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Changes in Attitudes Looking back on yesterday

Twenty-plus years ago, during the summer months, depending where you lived you might have seen a bus picking kids up at 6:00 a.m. to go and pick strawberries or other produce-kids aged six through eighteen, age didn't matter. All that was required was a desire or need to earn money, and the opportunity was there.

Over the years, berry fields became smaller there were no longer buses picking kids up during the summer months.
Change happens everywhere.
Houses now replace many farmlands across the states.
This is only one of the changes that we have seen happen during our lifetimes, but I feel it is important to mention it. I am inclined to believe that somehow the decline of the small jobs that our youth once performed has helped to create in today's youth a lack of basic survival skills and work ethic, leaving some young people at a disadvantage.
During my recent twenty-fifth high school reunion, a few classmates were sharing memories and laughing about working when we were younger. A few of us worked at our local egg farm every day after school until 9:00 p.m. We laughed about the chicken poop and the horrible pigs that we had to throw the dead chickens to; we picked cucumbers and hauled around five-gallon buckets, full to the brim. We laughed at ourselves, but it was sobering that many of our children were not as ambitious.
We have tried to set a good example by going to work every day and paying the bills. So what did we do wrong? Many of my classmates worked, as did other youth in the United States, at the same age I did. Some of us wanted to work when we were young; some of us did not have any choice and perhaps felt resentful. Nevertheless, we learned how to work and were glad for it.
So what happened from my generation to the next? This change in society has happened for a variety of reasons. Along with technological changes, there has been a change in young people's attitudes. Today, many parents feel their children show a lack of respect. Perhaps we have spoiled our kids, causing them to talk back and making them lazier. Some young people want their parents to pay their way because the children feel entitled; some young people are depressed or lack goals and direction. On the other hand, some of us might even be treating our teenagers as if they were still twelve when they are seventeen by not allowing them to work, drive or the encouragement and freedom to pursue interests that help them to become self

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