What Really Grinds Your Gears?

[IrishLion]

It's also like family here in that the thought of having a large gathering with many of you at once is super cringe inducing...

An IE Tailgate at an ND game would be a delightful trainwreck, if everyone stayed true to their internet personas.

 

[IrishLion]

Reminds me of the football locker room in high school. Nobody ever wanted to wash their shit so they'd just load up their girdles with spray. And the freshman locker room was off in basically a large closet with no doors or windows so it would just bake in there.

We had rules that required clearing out our lockers completely every Wednesday night, with the exception of helmets, should pads, and cleats, that way coaches could go through and disinfect/Lysol everything.

It worked out, because Thursday was walk-through day, so you didn't need pants/practice jersey/girdle. And it forced everyone to not be smelly assholes.

 

[zelezo vlk]

An IE Tailgate at an ND game would be a delightful trainwreck, if everyone stayed true to their internet personas.

I'd have to pass on this part, or else I wouldn't remember the game

 

[Bishop2b5]

To what extent do filters stop access though? Their friends all have cell phones and the home computer is the least of options to access bad things. Hell, turn on regular cable nowadays. My wife watches a show called Famous in Love on the Freeform channel no less (owned by Disney). The show is literally aimed at teenage girls and has all types of sexual scenarios and scenes. It's hard to simply block access to all the bad things in the world when they are constantly barraging children with said material.

So when me and my wife talk about it, we will probably try a two prong approach. 1) Try to put blocks & restrictions in place where we can and 2) Inform them about WHY we are doing it. WHY those things should be avoided. Most of all, try our damnest to instill good moral fiber to the point where they at least attempt to be wholesome.

This.

Another thing to consider doing is have the password to all their phones, tablets, laptops, Twitter, Skype, Instagram, e-mail, Facebook, etc., and check those things regularly... and look for hidden apps & photos.

Ever feel like we are losing an inevitable battle here though?

Sure feels that way sometimes.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

It's also like family here in that the thought of having a large gathering with many of you at once is super cringe inducing...

An IE Tailgate at an ND game would be a delightful trainwreck, if everyone stayed true to their internet personas.

If I ever win a white whale case on contingency, I'm going to host an epic IE tailgate at ND and pay for everyone's ticket.

 

[RDU Irish]

And before that, it was flipping through the lingerie section of the Sears catalogue.



I haven't been able to find a credible study on this question, but the damage done seems to correlate directly with: (1) how young the boy is when regular exposure to sexually explicit material begins; and (2) how sexually explicit that material is. In years past, first exposure happened post-puberty as teenagers, and it was generally pretty tame (like a Playboy). Now, it's happening pre-puberty at very young (and increasingly so) ages, and they're seeing the most hardcore stuff in existence online.

My brother-in-law is the Dean of Discipline at a classical charter middle school. As I mentioned in my last post, the kids at these schools are (on average) much better off than the general population, because their parents have self-selected into an institution full of academically-oriented families who are both present and active in their childrens' education. But nearly every week he has to deal with a boy who's fondling a female classmate, asking a girl "Do you want to get raped?", taking upskirt photos without consent (these are all actual examples he's told me about recently, btw). This isn't harmless "boys will be boys" type of behavior, but stuff that will get you shit-canned from a job before you can blink in the working world. And without fail, when he talks to the parents about it, he tells them to check the boys' browsing history, and they find all sorts of hardcore pornography. These kids are 12 and 13! It's a national epidemic, but we seem incapable of addressing it because of our liberal first principles.



Parents should obviously talk to their kids about sex as soon as they're old enough to understand (or perhaps sooner, since odds are good that most of their classmates are being exposed to very explicit stuff much too early). But when they're exposed to it and how they're exposed it makes a huge difference. If you give a smart phone to a 4th grade boy, he's eventually going to find his way to YouPorn. And consuming that sort of high-octane sexual stimulus while his brain is still developing will seriously fuck up his ability to interact healthily with the fairer sex.

Our Catholic K-8 school is hell-bent on 1:1 devices in the middle school. Beginning of this year I go in with stories from my 7th grader about kids watching porn on devices and computers already in the school - how are they going to do better when each kid has one on hand all the time? The two administrators were completely flabbergasted as if they didn't know middle school boys would seek out this type of stuff. The SWF mid 20s assistant principal was able to handle it better than the early 30s principal lady with 1st grader and pre-K kids. Guarantee they both sat first row their entire academic career - good luck sniffing out kids being kids.

PTO had paid for improved WIFI infrastructure to support so many new devices and I wondered how the network was not filtering. Turns out - kids would set up their phones in their locker as wifi access points and change over the devices to bypass the school wifi filters. And I am the bad guy for bitching the last three years that we don't need more devices in the damned school.

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Our Catholic K-8 school is hell-bent on 1:1 devices in the middle school. Beginning of this year I go in with stories from my 7th grader about kids watching porn on devices and computers already in the school - how are they going to do better when each kid has one on hand all the time? The two administrators were completely flabbergasted as if they didn't know middle school boys would seek out this type of stuff. The SWF mid 20s assistant principal was able to handle it better than the early 30s principal lady with 1st grader and pre-K kids. Guarantee they both sat first row their entire academic career - good luck sniffing out kids being kids.

PTO had paid for improved WIFI infrastructure to support so many new devices and I wondered how the network was not filtering. Turns out - kids would set up their phones in their locker as wifi access points and change over the devices to bypass the school wifi filters. And I am the bad guy for bitching the last three years that we don't need more devices in the damned school.

I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn't. Exhibit 1A for why our Catholic schools are in crisis. They don't understand why they exist in the first place, so they end up adopting every stupid public school fad that comes down the pike.

 

[Irish Insanity]

My first 'playboy experience' was in the 10th grade. We lived in the country. I saw some trash laying in the trees in front of my house. Ended up being a porn magazine. I remember taking it to school and hiding it inside my books during class to look at it.

As far as phones, both my older kids have them. The youngest does have an iPad, used mostly for educational apps. The iPad is rarely allowed use. I'm just not a fan of kids playing electronics all the time. We have an old Xbox 360 of mine from years ago as the only video game system. That gets used a few times a year only. With the older kids, phones is how their school does so many things. Reminders from teachers and such are all sent thru the kids phones. Hell even most math classes are done on the computer for them as opposed to actual paper and a pencil. It's absurd.

Sent from my LG-H871 using Tapatalk

 

[RDU Irish]

I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn't. Exhibit 1A for why our Catholic schools are in crisis. They don't understand why they exist in the first place, so they end up adopting every stupid public school fad that comes down the pike.

I pound the table for them to focus on discipline, humility and individual accountability as their differentiator in the marketplace. They want to be techy and cool.

Grinds my gears - Individual accountability. Boy is humping other boy's leg at middle school dance. Rather than punish the offender, or even bring it up to the parents - they take away photo booth from the class for the next event as "punishment". WTF did the other 59 kids do wrong to get punished for one kid acting like a moron? Seen it for close to a decade at this place and they wonder why the problem kids only get worse and the good kids lose respect for authority. WTF is wrong with telling the kid he doesn't get to do the next activity since he can't behave better than a horny dog?

Sports - nobody has ever missed an event due to grades. Wut? EVER? Yeah, teachers are great about working with the kids to make sure they are eligible.... They have to have all their work turned in at least right? Well, that is up to the teachers and they are great about being flexible for kids that are busy with other commitments.... And they wonder why these kids get above the law attitudes. Isn't it a PRIVILEGE to play for your school team? A privilege predicated on meeting academic requirements? I mean, use sports to motivate the kids to perform and behave in school - why is that suddenly such a foreign concept to people?

 

[NDohio]

We actively keep our phones away from our 4 month old daughter. I make sure that if I use it, that I'm not in her line of sight. We absolutely do not want her growing up in front of screens. It creates the problems everyone has talked about above. We want her to be able to engage in conversation with the people around her and to go to school and actually be able to learn by watching and listening to a person. She will not be a mindless drone who can only learn by being given notes and pictures on her tablet. That pervasive laziness in the educational world will not fly with me.

The only exception is using the iPad to Facetime with family. And I can tell she already likes the screen...but it's a small price to pay so she can grow up knowing family.

Our Catholic K-8 school is hell-bent on 1:1 devices in the middle school. Beginning of this year I go in with stories from my 7th grader about kids watching porn on devices and computers already in the school - how are they going to do better when each kid has one on hand all the time? The two administrators were completely flabbergasted as if they didn't know middle school boys would seek out this type of stuff. The SWF mid 20s assistant principal was able to handle it better than the early 30s principal lady with 1st grader and pre-K kids. Guarantee they both sat first row their entire academic career - good luck sniffing out kids being kids.

PTO had paid for improved WIFI infrastructure to support so many new devices and I wondered how the network was not filtering. Turns out - kids would set up their phones in their locker as wifi access points and change over the devices to bypass the school wifi filters. And I am the bad guy for bitching the last three years that we don't need more devices in the damned school.

I wish I could say this surprises me, but it doesn't. Exhibit 1A for why our Catholic schools are in crisis. They don't understand why they exist in the first place, so they end up adopting every stupid public school fad that comes down the pike.

My wife is a HS English teacher in a public school. The district has a grant through the state where every student gets a tablet. It is a complete nightmare. Fortunately the district did do a nice job of setting filters so the issues are not so much the students viewing porn, but the educational crisis that is happening, as a result of technology, in the schools is tragic. Students have grown up being taught through entertaining shows, apps, educational games, etc and by the time they get to her their expectation is to be entertained by their teachers or have their teachers guide them to websites to instruct them. She has had a fit with a group of sophomore honor, yes honor, students that cannot carry on a class conversation about the books they are (supposed to be) reading. They have no idea what oral communication is or how to do it. Get the tablets, computers, smartphones, etc out of the schools.

 

[IrishLion]

I 'member when Math Blasters on the computer was both cutting-edge technology AND the greatest class-period you could hope for.

Getting multiplication problems correct in rapid-fire succession in order to stop the meteors from falling and blowing up the alien's ship was awesome.

Playing math games on the computer was the dream.

 

[Rack Em]

My wife is a HS English teacher in a public school. The district has a grant through the state where every student gets a tablet. It is a complete nightmare. Fortunately the district did do a nice job of setting filters so the issues are not so much the students viewing porn, but the educational crisis that is happening, as a result of technology, in the schools is tragic. Students have grown up being taught through entertaining shows, apps, educational games, etc and by the time they get to her their expectation is to be entertained by their teachers or have their teachers guide them to websites to instruct them. She has had a fit with a group of sophomore honor, yes honor, students that cannot carry on a class conversation about the books they are (supposed to be) reading. They have no idea what oral communication is or how to do it. Get the tablets, computers, smartphones, etc out of the schools.

Tell your wife to keep fighting the good fight. "Not everyone can learn from a lecture" is absolute horseshit. If you can only learn from being entertained, you'll never learn because that's not instruction or teaching.

It will be the downfall of 1) our educational system and 2) our workforce.

RDU and Whiskey, you two are spot on with Catholic schools just following the fads. It's a serious reason why we're contemplating home schooling our future kids.

 

[ACamp1900]

An IE Tailgate at an ND game would be a delightful trainwreck, if everyone stayed true to their internet personas.

If I ever win a white whale case on contingency, I'm going to host an epic IE tailgate at ND and pay for everyone's ticket.

I'd go just to see what some of you trolls look like in person (seeing how some of you refuse to post pictures)...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

RDU and Whiskey, you two are spot on with Catholic schools just following the fads. It's a serious reason why we're contemplating home schooling our future kids.

Good on you. Parents truly are the first and most important teachers in every child's life. If you can manage on a single income, there are few better gifts you could give your future children. It's much easier to socialize a home-schooled child than it is to protect one from all the bullshit they'll get inundated with in most of our public (and private!) institutions these days.

If home schooling isn't feasible for some reason, you can likely find a culturally acceptable charter or private near you. But it ain't easy.

 

[Bishop2b5]

My first 'playboy experience' was in the 10th grade. We lived in the country. I saw some trash laying in the trees in front of my house. Ended up being a porn magazine. I remember taking it to school and hiding it inside my books during class to look at it.

My first was a cache of pics I cut out of a Playboy that I'd swiped from a friend's older brother when I was 13. I had them hidden in a small box beneath my bed... until my little sister went snooping and found them, then couldn't wait to throw me under the bus with my mom. My dad & I had been working in the yard and when we walked in the back door, there were all my "girlfriends" spread out across the kitchen table. My sister was grinning from ear to ear and my mom looked mortified and SO disgusted & disappointed. First words out of my mouth were, "Those aren't mine!" LOL! My mom starting chewing me out until my dad rescued me by saying, "Oh hell, leave him alone. He's 13. Whattaya expect?"

 

[Rack Em]

Good on you. Parents truly are the first and most important teachers in every child's life. If you can manage on a single income, there are few better gifts you could give your future children. It's much easier to socialize a home-schooled child than it is to protect one from all the bullshit they'll get inundated with in most of our public (and private!) institutions these days.

If home schooling isn't feasible for some reason, you can likely find a culturally acceptable charter or private near you. But it ain't easy.

I want my kids to have the experience of getting up and going to school each day, making friends, being involved in team sports with those friends, etc. But Catholic education (on the whole) does a piss poor job of catechising young Catholics. There is too much "Jesus loves you religion class" and not enough Theology and explanation of the Faith.

Plus, my kid doesn't need a god damn tablet thrust into her face to learn. I read her The Economist at 4 months on purpose and explain to her what I think about the articles. She has zero clue what's going on and tries to rip the pages, but I want her to get used to listening to someone talk and synthesize that information. That skill is going to be a hot commodity when she's 25.

 

[IrishLion]

I want my kids to have the experience of getting up and going to school each day, making friends, being involved in team sports with those friends, etc. But Catholic education (on the whole) does a piss poor job of catechising young Catholics. There is too much "Jesus loves you religion class" and not enough Theology and explanation of the Faith.

Plus, my kid doesn't need a god damn tablet thrust into her face to learn. I read her The Economist at 4 months on purpose and explain to her what I think about the articles. She has zero clue what's going on and tries to rip the pages, but I want her to get used to listening to someone talk and synthesize that information. That skill is going to be a hot commodity when she's 25.

I think this gets better in high school, but that's also understood based on a limited sample-size of what I've heard and discussed about Catholic high schools in the Greater Cincinnati area. If you can get them through Catholic grade school, and keep them engaged at home with discussion and clarification, then it can turn out just fine.

My high school had excellent and numerous course offerings on Theology and digging deeper into the faith, but we also had very bright, young teachers that were hip enough to relate to high schoolers, but wise enough to rein us in. (It's ironic that those same young guys, who connected with us better than any of the other teachers in the school, were essentially driven out for being too "radical," but that's a discussion for a different audience).

The one outlier, and a situation so hypocritical that it's almost unbelievable, was the 45-year-old lady teaching a class on the sacraments with a heavy focus on marriage, who was having an affair and got outed to our principle by her own son.

 

[NDohio]

I want my kids to have the experience of getting up and going to school each day, making friends, being involved in team sports with those friends, etc. But Catholic education (on the whole) does a piss poor job of catechising young Catholics. There is too much "Jesus loves you religion class" and not enough Theology and explanation of the Faith.

Plus, my kid doesn't need a god damn tablet thrust into her face to learn. I read her The Economist at 4 months on purpose and explain to her what I think about the articles. She has zero clue what's going on and tries to rip the pages, but I want her to get used to listening to someone talk and synthesize that information. That skill is going to be a hot commodity when she's 25.

Absolutely!

 

[RDU Irish]

I want my kids to have the experience of getting up and going to school each day, making friends, being involved in team sports with those friends, etc. But Catholic education (on the whole) does a piss poor job of catechising young Catholics. There is too much "Jesus loves you religion class" and not enough Theology and explanation of the Faith.

Plus, my kid doesn't need a god damn tablet thrust into her face to learn. I read her The Economist at 4 months on purpose and explain to her what I think about the articles. She has zero clue what's going on and tries to rip the pages, but I want her to get used to listening to someone talk and synthesize that information. That skill is going to be a hot commodity when she's 25.

You will experience an amazing miracle - your daughter will love reading as she grows up. You will then come across so many parents whose kids HATE to read and say "you are so lucky!" If pressed on how often they read to their kids - they will change the subject. Same kids probably have no bedtime and a tablet, playstation and TV in their room by 2nd grade but so active with travel sports teams that they don't have time to read anyway... I think you get the picture.

 

[Irish#1]

You guys aren't strangers. I spend more time with you than lots of my actual blood relatives.

Freud would have a field day with that statement.

 

[zelezo vlk]

You will experience an amazing miracle - your daughter will love reading as she grows up. You will then come across so many parents whose kids HATE to read and say "you are so lucky!" If pressed on how often they read to their kids - they will change the subject. Same kids probably have no bedtime and a tablet, playstation and TV in their room by 2nd grade but so active with travel sports teams that they don't have time to read anyway... I think you get the picture.

I have a lot of friends who grew up with parents reading to them etc but hate reading. If it weren't for Scripture, I'm not sure they'd ever pick up a book again after high school.

 

[ACamp1900]

You will experience an amazing miracle - your daughter will love reading as she grows up. You will then come across so many parents whose kids HATE to read and say "you are so lucky!" If pressed on how often they read to their kids - they will change the subject. Same kids probably have no bedtime and a tablet, playstation and TV in their room by 2nd grade but so active with travel sports teams that they don't have time to read anyway... I think you get the picture.

Those kids will also have free breakfast, lunch and after school meals... while being the nicest dressed and having parents with the nicest car(s) in the entire school. They'll be the consistent trouble makers, disrupt class, and their parents will put every last little thing on the school, teachers, admins etc... bottom line, read to your freakin kids.

(This is the what grinds my gears thread right??... well, see above... that dynamic drove me bonkers).

 

[wizards8507]

My daughter would read 24/7 if she had the choice. And since my wife is home with her, she basically does have that choice.

I'm a pout-pout fish
With a pout-pout face
So I spread the dreary-wearies
All over the place.

 

[Irish Insanity]

 

[Bishop2b5]

You will experience an amazing miracle - your daughter will love reading as she grows up. You will then come across so many parents whose kids HATE to read and say "you are so lucky!" If pressed on how often they read to their kids - they will change the subject. Same kids probably have no bedtime and a tablet, playstation and TV in their room by 2nd grade but so active with travel sports teams that they don't have time to read anyway... I think you get the picture.

Absolutely the truth! My mom taught me to read when I was 4 and one of my fondest childhood memories is getting my own library card for my 5th b'day. I've been an avid reader ever since. All my daughters could read by the time they were 4 or 5 and they're avid readers. They developed a very keen interest in my National Geographic and Scientific American mags and it was a big deal every month when they came in and my girls couldn't wait to look at the pics and have me read articles to them. My youngest is 5 and she & I do the same thing now. If you're not reading to your kids, you're missing out on some great parent/child interaction and not teaching them a valuable skill and a love of reading & learning.

 

[Polish Leppy 22]

Not only do these millenials have a questionable work ethic and overwhelmingly support Bernie Sanders, the young men are now wearing rompers. For fuck's sake...

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Not only do these millenials have a questionable work ethic and overwhelmingly support Bernie Sanders, the young men are now wearing rompers. For fuck's sake...

What's wrong with rompers on grown-ass men?

These guys are obviously very secure in their masculinity, and I want to be just like them.

On the plus side, one of these DudeBros looks exactly like my brother-in-law, which my family is currently enjoying at his expense.

 

[irishtrain]

Playing behind 4 guys playing in cup golf shooting around 100 and taking 5 hours to play----and getting on my Irish defense this year as they will do their best but will be very out/gunned.

 

[blueNDgold44]

#RomperSzn

 

[IrishLion]

Playing behind 4 guys playing in cup golf shooting around 100 and taking 5 hours to play----and getting on my Irish defense this year as they will do their best but will be very out/gunned.

That's me and my friends. We all suck, we all shoot 90-100, and we all take far too much time drinking and messing around.

We do try to go on days when it's not crowded, though.