Must Be Something We Don't Get . . . Keith speaks up!

Well, there must be something we don't quite get . . .

Grandchildren living with significant others, some with children - why is it so different today from two generations ago?

Could it possibly be that divorce became too easy? Is it because their parents are divorced? Are they afraid to commit? Does wealth mean more than a loving relationship?

Was it the feminist movement of the 60s when the Pill was created? Should we blame it on Burt Reynolds posing "in the all together" for a feminist magazine?

Could it be because their parents both work?

When we were kids coming home from school, our mothers were at home. At dinnertime we all sat around the table and ate, and discussed the events of the day. Today kids come home , grab something from the freezer, microwave it and eat it at the counter, then dash off to visit friends. They didn't even see their parents, so how can there be bonding?

I worked three jobs in high school just to pay for my first semester at Rose-Hulman. But my mother very rarely worked. Dad was a Mechanic - a fine one - at Marathon Oil in Robinson, Illinois.

Actually, my father, J.D., wanted me to be a Greyhound Bus driver. That would have been a good job! I would have had a uniform, a fine pension and I would have traveled . . . well, all the time!

My better half's mother was almost always at home. She didn't come home to an empty house very often.

Both of us rode bicycles to get around - use of the family car was a very special privilege, only granted when we had been good and they handed you the keys - plus a short lecture:

"Where are you going? Who will you be with? What time will you be home?"

What? Your kids have their own cars?

So, are cars to blame? Do we grant too much freedom without enough supervision? Have we gone too far to reverse our course? Can we bring back family values?

I guess I just don't get it!