her 10 yr old had taken 2nd in her category and her 5 yr old didn't. she was actually screaming "HOW DO YOU SEND HOME TWO SISTERS WITH ONE TROPHY?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT DOES TO A KID?!" to shut her up they gave both girls a trophy. the 5 yr old went home with a trophy from the adult superheavy division because there were no participants in that group. that created a rush on the trophy table. those who wanted trophies were given the leftovers - trophies that weren't awarded because there were no entries.

i was dumbfounded. why put your kid into a karate tournament if you don't want to involve them in competition? we're not talking about a play date here, a karate tourney is going to have winners and losers.

it may have to do with my upbringing. my family never had much, we had lots of very hard times. it sucked, we cried, we did without, and i feel it made me a better person. i learned how to handle adversity at a young age. i remember being in college and watching roommates and people in the dorm panic over situations that were far from disastrous, but they had never dealt with anything on their own. mom and dad had always provided and protected and many of them never developed any kind of survival skills.

i don't know who the author on the daily show is, and there was obviously some rhetoric there, but i didn't see her appearance as wildly provocative or full of crazy nonsense.