I really laughed out loud at the DVD story. These events with our kids serve as evidence that we are becoming our parents.

I have a 36 year old stepdaughter. When she was 11, I had taken her to a Record Store. I was browsing, and she came running over with a Beatles Album.

“Hey Lisa! Did you know Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?!”

But, I think that it is the eternal hope of those in our generation – regardless of the era, to look at the optimism and potential of our youth.

We must be close to the same age. My boys are older than your daughter at 21 & 19. As they have grown, I have seen all sides of their generation – the good, the bad, the ugly, and the potential.

Like one of your other readers, I do not remember being sheltered. I remember quite a bit of activism. I also grew up in a city – DC.

My schools, my friends, and my family were actively involved in Woman’s Rights, Conservation, and public/community service. We participated in Earth Day activities, we marched for No Nukes, we were standing outside of the Supreme Court when Roe vs. Wade was handed down.

We live in a rural area now, and it has been a struggle to keep my sons aware of their place in the world and their responsibilities to not just preserve it, but to make it better.

So, I share your optimism and hope in our youth. Their turn to make great change is coming. Just don’t forget the great things that our generation has done, or those before us

I remember Iron Eyes too. He resonated with me for some reason- probably because my father had once told me we had some slim trace of American Indian blood in the family history, though I believe he was just messing with my head again. (He also said I was related to Andrew Jackson- which I am NOT!) Maybe it was because I spent all the time I could outside, preferably fishing, and just felt “it” somehow in the message. I dunno.

My daughter is only 7 years old and just outside that 2000 window, but she still fits pretty well. Recycling is a must here. And her hippie-fueled school teaches conflict resolution beginning at 1st grade. She was in a special “children of divorce” group last school year… she loved it. But then again, she’s a Gemini and the child of two (TWO!) Pisces parents. Poor thing.

These kids WILL change the world- for better or for worse. They will. They are so smart and connected and spend so much time thinking of these things and sharing ideas to form their sense of greater community. I envy them in many ways.

Global warming be damned! Let the snow fall!

But on my own childhood and your comment about being the 4th brady sister. That’s impossible, you would have had to have been the fifth! I was the 4th one. I could have been a Partridge family sister in the band too but I knew I was just not musically inclined so I resigned myself to the cool brady kids. I think I would have ended up kissing either Peter or Bobby behind the scenes like Marcia kissed Greg.

Thanks for the memories and the insight.

My only memory of TV-related rebellion was that my mom refused to let us watch Hogan’s Heroes in the fear that we’d grow up thinking of the Nazis as a bunch of wacky cut-ups. Naturally, we watched the show in secret, my finger nervously on the change-channel button while I waited for the sound of my mother’s footfalls on the steps. To this day when I hear the Hogan theme music, I experience a sudden sense memory and the unsettling sensation that I’m doing something I’m not supposed to.

But one positive, vaguely socially insightful experience I also recall with a strong sense of purpose was the Schoolhouse Rock shorts, most of which were simply educational, but a few of which had political messages as well.