I don't have kids yet (Still praying!), but I know many of you do.  What kinds of stories do you tell your kids?  How exaggerated are they, and to what purpose?  (or if you don't have kids, what WILL you tell them about?)

I know when I have kids, it will be kinda strange to have a historical event to talk about.  We have/ had grandparents in the second World War, Vietnam, the Korean War....

I haven't been in a war, but I can tell kids that I vividly remember 9/11.  We listen to the stories our grandparents tell with a sense of removal.  Our kids will listen to our stories in the same way.  It definitely offers a lot of perspective.

I am a firm believer that elementary kids have no business having smart phones with access to internet and whatnot. I see kids so detached from reality because they are glued to those things. It is like an appendage. I believe that kids should only have cell phones for the purpose of being able to contact their parents and 911 at any time. But not all this social network and eyes glued to the phone crap I see.

I say that because one thing I will tell my kids is that I didn't have a cell phone until my freshman year of college. I will tell them that it was a personal choice, not because cell phones weren't around. All my peers in high school had their cell phones, and I did not because it was pointless. I will also will likely not buy them a car. I had to buy every car I have owned. Bought my first car from my brother when he got a new one. I bought my next car my senior year of high school with my own money. Had to pay $2000 of my hard earned money and still had to take a $5,000 loan from the bank to pay the rest. Teach them the value of hard work and providing for yourself early so it isn't such a shock when they go to college.

rcarter2 : Amen to that! I hadn't even thought of that as being an answer to this thread, but you're completely correct. My students marvel at the fact that I only JUST got a smart phone and that I'm still learning to use it. I tell them all the time that cell phones were only becoming an 'in' thing when I was in high school, and that even then, it wasn't a 'must have'. I got a cell phone at 17, but I only had it, as you say.... for emergency purposes. I had no minutes, no texting... nothing but a safety precaution.

That really has stuck with me since then. I don't do much with my phone at all, and if I forget it at home, it's simply worth a shrug of my shoulders and an 'oh well'. My kids however... Even 20 minutes without their phone gets treated like a life or death situation. They are completely removed from any situation, such as a classroom, because their minds are so focused on checking their phones.

But this isn't the place to rant....

I feel the same way about cars that you do. Nearly ALL my students really expect their parents to get them a car.... as though it's a right and something to be expected. I bought my first car and it didn't even work. Had to buy an engine for it too, then work with my dad to change out the engines. I earned that money and saved it..... I wasn't just handed a $2k + car.

Kids these days are so spoiled. If God ever blesses me with a child, I won't be buying that kid a car either (unless extreme circumstances call for it). I learned a lot from my experiences, and I'd want the best for my kids as well.

yeah. I get sick and tired of seeing kids getting pampered by their parents. It seems like many of them don't have to actually work hard and they get SO much more than I ever had growing up. Gets on my nerves.


I don't think I had a cell in high school (that was over 10 years ago though and very few people did at all) and I only had one in University because I was married and my wife and I each had one and we didn't have a land line at home. It was easier that way.

I know I had it easier than my parents though and I think each generation over the last 100 years or so has gotten progressively easier. I don't think that is a good thing, just an observation.

The original question was how exaggerated would I be?

I would probably remember things better than they were but I'm not a big fan of lying or making things over the top for the point of being over the top.  Hyperbole is fine but just being extravagant is silly.

I was in the Marines from 2000 to 2006 and I was overseas.  I have some of those stories but I doubt I'll share any with my children until they're much older.  I remember 9/11 and political and world events, disasters, and news.  I pay attention to world news and I try to keep up on what's happening.

Singelli :
rcarter2:
geeogree :

^5's all 'round. Good to see some old school core values.  Unfortunately my boy is still too small to understand my stories although he listened very intently the other night to a story I just completely made up  Although honestly I don't think it was the actual story that got his attention.  Facial expressions and weird sounds highly contributed to that.  
I will probably tell him the usual things - what, why and how we did things when I was in school / college, who his great grandfather was (some "unimportant" info - he was a German missionary that fled Germany during 2nd world war and settled in South Africa) and general life lessons and experiences.  I don't think I would exaggerate about anything to be honest.

Well to follow the question i would probably not lie (even though Iit might seem like it). I have a 12 year old brother and he thinks I lie when I tell him we had to wait for a bus in 2 degree weather and now they cancel it (keep in mind he is in the same district I was in). But they way these kids are babied anymore is just screwed up

Well I babysit kids and I don't lie about my stories but I use them as a teaching tool.

I have this one 12 year old boy that constantly rants that he wants a laptop of his own.  Well one day I sat him down and told him that the only time I got a laptop was graduating high school or paying it with my own hard earned money from work.  I didn't have my own computer or laptop until after high school.

Speaking of cell phones I didn't get one till I was in college.  No one had a cell phone in high school.

At my house kid's can't watch tv or go on the computer till their home work is done and have had at least an hour of out side play.  If there is a storm then I'll let them off the hook after home work.

Electronics is not a right you have to earn it in my house. 

LCRain :  I'm glad to hear this is the case in your household.  I don't have kids of my own, but I do teach a bunch of them, and their dependency on electronics is more than a little disturbing. I often tell them exactly what you've stated.   When I was in high school, cell phones were just then getting attention, and only about half of my classmates had them.  It wasn't a must and kids weren't frowned upon for not having them.  I myself got one in my junior or senior year, but even then, it wasn't for using freely. My parents got me a cell phone strictly as an emergency tool.  I didn't get a laptop until my senior year or freshmen year of college, and it was solely for the purpose of school work.  Who knew things would progress so quickly?!

Singelli :

I was told a Russian is a Russian even if you would fry one in oil by my grandpa, who was a WWII veteran whose brother was killed in the war. By a ruskie.

I ended up almost marrying one. I told grandpa about this just before he died. He just smiled and said "a lovely girl you have". In Russian. So I guess it was okay with him. My mom was harder to get along with it since she said "son, it is in my and yours mothers milk that we hate them and you know how that goes". But she loved her too.

Well things change and even if there are things that don't last forever I am happy if my family, after all the years of pure hate, loved somebody and got to know somebody who was not a villain they always thought "those people" are always like.

I guess I would like to tell a story like this to my kids if I ever have any. That sometimes love and care overcomes all the hundreds of years of old grudges.

Singelli : hope you dont get barried by snow

dvkbuddy10623 :

Hope you learn how to read the rules, kid.

thats just mean all i was saying is i dont want Singelli to get barried and suffacate

dvkbuddy10623 :

IF YOU ARE UNDER TWENTYFIVE THEN GET OUT!

Send her a private message.

"When I was your age, students were blamed for their failing grades."

I don't know if anyone understands this one...

I find myself telling my boys a lot of stories about when I was younger, even though they are too young to really understand most of it yet.  Sometimes they are just regular stories about little things that I did, or experienced.  But a lot of the stories I tell my kids is about hitting the Arcade with a roll or quarters, or hitting the used book store after payday with $10 in my pocket (I used to, and still do read a LOT.)