What amused me was the ads for writers...blog writers. One of the ads was for someone who was an expert on parenting to write a blog on it.
My thoughts exactly.
Everyday is an adventure in parent land. My mother made it look so easy, for the most part. Then again, she was always in a whirl.
When my son was small, there was something (and don't ask me what it was, I think it had something to do with table manners) that flipped a switch about a fundamental piece of handy info all parents should be told about raising kids: They don't just automatically know stuff...they have to be TAUGHT EVERYTHING. This should be common sense for parenting but it reallys doesn't seem to be. I think my generation just really never got it. Want proof? Just look around at the generation behind us...not ALL of them are messed up but enough of the percentage of the population to make it seem like they are all pretty much without morals and lacking a logical thinking process.
I have noticed too many parents of my generation that just figure their offspring will automatically KNOW stuff. Where's the guidance? And not everything has to have a good 'reason'...sometimes courtesy should be good enough. But when the children grow up with parents that are so centrally focused on themselves they kinda get the idea that this world is pretty much 'every person for themselves'. I still believe in the golden rule: do unto others as you want them to do unto you. I have raised my kids that way. They are finding out that not too many ppl think like that.
AND the death of the golden rule is one of the reasons this country is in the state it is in...but that is a whole nother rant entirely.
4 comments:
Nancy:
Yes, even wild animals teach their offspring how to function in their world.
Since you write nicely for the blog, have you ever considered writing for the paper? You'd make a lousy Miss Manners or a prim and proper parenting guide, but I think you'd make an excellent "seat of the pants, holdin on to the steering wheel drivin' 95 down the interstate" parental guide, to entertain and educate the typical parent who wants real life advice and experience.
SKinny...interestingly enough I took a 'writing to get published' grad class about...um...7 or 8 years ago. I took it becuz I needed the credits to renew my teaching license and becuz it looked interesting. The instructor wasn't really any help. He used the class to brag himself up. However, he did say that the stuff I wrote would be a great humorous column for parenting magazines and such. My husband and MIL have gotten after me to pursue it but I just really haven't a clue still. I DID right one of the most amazing things I ever have in that class...a 2 page description of a penny. Really. Once I read mine the room was silent and the instructor's mouth was hanging open...then no one else would read theirs. I have looked high and low for that thing and I think the instructor kept it. but..what I write I do for me...for fun...to vent. Can't imagine getting paid for it.
I have explored many a "get paid to write" angle, at least the ones that don't cost money up front, and the one message I have always received in reply (variations of it anyway) is: "humor doesn't sell." What it means, apparently, is that many sites like to "borrow" humorous material because folks will read it, but the sites just don't want to pay for it. And protecting copyright on material posted here or elsewhere can be a never-ending battle.
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