The Disney Generation

Image via Wikipedia

As a child of the fifties, my most beloved toy was my bicycle. Up and down the block I’d ride alone or with friends. The wheels on my girl’s Schwinn festooned with colorful, plastic beads of the day, a pink and white basket on the handlebars and the much desired, tinkling horn at my right hand. Many a parent scrimped and saved to be able to present his son or daughter with a new bicycle at Christmas and it was always a big deal to inspect a neighborhood friend’s new bike and moreso to display your own.

Dinner was the centerpiece event of the family day and no one would have thought of missing it. Mom cooked one of her specialties every evening and on occasion we were treated to dessert, usually jello or chocolate pudding unless of course it was someone’s birthday. Sunday afternoons were spent at Grandma’s house for dinner and cousins, aunts and uncles enjoyed each other’s company with games, cards or wheelbarrow rides for the children.

McDonald’s was an extraordinary concept and restaurants were reserved for adults or an extremely special celebration. It was quite the treat on the rare evening that dad would go out and bring back a pizza.

Each generation tries to improve upon the foundation built by the last and I, as most parents, made it my goal to provide my children with more than what I had. The tricycle was traded for the battery operated jeep, the dolls had to move and talk and with the inception of the video game system, our libraries consisted of more video games than books. Simplicity was traded for sophistication and a comfortable amount of toys was replaced by the roomful you could no longer walk in. Fast food became an expectation of a generation used to getting what they wanted when they wanted it and if only one big toy was presented at Christmas, many a child would feel denied.

Now my children are having children of their own and once again, they are following the pattern of wanting to give their children more than what they had. Today’s children have battery operated jeeps and want a motorized four wheeler, the basic video game system is being replaced by not only it’s newer version but two of the competitor’s systems as well and still two weeks into summer vacation they are bored. Backyard swimming pools cannot compete with the local waterpark and sandlot baseball cannot compete with a box seat in the pro’s stadium.

No wonder teachers have such a difficult time motivating their students. How can they compete with the constant and hard hitting entertainment provided by HD Television, virtual worlds and Disneyland? Sight, sound, taste and touch overload are the order of the day and having more things is a more valid goal than having a good work ethic.

Entitlement has replaced gratitude and hard work is no longer the benefactor that provides reward. The result is a lack of appreciation, impatience, dissatisfaction and want which is what we were trying to outrun in the first place, wasn’t it?