Too Much Padding?

Risking sounding like generations before mine, I am beginning to wonder how we survived our younger years. We rode our skateboards without protection of helmets or pads of any kind, as we did our bikes, played outside for hours, probably without proper hydration & many times without parental supervision, went trick or treating with other kids, and many times definitely ate the wrong things in combination on the food nutrition wheel.

Educationally, both life and academically, things were really different too from today! We were encouraged to succeed, but allowed to fail. We pursued our passions, but if we weren't good enough, we didn't make the team. When we were disappointed by life, our parents teachers, scout leaders, pastors or coaches were there to encourage and help us learn from the experience. We were not shielded from failure, nor made to feel it was not our responsibility
in some way to deal with it & accept it as part of life.

I don't remember excuses being made, nor so many "quick fixes" being out there. I also don't recall so many children on medication, or adults for that matter to make then able to deal with daily life! Once grown if people could not deal with their spouses or children they found ways of dealing with it, that while certainly not perfect, were far from the permanent solutions many families choose today that we see splashed all over the media. Perhaps one of the reason we cannot deal with our concerns as adults is because we received too much "padding" as children and were therefore "shielded" from learning the life skills to enable us to weather the storms of life as we move forward?







Jodi H. Underhill MEd. LMHC Licensed Mental Health Counselor #MH9166 Phone: 386.747.7148Fax: 386.837.4311