Saturday, November 14, 2009

How Lucky Are You ?

Couldn't help but notice the small but noticeable changes in the lifestyle of people from this generation and previous generation.


Food...
Past
: Every year Muslims around the world will fast during the month of Ramadhan. But it doesn't really apply to younger kids. So technically they still have to eat. Moms (or dads) would be living their lives like normal; cooking all their usual meals, including lunch for the kids. Tough work but hey their kids gotta eat.

Parents used to scare their kids of the dangers of fast food and candy and junk food. It's just plain normal to hear parents go "If you eat that candy your teeth is gonna rot bla bla bla.." or "Do you know what kinda preservatives are in those food?" and kids would actually listen and eat home-cooked meals (I guess not all cases).


Present : Nowadays people rather go out and save the hours of their time sweating in the kitchen preparing food and goes to the first fast food restaurant they see and shove their kids with all kinds of crap. I literally see like probably 80% - 90% of the Muslim families going into a fast food restaurant and buying porridge (you know which fast food is this I think) for their little kids. Fries, soft drinks, etc. at such a young age... that just can't be good for health.


Invasion of strollers
Past : As far as I recall when I was young, I've never seen a stroller in my house. Not even one. I guess most parents during those days prefer to be somewhat closer to their kids by carrying their kids. I am just throwing that out but seriously, there was less strollers around shopping complexes last time.

Present : If you don't see strollers around, it's not a shopping complex. Period. Nowadays I just have to avoid them. Babies crying their lungs out and parents and chatting away without noticing them. Kids crying for attention, calling to their parents only to be address by a "Yes dear ?" but none of the eye contact or any further action until probably the kid did something really bad to catch their attention.

It burns...
Past
: I am not too sure about this but I've rarely seen people running to take cover from the sun that much last time. I mean sure, there is the hot afternoon sun that you might technically want to avoid, but some people might just ignore that. Like me ? I remember playing in the sun a lot. Pretty dark (even though my ex-schoolmate claimed I was fair) to even see clearly the ring of fair skin on my left wrist where I wore my watch. And I didn't carry no water bottle around!

Present : Probably a new trend of some sort. I notice that even guys run for every little shade (tree, leaf, branch, corridor, you name it) their can find when they walk around. And sometimes it's just the nice warm morning sun! Come on, it can't be that bad. I think we were made to be more durable than this. I doubt we can get skin cancer or something that easily. And what is with this new trend of carrying water bottle around ? Nowadays I see lots of people carrying a small bottle of water around and in some serious cases, those huge 1.5 litre bottles or those 8-glass-of-water bottles. Might be wrong again but maybe this came from the Western world? Never seen people done this in the past except in TV once in a while.


The need to be clean...
Past
: I remember when I was a kid I used to play around with dirt a lot. There was nothing wrong with catching worms from the freshly dug up dirt, touching toads, touching fish, digging up a freaking large hole on the ground that my mom would start scolding me. And except for the occasional yearly flu or fever or cold I rarely was sick. Weird ain't it?

Present : Parents get so upset and panic when their kid even touches dirt or some bugs. I mean come on, its fine as long as you wash their hands afterward and the thing they touch is not poisonous or something. Yet I think I notice more kids are getting sick these days compared to the past. Could be a weird but I think they are starting to lack exposure to small but frequent germs and bacterias that gives them the immunity that they need to not get sick so often.

Or maybe it could just be the media that is freaking everyone out. I remember that we used to have meals where if there is 5 people at the table there would just be 5 sets of fork and spoons. Nowadays my dad is so hyped out about the health issue thing like don't share fork and spoon or bodily fluid thing, our table would be full of spoons ... for the people at the table and EACH dishes. A little annoying but I can live with it. I remember going out to eat with a bunch of colleagues where we would be calling dishes and what not and this particular guy would go through the ritual of cleaning everything with hot water, and when the dishes arrive he would place a spoon and a chopstick for each of the dishes. ANNOYED level MAX!

I guess that is enough ramblings for the day. Caffeine level running low just in time for my sleep.

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