the dreaded minivan

They make you cringe. They make you throw up. they make you want to stuff a rag in the gas tank and light a fire, you get the point. As part of the modern parent's effort to encapsulate their children in a permanent safety zone, the mini-van is this era's giant hamster ball wrapped in bubble wrap. whatever happened to the 70s Honeybee Datsun-style cars I had growing up? My sister and I used to toss crap throught the rusted hole in the floor and watch it go by on the road. No child seats. I know that the child seat is one invention that actually makes sense, but with a cup holder for those stupid sippy cups that retard your child's ability to learn how to drink normally? Its all about little baby jimmy never having to learn anything because he is so swaddled in comfort and drowned with junk toys that he doesn't see a wider world go by under the rusted honey bee.

Welcome to 70s Dad

I have agonized for too long, watching parents ruin everything for their kids. I will remain silent no longer. Whether its the aggravatingly modern "parenting by product" which convinces the naif that your child will lose out if they don't have a "wipe warmer," or the fact that parents are essentially re-enrolling with their kids in Kindergarten, because they sorely lack interests of their own, I intend to highlight the abusrdity of it all, while referencing a better era, parenting in the 70s and early eighties. Remember when you had to get up to change the 3 primary channels you had on TV? when you had the ability to freely roam the neighborhood without fear? Fear of parents stalking your every move? when school was your experience, and PTA meetings were an excuse for your parents to smoke cigarettes and gossip instead of plan peanut free outings or talk about using cloth dolls to solve conflict? I used to be able to call up the neighborhood gang on the rotary at will. My daughter has to schedule her "fun" times, in sealed off homes where the kids basiscally live behind electric dog fences. stay tuned for more outbursts from 70s dad.