Confessions of an Old School Mom
... cross posted from our sister site, Los Angeles Moms Blog.
I was raised in the South in the 60s and 70s when the parenting touchstones were phrases like:
"If you kids don't quit lettin' the air conditioning out the back door, I'm gonna tan your hides!"
"Just stay outside and drink out of the hose - it's the same as the water in the kitchen!"
"No daughter of mine is going to be seen walking down the street in those tacky short-shorts!"
In the world of my youth, "sass" was met with "what for," athletic competitions produced "winners" and "losers" and the reaction to a child addressing an adult by his or her first name was an appalled, open-mouthed stare. In our household, a girl did not call a boy on the phone. Ever. (Girls who called boys were "forward" - one slippery rung above "loose.")
This is how I was raised.
