Lesson #1 For Future Parenting

Look at it -^. Just look at it. The infamous video game console in all it's shiny, expensive, awe-inducing glory. Part of the system that has slowly, but surely, taken away the goodness of youth and childhood.

I have the grand opportunity to teach kids to do something active, something healthy, something more fun than any sleek black box can ever offer. But I have had my eyes opened to the harsh reality that not all beings appreciate doing something that does not include vegging on the couch. Not only that, but not all parents understand the necessity to teach their children that there is LIFE outside the room that holds their beloved Wii, Xbox, Sega, PS3 or whatever else is contaminating the American home these days.

Last weekend, I was assigned a new snowboarding class of...one. One child. 6 years old. Normally this would be a cause of rejoicing! A class of one kid! How could it get easier than that? Typically, it can't. However, on that fine day on the snow, this particular child presented himself as being one of the hardest children I have ever come in contact with. He was of normal height for a 6 year old, but a bit overweight, with a mouth worse than that of a sailor. Have you ever heard the F word from a 6 year old kid? I have. It produces a strange quivering in the deep innerds of the ear canals. But not only was this child chubby with a mouth that bubbled over with vernacular tar, but he was in NO WAY interested in being outside.

As I came to understand it, the child, let's call him Billy, wanted to learn to snowboard because he had played Shawn White's video game so much that he was sure that he could not only snowboard, but could do it at a level that would leave Mr. White in the dust. Little did Billy know that in order to snowboard, you actually had to be located outside, on a mountain, in the snow, strapped to a board, using muscles, and wearing winter weather gear. I think his head must've exploded when his parents handed him a snowboard instead of a joy stick when he was brought out to have lessons.

As the day progressed, and as I tried, in complete vain, to teach Billy to snowboard, I became very aware of how his household worked. When he wanted something, he got it. When he didn't want to do something, he didn't have to. If mommy and daddy (or instructor) asked him to stop, stopping is optional.

Because gamer-boy-Billy realized that snowboarding counts as using your legs in a non-sitting fashion, and kept taking of his freaking snowboard on the hill, I decided to give up on this foul creature. He had no balance, no muscle mass (though quite a bit of fat), and was SO ADHD that he could not, and absolutely would not listen to me. Can you say, "DISASTER"?

The rest of the day was spent in the lodge, unsuccessfully drinking hot cocoa (I say unsuccessfully because Billy was so uncoordinated that he proceeded to spill the whole cup of burning liquid everywhere... twice). I tried to get him to have normal, 6 year old conversation (which might include what superhero is your favorite, what kind of animals live in the jungle, or how fast you can run), but of course, Billy would have none of that. Instead, I listened to him go on and on about his Wii (and that he wanted to go home RIGHT NOW to play it), how many people he could kill in various combat games, how he and his friends didn't go to each others houses because they could play and talk to each other through the Wii system at separate houses, how he hated being outside, and that he wanted to make a website that had a collection of movie scenes of people getting killed because it was, "Fun." I wanted to shank myself.

Oh, and at the end of the day his parents stiffed me. I babysat that horrid child for 7 hours and got nothing. I almost wanted to quit my job.

I had to wonder, do they know that their child is like this? Do they realize what kind of citizen of the world they are raising? Probably not.

So... what have I learned from this experience? Let's make a list:
*My child will NEVER have a video game system until they can pay for one themselves.
*My kids will have good language, and never get away with saying curse words
*My kids will not be fat little gamers who get everything their way
*My kid will not get their way if they throw tantrums, make fusses, or whine
*I, as a parent, will not be passive and submissive to my child
*I, as a parent, will be a parent, not a child to my child
*My kids will be active, outdoor loving, grateful, innocent, sweethearts
*My kids will have friends. Friends that play together. Without the use of video games, IM, or cell phones

And, most of all, *I will never stiff a babysitter.

Happiness is...
~ Going home after a horrible day at work
~ Not having over-indulgent, passive, uncaring parents
~ Breathing the fresh, clean mountain air
~ Striped pajamas
~ Seeing all of my cousins and their babies
~ Trying something new- park riding
~ Talking to old friends
~ Hearing about other's happy lives :)

"Parents often talk about the younger generation as if they didn't have anything to do with it."
~Haim Ginott