Return to 1950s adages is what kids need now

In my latest book, Grandma Was Right After All!: Practical Parenting Wisdom From the Good Old Days, I take the top 25 parenting sayings of my youth and explain what they really meant. I do so because they’ve been distorted and demonized by the mental health community as psychologically harmful, which is balderdash, given that child mental health is 10 times worse today than it was in the 1950s, when their usage was commonplace.

The demonization prize goes to “Because I said so,” which, when stated calmly and straightforwardly, is nothing more harmful than an affirmation of the legitimacy of parental authority. The long form would be something along the lines of “I provide for your provision and protection; furthermore, I am not your peer. I am your superior in every sense of the term. Therefore, I am not required to, nor will I, justify my decisions and instructions to you. You will obey because that is what I determine will happen and for no other reason.”

First runner-up goes to “Children should be seen but not heard,” which psychologists claimed reflected a generally negative attitude toward children (mind you, when the number of children per couple was significantly higher than it has been since). Wrong again! As the aphorism makes perfectly clear, the child could remain in the room and listen to adult conversation (be seen), but was expected not to interrupt (be heard) — a truly civilized understanding.

Second runner-up goes to “You made this bed, so you’re going to lie in it.” In other words, the child was going to accept complete responsibility for whatever delinquency he had perpetrated. Today, by way of contrast, it is common for the child to make the bed, and his parents to lie in it. Or, expressed according to yet another old-fashioned parenting aphorism, today’s parents stew in their children’s “juices.” This flip-flop has occurred as parents have rallied to the idea that they should be “involved,” which is a euphemism for being in enabling, codependent relationships with their kids.

“You’re just a little fish in a big pond” was one of my mother’s favorites. I was, in other words, not the big deal I thought I was or should be. Being told you were a small fish went hand-in-hand with being informed that the world does not revolve around you and you are acting too big for your britches. With the advent of self-esteem babble in the late 1960s, children gradually became big fish wearing undersize britches, a condition that benefits no one (but it takes someone my age to clearly understand that high self-esteem is a cultural corrosive).

The all-time favorite of my mother and stepfather was, “We knew that if we gave you enough rope, you’d hang yourself.” I have realized in retrospect that my upbringing was very libertarian. I enjoyed a good amount of freedom (a long rope) as long as I accepted as much if not more personal responsibility. The relative balance in that equation prepares a child for proper citizenship. Grandma also said, “Good citizenship begins at home.”

We 1950s children did not like hearing these things, but then children do not know what they need. (They only know what they want.) I have yet to meet someone my age who is not thankful for them. Their restoration, along with the parenting point of view that they reflected, is badly needed by all concerned.