Being an older parent, I've subjected my kids to plenty of 70s and 80s music. My oldest son knows the words to Taste Of Honey's 1978 disco hit, "Boogie Oogie Oogie."
He knows a lot of '70s songs, actually.
And the stories? Well, I didn't walk to school through three feet of snow in Conroe, Texas, like my grandparents might have spun when I was 10 or 11 in the early 1970s, but I have stories that must seem like they happened in the stone ages. Yeah, things can change a lot in the span of 4½ decades.
There were no such things as travel baseball websites, nine months of volleyball and AAU basketball tournaments when I was a kid. And school? No AP classes (Advanced Placement) for the gifted.
Those kids ended up sitting next to me in regular classes. It was a simple existence then, where classes were a mixture of smart kids and those just hoping mom had remembered to replenish the stash of Moon Pies in the pantry. (Yep, I was that kid).
When I was 10, the bus let my brother and I off in front of our house. We came in through the garage with our spare key and spent two hours watching re-runs of "Gilligan's Island," "The Flintstones," "The Munsters" and "I Love Lucy."
Sure, we occasionally played catch, hunted for frogs and shot baskets. After two or three Moon Pies, of course.
The pressure kids face today is beyond incomprehensible. Here's the sad reality: if your kid is not playing travel baseball at 12, someone else's kid is, and that someone else has a leg up on your kid.
Parents push kids today in all aspects of life: sports, band, academics, choir. (I'm sure I'm missing one or two things).
Last week, I stumbled across a heartfelt letter from a principal I've never met. Jennifer Battles, a high school English teacher, posted Dr. Sean Boulton's letter on social media.
Dr. Boulton, principal of Newport Harbor High School (Newport Beach, Calif.), reached out to his community following the suicide of a sophomore student.
This isn't something we like to talk about. This doesn't affect our kids? This doesn't happen in our community?
Actually, it affects every parent and kid who may be reading this.
Dr. Boulton wrote about how today's competitive culture has significantly impacted young adults.
"We endlessly discuss test scores, National Merit Scholarships, reading scores, AP scholars, comparisons to other school Districts and this is when we start losing our collective souls — and our children."
Man, he nails it.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the suicide rate for girls ages 15 to 19 doubled between 2007 and 2015. The CDC said teen boys suicide rate declined between 1990 and 2007, then climbed again by 2015.
To be clear, college isn't cheap. And college isn't for everyone, either. The smartest, wisest people on high school campuses are high school counselors. They're like bloodhounds; they can find scholarship money you and I didn't know existed.
But, as we push and push and push, a lot of kids want to pull back.
Kids need to go watch the "Munsters" and chew on a Moon Pie (or three or four!) once in awhile.
At some point in the last two decades, parents began to devalue military careers or blue collar work like that of a plumber, truck driver or welder — though, to be clear, those are good paying jobs.
We've become discordant over grades, too. Bringing home a "C" is considered shameless.
Kids need to get back to figuring out life on the run, as I did at 18, without the pressures of having to earn a Harvard Education before they've gotten their driver's permit.
The day after my high school graduation, my dad met me downstairs with a suitcase. "Good luck," he said.
He was only half-kidding, of course.
I eventually figured it out. Eventually is the key word, because I didn't figure it out at 18, 25 or 30.
I understand parents want what's best for their kids.
But kids need to learn to relax, too.