Common Sense Drought

I live in California, and unless you live under a rock... and you may... no judgement.. I guess... LOL I am kidding! You have heard about our drought for about 4 years now, our fires made worse by the aforementioned drought, earthquakes and our liberal government... Yipee!!! I swear sometimes if my whole family didn't live hear I might jump ship, but I do have to admit, 2 hours to the ocean, 2 hours to the mountains... kind of hard to beat.

Honestly every year, I keep praying for rain just to stop hearing the word drought, as if we as humans have caused this huge weather phenomenon, and the farce of global warming.  Don't get me wrong, yes I admit we are in a drought, and yes maybe just maybe the earth is warming, but I hardly believe that we are the sole blame for that, I mean what the heck did the dinosaurs do to cause the ice age and it's subsequent thaw and warming to today's weather? The last time I checked there were no prius' or hybrids around to save the day. No laws on when people can't have a flipping fire in their own home, or use a dang barbeque like they are trying to pass.  Weather is cyclical, weather patterns, warming, cooling all cyclical.  Unfortunately the type of drought I worry about more, is the common sense drought.

Gone are the days of personal responsibility, learning from mistakes, learning street smarts and life lessons.  All this coddling going on by parents, all this legislation, only does one thing, it eliminates common sense growth.  Really it's insane, and I am afraid this common sense drought is not cyclical.

I was washing my car the other day... or shall I say having it washed, giving me time to ponder. Washing your car is like the proverbial rain dance right?  Maybe if people washed their cars more it would rain more... Smart??? No it's stupid. Yet somewhere someone would so believe it and soooo do it.  We have the government trying to legislate our every move, is just them showing us, their lack of common sense.  Let's ban guns, guns kill people... Noooo people kill people, and legislating evil away is impossible, although believe me these self-righteous overzealous politicians are gonna try.... Common sense drought. We remove guns from the law abiding which has no impact on those who go about life, not just an act, but life illegally. They will get their weapons, and do more damage as the law abiding are defenseless.. Common sense drought.

This Common Sense Drought (yes I am capitalizing it because I am pretty sure I have just coined a phrase I will be famous for... or not, lol) has been going on for a lot longer than the 4 years or so California has seen below average rainfall.  You listen to these politicians, these news reporters and they act like we will never see a drop of rain again, they act like everyone with a gun will kill someone. They act like these laws will have impact.... Fear, government reliance, Common Sense Drought.

I really think that this all started when people started to for a lack of a better term, coddle their kids.  They stopped teaching them responsibility, they stopped allowing them to learn lessons the hard way while being there to support them through it.  Instead, they form this barrier, they bubble wrap their kids, they refuse for them to have to suffer consequences from their actions, regardless of how minor or how major. They don't allow them to fail, then build them back up.  This force field they have built up, doesn't teach their children to be strong and independent thinkers.  They grow to believe that others know what is best for them. It starts with believing their parents know best, which as they are children we do, but then they need to learn independence and run their own lives. Instead these coddled force field protected children, once adults they listen to the government and follow their lead, without question.  As adults, these children take their legislations, they rely on it, as if it is gospel. They begin turning in their neighbors for watering on the wrong days, or having a fire on a cold night. Really?  That is a scary scary trend my friends.  It reminds me of stories of communist Russian, or Nazi Germany.  It starts small and somewhat innocuous, until the common sense is replaced by government reliance. 

We need to pull back the parenting bubble wrap. We need to allow our kids to learn lessons, not because we do not care, but because WE DO!!! We are strengthening, supporting, and making resilient adults who can weather storms, not be broken by them.  That is parenting, that is really protecting them, teaching them how to protect themselves. How to be strong for themselves, not due to others or the government, which is a common sense black hole.