Governed by children

by Doug Crowe
Tuesday, February 5, 2008 1:47 PM MST

In these United States, we practice democracy: government "of the people, by the people and for the people."

I think, however, we are beginning to lean more toward oligarchy: "government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families."

For the last 20 years, our president has been either a Bush or a Clinton, and we could possibly have another Clinton in the Oval Office to stretch that to 28 years. That sounds pretty much like oligarchy to me.

Realistically, however, power today is wielded neither by "the people" nor by "a small faction of people or families." Instead, we are governed by children.

If matriarchy is a society governed by women and patriarchy is a society governed by men, then what we have in the U.S. today is pediarchy! Kids are in charge. They get what they want and they get it when they want it.

This has not always been so. When I was a child, there was no ambiguity regarding who was in charge in our family. Make no mistake; my parents were doting parents. Never did I have occasion to doubt their love for me.

Nonetheless, during the 18-odd years I lived under my mother's roof, she did not once ask what I wanted for breakfast, lunch or supper. She just put it on the table, and I could eat it or not. The same was true of clothes. At the beginning of each school year, mom went to Sears and bought what she thought I needed.

If I wanted to go to a movie or to the swimming pool or to a friend's house, walking was the only mode of transportation open to me. It would never have occurred to either of my parents to chauffeur me anywhere.

My chores included mowing the lawn, shoveling the walk, washing the car and taking out the trash. There was no remuneration for any of this. In our family, if you wanted spending money, you could get a job.

Also, my parents felt no responsibility to entertain me. I was expected to amuse myself, preferably outdoors. When and if the TV was on was solely a parental prerogative.

When adult company was in our house, the rule was that children were to be seen, not heard. It would have been absolutely unthinkable for me to interrupt a conversation between adults.

Today, it seems to me that parents exist mainly to serve their children. No good parent would dare begin a meal without soliciting the children's input on what should be served. Or, more likely, on what fast food joint should be visited.

Clothes must be designer brands and parental preferences are of no consequence, just hand over the credit card. An after-school job is out of the question.

There is just no time to wedge work between dance classes, soccer practice, baseball practice and guitar lessons.

On-call shuttle services are the norm as, Lord knows, your children might turn you in to Health & Social Services if made to walk a few blocks.

Extravagant allowances are required to support insatiable appetites for clothes, cell phones, music systems, movies, gigantic in-bedroom television sets, ever-evolving computerized goodies and gasoline for the new automobile that is handed over at 12:01 a.m. on every child's 16th birthday.

Kids run in and out of the house, turning up the volume on every television set as they go. They interrupt adult chores and conversations with wails of, "I'm bored" or "What can I do?" I find this particularly incredible.

So, you ask, what is the point of this diatribe? I'm not really sure, except that perhaps I was born too early and missed out on being "Master of the Universe" at the tender age of 6! And I think if my parents were still around, I might sue them for child abuse.

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