Priorities Change from Kid to Kid

It's amazing what kids call a priority. My kids started school after Labor Day. I talked to them all on the phone at the end of the first day and they all had a different perception of how the day went.
My youngest, a fifth grader at the time, when asked how her day was, replied, "I LIKE my teacher" with a puppy love sound in her voice. She volunteered to be the teacher's helper before school each day. This school year promises to be a good one for her.
My oldest, a sophomore boy, said, "I have a class with 31 girls and no boys." He almost sounded like that was a bad thing. I asked which class that was and he told me it was a childhood development and parenting class. He wondered why there were no boys, saying, "I guess boys aren't parents?" That's a good question. I imagine the reason is boys aren't dreaming about marriage and having children at this point, while the young ladies are dreaming of their walk down the aisle and having a family.
My freshmen daughter lamented, "There are no hot guys in any of my classes!" I reminded her she doesn't need any, she has a steady. "Moooooom!" was all she could wail. Apparently, I just don't get it.
Anyway, she's got to keep up her studies if she's to be the valedictorian of her class some day. She has always made excellent grades, but is afraid she will be unable to keep them up in high school. (She ended up being fourth in her class of over 250).
Wait a minute, hot guys? Is that how they describe what we used to call a fox? We didn't say, "Oo, he's so hot." We said, "He's such a fox" or "He's so good looking" or "He's so cute!"
If I had been lucky enough to have a steady when I was that age, I would have been ecstatic. I wouldn't have been worrying about anyone else if I had a nice boy to blabber on the phone and go to school ball games with. Kids today expect so much. They perceive that parents somehow owe them all the comforts and luxuries they have.
For example, schools are often let out due to the heat. When I went to school, we didn't have air conditioning, but we stayed in school and ran fans. My kids have an air-conditioned house to go to after school but don't realize it's a luxury--one that some cannot afford.
Their TVs, stereos and telephone privileges are taken for granted. We "owe" them those things. There's too much "keeping up with the Joneses" in our society. We're mean if we give them rules and telephone limits. I so wish to have a halfway clean house, but it seems to be pretty taxing for them to carry a dish to the sink from their room or the living room. And boy, they really do live in that room.
My desire is for them to realize what they have. They have loving parents, an air-conditioned house in summer, pets they love, siblings they hate, they are allowed freedom to go with their friends, they have looks, intelligence and wonderful senses of humor--the list could go on and on. My freshman daughter even had a job working in a daycare all summer, affording her the luxury of spending all her waking hours at the mall, doing her part to keep a strong, healthy local economy.
They don't even have to walk to school like I did, 10 miles, in the snow, uphill…both ways. That might be a slight exaggeration--I had to walk to school in rain, sleet or snow just like the U.S. Postal Service, but it was only about eight blocks and no real hills. My kids rarely have to walk to school.
I continue to try, although I sometimes fall short, to teach the kids what matters. Love, giving, unselfishness, forgiveness, a good work ethic--all those things, among many others, will get them far in life.