Post by minx on Feb 18, 2023 13:14:30 GMT -5
I've been thinking about this all morning. Two things
1) Kids at restaurants. You go to almost any restaurant these days and you see kids who don't belong there - too young to sit still long enough for a full sit-down dinner, and food is not kid-friendly.
Most of the time, you see the parents either ignore them or pull up a video on their phone to entertain them.
Back in the day of course, we'd all get a babysitter for those occasional evenings out. And you could always trade babysitting with a friend or neighbor. They'd watch your brats this weekend so you could go catch a movie, and you'd watch next weekend so they could go out to eat. It seems like a lot of that died before Covid, and Covid killed what was left of it.
2) Family emergencies. This comes to mind due to a conversation I had with a friend last night. Daughter's fiance told her to get her kids (they don't have kids together) and get out. She called mom hysterical asking her to go get the kids and take them to her place. Unfortunately, mom is caring for her elderly mother and stays with her during the week right now, so running to get the kids was going to be a fiasco (but she did say she'd do it). Daughter works as a manager at a restaurant, and no one could cover her shift. She also doesn't have anyone else to call who could have the kids (5.5 and 3) over for a sleepover.
If the daughter and fiance don't patch things up, daughter and her kids will have to move in with mom (again), as they have no where else to go - daughter does work F/T, but still doesn't make enough to afford a 1br apt and other bills (and yes, she does get child support, but it goes towards things like preschool costs).
It just makes me thing that a large part of our 'societal breakdown' revolves around situations like these. Too many people are disconnected from the world around them and subsequently have no resources to call on when times get dicey or they just need a break from things. I know that this type of stuff (not being able to afford rent or a babysitter to go out) has always been around, but it seems to be endemic now. Don't have a solution though.
1) Kids at restaurants. You go to almost any restaurant these days and you see kids who don't belong there - too young to sit still long enough for a full sit-down dinner, and food is not kid-friendly.
Most of the time, you see the parents either ignore them or pull up a video on their phone to entertain them.
Back in the day of course, we'd all get a babysitter for those occasional evenings out. And you could always trade babysitting with a friend or neighbor. They'd watch your brats this weekend so you could go catch a movie, and you'd watch next weekend so they could go out to eat. It seems like a lot of that died before Covid, and Covid killed what was left of it.
2) Family emergencies. This comes to mind due to a conversation I had with a friend last night. Daughter's fiance told her to get her kids (they don't have kids together) and get out. She called mom hysterical asking her to go get the kids and take them to her place. Unfortunately, mom is caring for her elderly mother and stays with her during the week right now, so running to get the kids was going to be a fiasco (but she did say she'd do it). Daughter works as a manager at a restaurant, and no one could cover her shift. She also doesn't have anyone else to call who could have the kids (5.5 and 3) over for a sleepover.
If the daughter and fiance don't patch things up, daughter and her kids will have to move in with mom (again), as they have no where else to go - daughter does work F/T, but still doesn't make enough to afford a 1br apt and other bills (and yes, she does get child support, but it goes towards things like preschool costs).
It just makes me thing that a large part of our 'societal breakdown' revolves around situations like these. Too many people are disconnected from the world around them and subsequently have no resources to call on when times get dicey or they just need a break from things. I know that this type of stuff (not being able to afford rent or a babysitter to go out) has always been around, but it seems to be endemic now. Don't have a solution though.