Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Which Kids Are Really Screwed Up


While going through life one heard different things and it dawned on me the other day that there are pockets in my mind where I store things that I’ve been hearing over a life time. One such pocket I have up there gathering some lint is one that stores all the stories I’ve heard of kids that are screwed up and possible reasons as to why they are screwed up.

I’ve heard that the children of teachers are screwed up as are the children of police officers. I’ve heard that the first child born in a family is apt to be screwed up (fortunately I am the last of four children).

What about only children? They are screwed up because they get too much attention and are usually spoiled. I know a few only children and I might agree with that one.

Children of famous people are supposed to be really screwed up. It seems that too many children shoulder the burdens of their parents. Remember, children can be cruel and if a parent has some sort of a weird occupation the kid will take crap for it. Kids are clickish.

My wife tells a story about when she once went to a football game at her high school. She lived in a very rich community, Mercer Island, Washington. When the opposing team from a less wealthy community scored a point the Mercer Island kids would stand up in the bleachers and each would hold up a twenty dollar bill and chant:
“That’s All Right! That’s OK! You’re going to work for us one day!”

Holy shit, what monsters…

17 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

..Children of famous people are supposed to be really screwed up..

Thank God Marlon Brando's kids didnt fall into that category

9:04 AM  
Blogger weese said...

personally - after raising two children all the way to adulthood (theirs not mine) without killing them or myself, i have to say ... eh, its a crap shoot.
at least i fully admit to screwing mine up.
we spoil our children... and our pets. o well - things could be worse i figure.

10:59 AM  
Blogger Frank said...

Kids who know they're privileged can be really unpleasant. The town I went to college in had a university-sponsored magnet school. They generally sucked at sports and tried to make up for it by being "clever". At one basketball game, against a team from a children's home, the pep squad chanted "We have parents, yes we do, we have parents, what about you?" They chanted in Russian, so it didn't scan or rhyme very well, and that was the only school that taught Russian in the area so probably nobody on the other team knew or cared what they were babbling about, but it was still pretty shocking to hear.

10:59 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Guy, I think pretty much everybody is a tad tweaked one way or another, that is everybody but me and you, and I'm too sure about you.
-Middlechild

11:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

It's like being the richest of the poor or there's always someone tougher.

Screwed up is relative.

6:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rich or poor, spoiled or abused some will turn out and some won't. Warren Buffets kids will never have to work at menial jobs, but he's made damn sure they work for what they have. He's also never promoted one of his kids into a position they don't have the education and skill to do very well. He's also made damn sure no one married any of them thinking they were getting on the gravy train.

No one ever made Bill Gates give a dime to anyone, but look what he's done. He's also trying really hard to give his kids as normal a life as they can have. Be interesting to see how they turn out.

There are people raised in mansions surrounded by servants who become good people. They just don't make the news so we never hear about them.


And the chant, "That's alright, that's ok, you'll work for us someday" started out at M.I.T. They have a couple sports teams believe it or not. They are generally ranked at or near the bottom.

8:05 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

At least all the readers here turned out pretty well... Except CCF does have a bit of a mean streak. ; )

6:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

More than a bit of a streak.

9:51 PM  
Blogger pril said...

screwed up, just like weird, is just a question of degrees. We're all screwed up and weird, but there's always someone who's screwed up or weird a bit more or less than we are.

Apparently I got a triple whammy- only child, stepdad a teacher (convicted of white-collarcrime even), raised by a single mom. There are people i know who are "normal" in my eyes, but who see me as "normal"... so yeah...

9:42 AM  
Blogger RobbKidd said...

"I’ve heard that the children of teachers are screwed up as are the children of police officers."

Gee, thanks I got a double whammy. I'll have to tell my mom what you said. Anyway, haven't read your blog in a while, I've been busy finishing school.

1:06 PM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Robb, you have a brother. One of you are screwed up, right?

Hey send me your mailing address, your wedding gifts are nearly ready.

6:29 AM  
Blogger MissKris said...

You know, the way we're raised has a lot to do with how we turn out, for sure. But I sure get sick of hearing people whine and complain about the job their parents did. One thing about parenthood, we go in to it cold turkey. Even if we babysat a lot or helped care for younger siblings, it's not really giving us a true dose of reality as to what 24/7/365 with our own children is going to be like. I come from a 'screwed up' background but I was the type of child/adolescent who said, "I'm nver going to act like that!" or "I'm never going to have a marriage like that!" and I MEANT it. I pulled myself up out of that hole and I've had a very good life. I know, I know...I get the "Well, you're strong. You're a fighter no matter what anyway." True. But if those who moan and groan about ANYTHING in life would put THAT energy into doing something POSITIVE, what a different world this would be, eh?

11:49 AM  
Blogger MissKris said...

Ooops. I got so caught up in that I forgot to say what else I was going to. I used to work at a school on Portland's West Side in a very chi-chi neighborhood...it's one of the richest schools in the city. Sure, there were some pretty snot-nosed kids there but the good far outweighed the bad. It was the PARENTS who were something else!! Portland's Old Money families - they have class. It's the new rich who were impossible to deal with. I had one mother go on and on about "THOSE people" who live on the East Side and "THOSE people" don't pay taxes and "THOSE people" blah, blah, blah. I'd finally had enough and I told her, "Look, I happen to live on the East Side and I pay my taxes, thank you very much." People!!

11:55 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Kris, it is surely a blame thing.

12:40 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i'm an only child.
peopld think i'm pretty normal.
fooled them!

: )

2:20 AM  
Blogger The Guy Who Writes This said...

Dalia, I read your blog. I know better.

7:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Both of my parents were teachers at the high school that I went to and I can attest that I'm definitely screwed up.

As far as Mercer Island goes, I can so see that happening. We satirically know it as Poverty Rock. My boss lives there and I could so see his kid being an ass like that.

1:30 PM  

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