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Joined 2 months ago
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Cake day: June 30th, 2025

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  • What a r/nothingeverhappens crowd this sure is.

    One of our kids friends also has zero fucking interest in TV, video games, or phones. Even when he has complete access, or his parents aren’t around. All he ever wants to do is go fishing or play outside. We SEE this happen in real time when they visit or at birthday parties.

    Another one only ever wants to read and write books. Physical books. Rejected tablet reading.

    Of course some kids we know play GTA. We talk with our kids and put context around things.

    But you know, impossible that some of these kids today just aren’t all shitheads and might not have heard of some porn out there, and impossible that some anecdotes aren’t universal truths.



  • Your first failure in this response is a presumption that everyone’s kids have unrelenting access to YouTube, memes, or social media. Especially presuming parents are not at all making time to give the kids context as things come up due to school or otherwise, or as we open doors and give more independence.

    I know lots of neighborhood kids who are clearly parented much more closely and have no clue about this stuff. I also know some neighborhood kids that play GTA online every night.

    Parenting and children are not monoliths, and anecdotes aren’t truths for everyone.


  • Because I’m actually involved in their lives? They also don’t have unrelenting access to shit like Instagram and twitch.

    You can see the difference with the school or neighborhood kids who do (some, not all, they’re all different). We don’t necessarily restrict them from associating with those kids, but we frequently check in, ask about things, watch some of the interactions, and provide context as necessary. Always focusing on what it means for them. What is their gain/loss. Essentially avoid the “because I said so” and focus on why they care about something (it helps to think selfishly if you were in their shoes).

    Without aggressively steering their lives (like my parents did), it is interesting to me how when they’re just basically supported like independent humans, with respect, and some decent but not overbearing guardrails, they basically have no interest in some of that stuff. That’ll eventually change, but the peer pressure just doesn’t seem to click the same as 30 years ago.

    I think when you either don’t parent at all, or aggressively parent, you inadvertently push kids where they shouldn’t go. I would know cause I lived it. There’s a balance somewhere in there and I’m watching it happen IRL for years now.

    And to be clear, I am NOT tooting any horns. That’s what my parents did. It was all about their success being parents. Fuck no. My job is to raise functional adults. They are not my property or trophy. This isn’t about me or my success. Before anyone attacks that shit as usual. I’m just speaking honestly.