How the times have changed

[Ranger12 46]

I was sitting here flipping channels and stopped on TV Land to watch a "Leave It To Beaver" episode (yes I was bored).

Well, the Beaver got beat up by a bully. He came into the house crying. What does his dad tell him? He tells the boy he could do one of two things...he could come in and cry about it to everybody, or he could take care of it himself. So, the Beaver goes back out and calls out the bully and takes him down in their front yard. Ms. Cleaver sees her son fighting in the front yard and calls for good ole' Ward who slowly walks to the door, grinning the whole time, and breaks it up. Then the kid's other dad comes out also and the dads send their boys inside. The dads talk and have a good laugh about it.

First, we all know that if a TV show nowadays would have the dad promoting that his son take care of the bully himself and that was the true moral of the story, the show would come under so much fire it would probably get canceled. Then of course lawsuits would have been involved between the two dads.

Of course these days you have to be careful of trying to take on bullies, because most are even more cowardly then they were before because they carry guns/knives to do their fighting or the let their "posse" handle their dirty work.

[DKW 86 7,432]

Next time we meet, I will share a story about this that happened just a week or so ago.

[Ranger12 46]

Okay-dokey. I'll try to remember to remind you to tell me about it.

[autiger4life 3]

First, we all know that if a TV show nowadays would have the dad promoting that his son take care of the bully himself and that was the true moral of the story, the show would come under so much fire it would probably get canceled. Then of course lawsuits would have been involved between the two dads.

Of course these days you have to be careful of trying to take on bullies, because most are even more cowardly then they were before because they carry guns/knives to do their fighting or the let their "posse" handle their dirty work.

Ranger, you must be a little removed from the kids these days if you believe this. Kids today still have bulleys. They still get beat up by bullys. They still cry and tell their dad who stills tells them to cry or man up and take care of the punk. They still go back and fight the kid who is usually a coward and does get beat up, and then the dads still don't sue over it. Just because you see it on Fox News or CNN does not mean it is the average occurence for a parent to sue, it just means it is so rare and unbelievable that it actually makes the news. It it was that common you wouldn't see it on the tv.

Compare it to Alabama football. When they lose, it isn't on the tv because it happens. But now with a great coach, they won a game and now its on the news, because it is so rare. Same idea.

[Ranger12 46]

I think you missed the spirit of the post. I don't think I said anything about bullies not existing nowadays. Also, I understand that some parents still bring up their kids, but those parents are very open to be sued by other parents because of that nowadays whereas back then, it would not have even been thought of.

But since you think I must be "far removed" from kids these days, let my run my credentials by you since I just love when people make comments that assume I am some mindless twit that gets my life information through CNN and Foxnews :

First, I have a 9 year old son and 15 year old daughter. Secondly, I used to be involved in a youth ministry for several years and counseled teenagers. While at Ft. Benning a group of us Rangers, when off duty, supervised and at times manned a teenage crisis intervention line among some other volunteer work we did at the schools and youth organizations around Columbus, GA.

Currently, I work one on one with high school pitchers, umpire youth league and high school baseball, and also have helped coach American Legion and Dixie Youth baseball teams in recent years. Oh, I have also did a lot of substitute teaching at he high school and middle age level, not to mention I have been back in college myself for over a year and half, which puts me around a lot of recent high school graduates.

But, like you said, I must be be far removed from the kids these days.

[townhallsavoy 2]

I think the most important point of Ranger's post is to show that it was a common aspect of our culture to teach our sons how to handle bullies. Big Mouths these days would have jumped all over that show - I'm honestly surprised it's still run on television. Back then, boys would fight, parents would get involved and the situation would be resolved. I don't think the moral of that episode was limited to Beaver taking care of a bully himself - the parents got involved, which was the most important lesson. Nowadays, the bullheads would just see Beaver's father telling him to take care of the bully himself. They would have said it promoted violence and that the father shouldn't be allowed to raise children. They don't see past the word "violence."

I think the problem is with the adults in our society. Adults haven't been taking care of problems like these and instead of getting involved to resolve it, they get involved and worsen the situation. For example:

A week ago, there was a fight between two girls at a nearby middle school. When the two girls were broken up, they were stuck with a teacher until their parents came to pick them up. Coincidentally, the mothers of the two girls showed up at the same time. Did they talk to their daughters about right and wrong? Nope. Did they make the girls make-up? Nope. Did they proceed to vehemently beat the crap out of each other until the police showed up? Yes.

Granted, there are still areas of the country where two parents who don't know each other can get together to help resolve an issue between their children. But the media doesn't promote this. It puts the two mothers on TV. It puts the kids who shoot each other on TV. And then it says, "TV promotes violence." Go figure.

[autiger4life 3]

But since you think I must be "far removed" from kids these days, let my run my credentials by you since I just love when people make comments that assume I am some mindless twit that gets my life information through CNN and Foxnews :

First, I have a 9 year old son and 15 year old daughter. Secondly, I used to be involved in a youth ministry for several years and counseled teenagers. While at Ft. Benning a group of us Rangers, when off duty, supervised and at times manned a teenage crisis intervention line among some other volunteer work we did at the schools and youth organizations around Columbus, GA.

Currently, I work one on one with high school pitchers, umpire youth league and high school baseball, and also have helped coach American Legion and Dixie Youth baseball teams in recent years. Oh, I have also did a lot of substitute teaching at he high school and middle age level, not to mention I have been back in college myself for over a year and half, which puts me around a lot of recent high school graduates.

Like I said, based on your post it did sound like you were far removed from kids these days based on the fact of saying that what you described on Leave it to Beaver as not happening any more. I am now even more confused because you actually aren't removed from young people and yet you still believe that. I think the bully then dad saying beat him up and it being resolved and both parents being okay with it is still alive and well. It is just the extreme cases that get put on the news, not the usual.

A week ago, there was a fight between two girls at a nearby middle school. When the two girls were broken up, they were stuck with a teacher until their parents came to pick them up. Coincidentally, the mothers of the two girls showed up at the same time. Did they talk to their daughters about right and wrong? Nope. Did they make the girls make-up? Nope. Did they proceed to vehemently beat the crap out of each other until the police showed up? Yes.

Granted, there are still areas of the country where two parents who don't know each other can get together to help resolve an issue between their children. But the media doesn't promote this. It puts the two mothers on TV. It puts the kids who shoot each other on TV. And then it says, "TV promotes violence." Go figure.

This is exactly my point. They put the crazies on television and then everyone thinks that this is the norm, when in fact it is just the opposite. However, in my experience what happened on Leave it to Beaver is still alive and well now, its just with the media that can cover so much now due to the internet, the other side gets a lot more coverage than it deserves.