Cash Structured Settlements!

By Maria Andolini

Family time is hard to come by these days.  The days of "Leaving it to Beaver" are over.

It Must Be True, I Saw It On TV!

I feel like I’m living in the twilight zone.  Does everyone really believe everything they see on TV?

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. Dad worked while Mom stayed home and took care of the house and kids. We weren’t rich by any means. We didn’t get a lot of extras, but we had a good home, enough food to go around, and a good, stable family environment. Times are tougher these days it seems. With kids needing more techy items, vs. pots and pans to play with.

The only time we got “presents” was Christmas and Birthdays, and new clothes and shoes at the beginning of the school year. We knew better to ask for anything more because we knew we wouldn’t get it.

We played outside with family and friends rather than sitting in front of the television or computer. When we did watch TV, we knew it was for entertainment purposes and it was a “program.” We laughed every time Captain Kirk pulled out his communicator to relay orders aboard the Enterprise. Yeah, like there was ever going to be anything like that!

Today, 40 some years later, there IS something like that!

These days, Moms and Dads both have to work, just to make ends meet. Real family time is a rarity? Passing each other in the hallway; the ride to school on your way to work; texting on the cell phone. Now the kids want, and expect, something every time you go to the store. They talk back; they seem to think they can tell YOU what to do, they think they are the ones in charge and that the adults are only here to cater to their whims.  Times are tough and the break-down of the family, because both parents are working is a real problem these days!

Don't get me wrong, I love kids, but we need more real family time. Parent just don't have the same time to "teach" their children.  Kids often don’t understand that times are tough.  Jobs and money are hard to come by.

After about the 100th argument (could be 200th, I didn't keep counting), I had with my granddaughter about her unrealistic expectations, I asked her where she gets these ideas that kids rule the world. Her words by the way! 

It slowly dawned on me, she was sitting in front of the TV watching one of her favorite programs on The Disney Channel or Nickelodean and the programs portrayed kids doing just that, ruling the world!

That day was a rude awakening for both of us.

Where, back in our day, we knew what we saw on TV wasn’t real, unless it was on the news (and come to find out, even then it might not be true LOL). Our lives didn’t revolve around the TV, and we didn’t make our decisions based on some program we watched every week.

Today, the TV has become the Mom, the Dad and the babysitter. The programs portray kids running their own lives with little or no adult supervision, unlimited income coming from invisible parents and promoting kids to buy certain products to be popular.

I realized it was time to sit my baby down and explain to her that what she saw on TV was NOT real life. I heard my mother’s words coming out of my mouth, “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” I could see she almost couldn’t comprehend what I meant, because that wasn’t what she saw on her kids programs.

It’s hard these days to get a child to understand that they can’t have everything they want - the new computer or cell phone, the latest video game, the $150 shoes that will wear out or be outgrown in two months…..because Mom, Dad, Granny, and sometimes extended family, are struggling just to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Since times are so tough, the reality is, we have less and less time to spend with our children, to teach them what's real and what's not real!