Here we go again! Another blog post by ya boy Infinite7154. Sorry it took me so long but I had to handle some things. Now that’s taken care of, I can get back to doing what I do best.
Another school year is upon us. The summer has just flown by! I mean it was just the 4th of July the other day, now school is about to start. If you’ve been to the mall, Target, or Wal-Mart recently, you know it’s crazy out there. People are scrambling to get their kids all the school supplies they need. People working double and triple shifts to get them all the clothes they need. And I ask for what?
Who put it in our heads that our children need a brand new wardrobe every school year? I’m not talking about replacing what doesn’t fit any longer, I’m talking about a whole new closet full of clothes and sneakers and coats and whatever else the kid decides they want.
It's that time
My mother’s favorite line was “you go to school to learn, not for a fashion show”. I hated that statement, but today I realize it is so true. So much focus is placed on what the child is wearing and very little on what the child is learning. Let’s just be clear about something: If your kid is on the honor roll and doing what he/she needs to do in school, then by all means buy them whatever you can afford. This is really for the parent(s) of that kid who’s barely passing or has actually failed but has you running all over Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and NYC to cop that pair of Jordan’s for the first day of school. I’m talking about spending all of YOUR hard earned money on a child that doesn’t have the decency or respect to go to school and act like he’s(she) got some home training. I’m talking about the kid that went to summer school and still failed because he/she wanted to act like a monster. Why do you bother Mom? Dad? Is it some sense of obligation to these children? Is it you didn’t have the fresh gear when you were in school so you don’t want yours to feel like that? I mean, really, what is it? Because it makes no sense to me that a child that has done nothing to deserve anything other than the barest necessities should be getting a brand new wardrobe!
When you get a job and you underperform, what happens? At my job you get put on a Performance Improvement Plan. If you don’t shape up, you get fired. That’s it. That’s all. It’s over for you. Why don’t we as parents take the same approach with these kids? Why do we continue to teach them that regardless of how you perform, you can get the top of the line stuff anyway? We are not teaching our children accountability. We are not teaching our children how to earn what they want, how to work for what they want. We are teaching them that no matter what happens, they can get whatever they want regardless of effort. How long is that going to work for them in the real world?
The law says you have to clothe your child, it doesn’t say in what brand. I got my son into a charter school last year, an all boys school. It would have gotten him out of the school district he was in that has a 17% graduation rate for black males. He had barely passed the 8th grade; it was time for him to get into a better system. Him and his mother decided(yes, I said him and his mother) he didn’t want to go to this school. He would stay in the city school. Then he asked me to take him school clothes shopping. Now I had a choice to make: do I reward him and his mediocrity or do I teach him there are consequences and repercussions for his actions? Well, needless to say, I chose the latter. I bought him school clothes, don’t get me wrong. But everything came from Wal-Mart, and I do mean EVERYTHING! Did he wear the Starter sneakers to school? I don’t know. Did he wear the jeans or shirts I bought? I don’t know. I do know this, I gave him an opportunity to get labels and Nike’s. All I wanted to see was a report card with at least a 2.5 GPA. He would have gotten a whole new wardrobe. The problem is I never saw one of his report cards from that year.
It’s all about choices. We allow our children to make choices and regardless of what they choose, we have a tendency to make excuses for them and reward them all the same. We are setting them up for a rude awakening when they get to college(hopefully) and get a job(I’m begging). Nobody else is going to reward our children for half ass or incomplete work. Nobody else is going to reward them for continual failure. There are no social promotions in real life. So if no one else is going to reward them for their lack of effort, why do we?
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I agree 109% this is why this generation is going down they are spoiled
Inf, I disagree. Clothes are a necessity, not a punishment or reward. I don’t buy my clothes from Wally’s, why would I buy my children’s clothes there?
Yes, clothing is a necessity…and no I don’t buy my clothes from there. But I have a job. I earned whatever I buy myself, children should to