Jer979's Blog: Parenting as Planned Obsolesence

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Parenting as Planned Obsolesence

The Goldman Family
Image by jer979 via Flickr

The NFO gave me a copy of "Blessing of a Skinned Knee" to read. The basic premise is that modern society is a bit too easy/lax on kids, that there's not always something wrong, and basically a lot of the time, you just need to say, "ok, suck it up. You're fine."

That part was easy for me ;-)

I was particularly intrigued by the ideas which she brought in saying that children are, in essence, loans from God (there is a Jewish angle to the book) and that our job as parents is to create indepent, self-reliant kids who can survive without us

In the technology world, people talk about "planned obsolescene," basically forcing you (yeah, it's not nice, but it's true), to upgrade to the latest and greatest...and to pay for it.

I guess I've put those two ideas together and recognized that, in this situation, I am the one slated for 'planned obsolescence."

It was kind of ironic, because that same day, Tonka asked me, "what happens when everyone dies?"

It wasn't morbid, we frequently have long, healthy talks about mortality.

I explained that "life goes on," even if people die.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying the book and it's made me think of my role as Father in a very different light, especially since I am preparing my kids to be able to live fully and independently without me.