What is it with women in these home renovation shows who need to be able to see their kids playing in another room while they're in the kitchen? Generations of kids grew up just fine not having mommy watching their every move. 

Heck, there were hours at a time my mom didn't see me or my siblings because we were down at the park or riding our bikes around the neighborhood or in the backyard building forts. Also, my mom didn't live in the kitchen. She was a stay-at-home mom until after me and my sister left home and it was just my brother, but she was always busy doing her chores plus stuff we were too young to do and my stepdad didn't have time for because as a UPS driver he was gone most of the day.

It's something that just drives me nuts, the whole helicopter parent thing. But I also never wanted kids so there is that. 

Let's spend five grand to remove a load bearing wall and put up a beam so I can watch from the kitchen while little Suzy and little Johnny play on their iPads! And just to let them know they're super special I'll cheer them on.  

No wonder kids are growing up so needy and codependent.

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What is it with women in these home renovation shows who need to be able to see their kids playing in another room while they're in the kitchen? Generations of kids grew up just fine not having mommy watching their every move. 

Heck, there were hours at a time my mom didn't see me or my siblings because we were down at the park or riding our bikes around the neighborhood or in the backyard building forts. Also, my mom didn't live in the kitchen. She was a stay-at-home mom until after me and my sister left home and it was just my brother, but she was always busy doing her chores plus stuff we were too young to do and my stepdad didn't have time for because as a UPS driver he was gone most of the day.

It's something that just drives me nuts, the whole helicopter parent thing. But I also never wanted kids so there is that. 

Let's spend five grand to remove a load bearing wall and put up a beam so I can watch from the kitchen while little Suzy and little Johnny play on their iPads! And just to let them know they're super special I'll cheer them on.  

No wonder kids are growing up so needy and codependent.

If you raise your kids, you spoil your grandkids..

If you spoil your kids, you raise your grandkids..

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I did happen to break my arm while my mom cooked dinner when I was 5 maybe 6.  I wasn’t in school at the time.  I also tried to hide it from them.  I didn’t want to get in trouble.  Dr’s almost called the authorities because I wouldn’t say how I did it.  Funny now, but, I’m sure not to my parents at the time.

But I’m sure that’s not the norm.  I’d want an open-ish floor plan.  Sure, to keep eye out.  But I do like being able to turn on the RV while I cook sometimes.

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This new style in men's suits that look like they're two sizes too small. I don't get it.

Ugh! TV not RV. In 2021 autocorrect is changing TV of all things to something that gets you out of a house?? Add that to the trivial annoyances.

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What is it with women in these home renovation shows who need to be able to see their kids playing in another room while they're in the kitchen? Generations of kids grew up just fine not having mommy watching their every move. 

Heck, there were hours at a time my mom didn't see me or my siblings because we were down at the park or riding our bikes around the neighborhood or in the backyard building forts. Also, my mom didn't live in the kitchen. She was a stay-at-home mom until after me and my sister left home and it was just my brother, but she was always busy doing her chores plus stuff we were too young to do and my stepdad didn't have time for because as a UPS driver he was gone most of the day.

It's something that just drives me nuts, the whole helicopter parent thing. But I also never wanted kids so there is that. 

Let's spend five grand to remove a load bearing wall and put up a beam so I can watch from the kitchen while little Suzy and little Johnny play on their iPads! And just to let them know they're super special I'll cheer them on.  

No wonder kids are growing up so needy and codependent.

If you raise your kids, you spoil your grandkids..

If you spoil your kids, you raise your grandkids..

Very much true.  My siblings and I were raised during the time that an [BLEEP] whooping was given by an adult whether it was your parents or school.  I "got the paddle" a few times from the principal at my elementary school and it corrected me for sure.

Our children were raised in a "strict" household in that they were respectful to adults, did what they were supposed to do (chores) and had to "work" for what they got.  They got spanked when they needed it and also got the love when they needed it.

Today I have 3 grandchildren that I get to spoil and their parents hate me for it.  I get to spoil the grandkids then send them home with their parents do deal with.  

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

If you raise your kids, you spoil your grandkids..

If you spoil your kids, you raise your grandkids..

Very much true.  My siblings and I were raised during the time that an [BLEEP] whooping was given by an adult whether it was your parents or school.  I "got the paddle" a few times from the principal at my elementary school and it corrected me for sure.

Our children were raised in a "strict" household in that they were respectful to adults, did what they were supposed to do (chores) and had to "work" for what they got.  They got spanked when they needed it and also got the love when they needed it.

Today I have 3 grandchildren that I get to spoil and their parents hate me for it.  I get to spoil the grandkids then send them home with their parents do deal with.  

Yeah, unfortunately now parents want to be the one doing the spoiling...it’s all about getting the head pats for being awesome. I know people that didn’t do “Santa” when their kids were young because they wanted to get the credit for all the gifts. 

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What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoin' on here???

I did happen to break my arm while my mom cooked dinner when I was 5 maybe 6.  I wasn’t in school at the time.  I also tried to hide it from them.  I didn’t want to get in trouble.  Dr’s almost called the authorities because I wouldn’t say how I did it.  Funny now, but, I’m sure not to my parents at the time.

This may have nothing to do with anything, but I'll throw it out there as an interesting anecdote.  When I was 7 I actually had almost all of the hair burned off of my head.  I was running around the corner to get a new toy to show my grandmother and ran into my sister who was holding a pot of water that had just boiled on the stove.  They weren't sure if my hair would ever grow back and I was walking around with my head bandaged for weeks..

Oddly, I'm the only one of five male siblings that still has all (or the majority of) his hair.

Is there a lesson in there?  Probably not.

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Ouch.

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What is it with women in these home renovation shows who need to be able to see their kids playing in another room while they're in the kitchen? Generations of kids grew up just fine not having mommy watching their every move. 

Heck, there were hours at a time my mom didn't see me or my siblings because we were down at the park or riding our bikes around the neighborhood or in the backyard building forts. Also, my mom didn't live in the kitchen. She was a stay-at-home mom until after me and my sister left home and it was just my brother, but she was always busy doing her chores plus stuff we were too young to do and my stepdad didn't have time for because as a UPS driver he was gone most of the day.

It's something that just drives me nuts, the whole helicopter parent thing. But I also never wanted kids so there is that. 

Let's spend five grand to remove a load bearing wall and put up a beam so I can watch from the kitchen while little Suzy and little Johnny play on their iPads! And just to let them know they're super special I'll cheer them on.  

No wonder kids are growing up so needy and codependent.

Our home is what you would call open floorplan. No walls between entryway, living, dining and kitchen. Very nice for open space, especially when entertaining (remember when people used to do that?) but the big trade off is that there is no isolation. When one kid is at the dining table working on math problems, the other can't sit on the couch and watch a show without it being a distraction. When wifey is rinsing a bowl, the sink drowns out the stereo. 

Our kids fight like cats and dogs, and for a while we had issues of tiptoeing along boundaries, so the open floorplan helped to keep an eye while we prepared food. We looked at a house in the neighborhood that was the exact same design, but the previous owners installed cabinets over the kitchen counter between the kitchen and dining, and it was remarkable how claustrophobic it made the kitchen seem, and visibility was drastically reduced.

I get what you are saying, there's no way I'd spend a fortune to overhaul the floorplan, especially if it was just to watch kids sit in a chair and read. I think a lot of those shows do those kind of improvements on purpose though - how exciting would a home improvement show be if the entirety of the improvements were just "slap a new coat of paint on the walls and rip up the shag carpeting"?

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Ouch.

It's only a flesh wound...

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If you raise your kids, you spoil your grandkids..

If you spoil your kids, you raise your grandkids..

Very much true.  My siblings and I were raised during the time that an [BLEEP] whooping was given by an adult whether it was your parents or school.  I "got the paddle" a few times from the principal at my elementary school and it corrected me for sure.

Our children were raised in a "strict" household in that they were respectful to adults, did what they were supposed to do (chores) and had to "work" for what they got.  They got spanked when they needed it and also got the love when they needed it.

Today I have 3 grandchildren that I get to spoil and their parents hate me for it.  I get to spoil the grandkids then send them home with their parents do deal with.  

We raise ours that way too, but they are too stubborn to change their ways. The fun thing? The grandparents recently moved nearby, and while they thought they could get away with their craptastic behavior, gramma whooped em too!

Good job, gramma! That certainly got their attention.

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Very much true.  My siblings and I were raised during the time that an [BLEEP] whooping was given by an adult whether it was your parents or school.  I "got the paddle" a few times from the principal at my elementary school and it corrected me for sure.

Our children were raised in a "strict" household in that they were respectful to adults, did what they were supposed to do (chores) and had to "work" for what they got.  They got spanked when they needed it and also got the love when they needed it.

Today I have 3 grandchildren that I get to spoil and their parents hate me for it.  I get to spoil the grandkids then send them home with their parents do deal with.  

We raise ours that way too, but they are too stubborn to change their ways. The fun thing? The grandparents recently moved nearby, and while they thought they could get away with their craptastic behavior, gramma whooped em too!

Good job, gramma! That certainly got their attention.

You can only reason (or threaten) little kids so long.  I'm sorry, but that 'time out' [BLEEP] doesn't do anything.  I maybe had to pop youngest on the butt maybe twice and I know I only did it to my oldest once.  And they were extremely well behaved especially compared to the lunacy I see when I go out for dinner nowadays and kids are running rampant in the restaurant.  And the idea of parenting now is to turn your kids into vegetables by putting them in front of a video game or cell phome?

I could go on and on about this.  It's one of mine and my wife's favorite subjects.  But I'll stop there.

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I'll tell you what is really starting to piss me off, and it's not necessarily trivial. None of my doctors or their staff seem to think it's important to send my medical records to my new physicians, even though I have filled out the proper releases and made multiple requests. It's not like it's even the same doctor. Nobody, and I mean literally nobody has sent my medical records yet and I've been trying to get them since [BLEEP] October.

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What is it with women in these home renovation shows who need to be able to see their kids playing in another room while they're in the kitchen? Generations of kids grew up just fine not having mommy watching their every move. 

Heck, there were hours at a time my mom didn't see me or my siblings because we were down at the park or riding our bikes around the neighborhood or in the backyard building forts. Also, my mom didn't live in the kitchen. She was a stay-at-home mom until after me and my sister left home and it was just my brother, but she was always busy doing her chores plus stuff we were too young to do and my stepdad didn't have time for because as a UPS driver he was gone most of the day.

It's something that just drives me nuts, the whole helicopter parent thing. But I also never wanted kids so there is that. 

Let's spend five grand to remove a load bearing wall and put up a beam so I can watch from the kitchen while little Suzy and little Johnny play on their iPads! And just to let them know they're super special I'll cheer them on.  

No wonder kids are growing up so needy and codependent.

Our home is what you would call open floorplan. No walls between entryway, living, dining and kitchen. Very nice for open space, especially when entertaining (remember when people used to do that?) but the big trade off is that there is no isolation. When one kid is at the dining table working on math problems, the other can't sit on the couch and watch a show without it being a distraction. When wifey is rinsing a bowl, the sink drowns out the stereo. 

Our kids fight like cats and dogs, and for a while we had issues of tiptoeing along boundaries, so the open floorplan helped to keep an eye while we prepared food. We looked at a house in the neighborhood that was the exact same design, but the previous owners installed cabinets over the kitchen counter between the kitchen and dining, and it was remarkable how claustrophobic it made the kitchen seem, and visibility was drastically reduced.

I get what you are saying, there's no way I'd spend a fortune to overhaul the floorplan, especially if it was just to watch kids sit in a chair and read. I think a lot of those shows do those kind of improvements on purpose though - how exciting would a home improvement show be if the entirety of the improvements were just "slap a new coat of paint on the walls and rip up the shag carpeting"?

My husband and I are not entertainers at all. Lol. I like the open floor plan for sure, but I'm not spending $100K to renovate my house to get it. That's what the couple who spawned my rant spent on a new kitchen/dining/living area. Maybe $8K went toward a much needed new roof but the rest was reno budget. $22K on kitchen cabinets alone and there weren't a boatload of them. That makes no sense to me, but I'm a simple girl. Lol. 

My favorite home improvement show is This Old House. You can learn a lot from those guys.

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Ouch.

It's only a flesh wound...

+1 for the Monty Python reference!  

Just watch out for the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.  That’ll [BLEEP] your [BLEEP] up.   Along with bunnies. Uh oh, bunny... watch out!!

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Not so much an annoyance rather than a curiosity. People sitting at a red light in one lane and the light turns green as you approach in the next lane over. Happy you don't have to come to a stop, you begin to accelerate a little only to see the fool in the other car practically floor it to beat you out of the light. It's like a race for them.

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Not so much an annoyance rather than a curiosity. People sitting at a red light in one lane and the light turns green as you approach in the next lane over. Happy you don't have to come to a stop, you begin to accelerate a little only to see the fool in the other car practically floor it to beat you out of the light. It's like a race for them.

You're just sad that I beat you off the line after I gave you a head start.

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There are 10 kinds of people in this world.  Those who understand binary and those who don't.

Not so much an annoyance rather than a curiosity. People sitting at a red light in one lane and the light turns green as you approach in the next lane over. Happy you don't have to come to a stop, you begin to accelerate a little only to see the fool in the other car practically floor it to beat you out of the light. It's like a race for them.

You're just sad that I beat you off the line after I gave you a head start.

Anything to show off that Biden/Harris bumper sticker, huh? 

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Not so much an annoyance rather than a curiosity. People sitting at a red light in one lane and the light turns green as you approach in the next lane over. Happy you don't have to come to a stop, you begin to accelerate a little only to see the fool in the other car practically floor it to beat you out of the light. It's like a race for them.

You're just sad that I beat you off the line after I gave you a head start.

His ride may be slow, but there's plenty of room for Grandma.

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When you get into the endzone, act like you've been there before.

I’ve gotta side with JIb on this. Every now and then, I’ll throw the truck in sport mode if I’m alone and trailer less. It’s nice to open ‘er up sometimes. Especially when you have a teen in a “fast” car that wants to be a sick. Get beat by the truck. It may not even be about the “other” driver so much a fun spur of the moment challenge. A feel good moment. And I will add this.. if the other lane ends, and I’m in the lane that continues, yeah, if the other guy wants to cut off traffic, game on!

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I’ve gotta side with JIb on this.  Every now and then, I’ll throw the truck in sport mode if I’m alone and trailer less. It’s nice to open ‘er up sometimes.  Especially when you have a teen in a “fast” car that wants to be a sick.  Get beat by the truck.  It may not even be about the “other” driver so much a fun spur of the moment challenge.  A feel good moment. And I will add this.. if the other lane ends, and I’m in the lane that continues,  yeah, if the other guy wants to cut off traffic, game on!

oh man, this gets me every time.

if you are at normal pace, and especially with a signal, I'll slow and let you merge in. If they gun it expecting everyone to make room, I am squeezing that [BLEEP] off the road. If I'm feeling particularly [BLEEP], I look in my rear view and chuckle with an occasional wave thrown in for good measure.

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