The world has changed. Actually it’s probably not that the world that has changed that much, it’s probably just that we are more aware in it.

I remember at the age of 10 I walked to the store by myself. I walked with friends to a park that was about 2 miles from my house. I spent the night with friends without major parental meetings. Was I just “under” protected or did we just trust more back then? If my 10 year old is out of sight for an hour, I can get frantic. We got him a cell phone, just for “emergencies”. As if he’s ever really unsupervised long enough for him to have one. So are we as parents just over-protective these days or are our precautions justified?

Not too long ago, there weren’t back to back schedules of soccer, piano and gymnastics. There weren’t weekends full of birthday party’s and trips to Chuckee Cheese. I mean what did parents do before Chuck E Cheese?

Actually I’m not one of those parents. My son does play sports occasionally because his dad enrolls him and he’s really passionate about them. I have no problem supporting him and going to the games when I can, but I won’t break my back over it. As the twins get older, with the help of their dad, I will help to decide where to put some energy in with them. But sports, extra-curriculars and schedules will not take over my life. I will not run or worry myself or my bank account with these things.

Although summer weekends are mostly spent at the pool and there are “occasional” birthday party’s or trips to kid fun spots, most weekends are spent doing “nothing”. Nothing meaning me catching up laundry and maybe even getting an extra bath. Nothing meaning me telling the kids to go outside and locking the door until they learn that they need to stay out there for at least an hour. Nothing meaning cooking them meals, making sure they have a movie to watch and maybe if they are really lucky…getting a trip to the park.

If I had to guess, I would say that the role of a parent these days is definitely more demanding. Our score card is filled with lots of expectations and demanding kids. When your kids says the infamous “I’m bored”, if we say then find something to do, we are looked at like we are in the twilight zone or aliens have stolen our brains. When I tell my son the stories of my childhood, he replies with “that was way back then”.

So what happened to the “I put a roof over your head”, “stay outside” days? Were they really so bad for kids? Or is it a parenting method that we need to definitely remember & stay with sometimes?