A Generation of Wimps?

rph3664 · Dec 18, 2007

Yeah, well, my parents took us to a pediatric dentist who did fillings and extractions without painkillers (I now realize that he probably injected me with plain water) and when we protested, we were told that pain builds character and that when they were growing up, children were always obedient to their parents and didn't question any decisions that were made for them.

You would see handicapped kids in the waiting room - kids with Down Syndrome, in wheelchairs, that kind of thing - and I know now that he put out the word that he wanted to work on them, not out of the goodness of his heart but so he could hurt them and they couldn't tell their parents.

When it was learned that I needed braces, they had to be done over TWICE because my parents had this dentist do them rather than send me to an orthodontist and maybe have people think my mom had a job. You see, in their minds, the only reason people put braces on their kids' teeth was so working mothers could show off how much money they had to throw around. I also got a stern lecture about how I was stealing food off the plates of my younger brother and sister, and "nobody did this when we were growing up." In grade school, I was actually prohibited from playing with children who had braces or a sibling with them. :confused:

When my sister had the same complex problem a few years later, guess what? She got it done right the first time. :angryfire

This dentist later lost his license for molesting patients. No big surprise.

I have tried to get my parents to tell me why they did this, and all they will say is "We're sorry." Baloney. They're just sorry that I don't visit them much, and they know that if they ever have to go to a nursing home.....you can guess the rest.

I honestly think some parents (okay, mothers) take their kids to the doctor just to have something to do, besides endlessly jabber on their cell phones. And don't get me started on the ones who insist on ADD meds when all the kid needs is some rules, or better yet, children who have no behavior problems at all but the parents think this will make them perfect! This makes things much harder for people who really do have ADD/ADHD.

StacieRN, RN · Dec 19, 2007

On a related note, does it irk anyone else that everyone expects a doctor's note? My boss wanted a note if I missed three days. Excuse me, I am NOT going to a doctor for the flu, a cold or sinusitis.

My child's school nurse sent him home and wouldn't let him back w/o a doctor's note when he had hay fever in his eyes (she insisted it was pinkeye even though I assured her otherwise) Of course I was right. one doctor co-pay later. (a school nurse who can't tell pink-eye???)

His work place insisted on a doctor note because he had ringworm on his arm. Even though I assured them that the risk of transmission was very low and even non-existent when he had it covered and it was already drying.

I've even had to tell physicians that I didn't want any antibiotics for my child because the symptoms indicated a virus instead of bacterial infection. I guess he was used to moms who insisted on a RX.

They're training people to be wimps!!!

What's up with everyone's common sense???

farmerRN · Dec 19, 2007

Common sense is dead...died somewhere in the 1970s my grandma says.

And I will have to say it is not only us gen-x's and younger are whips...but I will throw the baby boomers in there too. The only difference they tend not to have the oscar worthy performances than the younger crowd.

Alot of the whimpy-ness comes from the fact people don't want to be sick anymore. Everyone thinks they need antibiotics or there is some pill out there to take away everything. It does not help when the media helps create hysterias that are not warranted or the inaccuracy of medical shows. Remember the peanut butter scare earlier this year!!!!

And the reason why there is so much ADD...because parents are no longer parents...they want to be the kids "friend". Growing up my brother, sister, and I knew when are parents were p***ed off when we did something wrong. And yes...we were even spanked!!

Today...if a parent does try to act like a parent...they get a visit from the police or social services. Too many "experts" out there giving bad advice.

janettalinda · Dec 19, 2007

OK so they tell me you know you're over the hill when you start complaining about the younger generation. Well then, I guess that makes me over the hill. We grew up 30 miles from nearest hospital so you can bet we didn't run to the ER for every little injury or stomach ache. We were tough, worked hard, played hard, fell off a horse and got back on. But in defense of young mothers, if you don't get a sprained finger Xrayed nowadays the school will call CPS.

rn/writer, RN · Dec 19, 2007

Battle cry of wimps everywhere--"I'm not like other people; pain hurts me."

FireStarterRN, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2007

I do run into some pretty whiny oldsters, incidentally. Some old folks are totally fixated on their health problems and all their surgeries, and every conversation ends up somehow diverted on to that topic. They even do it when they visit someone else in the hospital. You go in the room and the wife of the patient starts telling you all the interesting details of her own health history.

scattycarrot, BSN, RN · Dec 19, 2007

I do run into some pretty whiny oldsters, incidentally. Some old folks are totally fixated on their health problems and all their surgeries, and every conversation ends up somehow diverted on to that topic. They even do it when they visit someone else in the hospital. You go in the room and the wife of the patient starts telling you all the interesting details of her own health history.

Or their bowel habits! Seriously, if your not a patient I don't care when you last took a poop! And I especially don't care what color it was!

rph3664 · Dec 19, 2007

I do run into some pretty whiny oldsters, incidentally. Some old folks are totally fixated on their health problems and all their surgeries, and every conversation ends up somehow diverted on to that topic. They even do it when they visit someone else in the hospital. You go in the room and the wife of the patient starts telling you all the interesting details of her own health history.

Yes, especially their bowel function like the next poster.

I've worked with the public since I was a teenager in the late 1970s, and I have ALWAYS found that seniors are the biggest troublemakers. Where do you think younger people learn how to act, anyway? And when I worked in retail pharmacy, the people who complained the most about the cost of their meds were basically healthy people who probably have a million dollars stuffed ini a mattress somewhere.

Meanwhile, the people who are seriously ill and must struggle to pay for needed meds rarely complain. Strange, but true. Probably the most grateful customer I saw in my last job was a woman who would have to pay cash for her husband's thalidomide due to a glitch in their insurance. She was so happy we actually had the medication, she did not mind writing out that check for $1,400. Another pharmacist told me she would be reimbursed 100%, but still......some people could have taken a lesson from her.

janettalinda · Dec 19, 2007

This is pretty funny, we are all complaining about the younger generation and the older generation, but our own generation is, of cours, perfect. I include myself here. I'm not complaining, only amused.

Uptoherern, RN · Dec 20, 2007

i find that older people actually think about that stupid 1-10 pain scale, and then will report a pain level of 2 or 3. Younger people don't even take the time to think about it and will exclaim "20!"

Since when is vomiting x 1 hour an emergency? Or back pain x 2 wks? People ARE wimps, and they are in my er. Call your damn pcp, get an appointment, follow thru. If I was vomiting for an hour the LAST thing I would want to do is get dressed and drive to the ER. Puhlease.

BabyRN2Be · Dec 20, 2007

I've noticed that these days "natural childbirth" = lady partsl birth with an epidural. Whatever happened to Lamaze and going without drugs?

This reminds me of a labor patient a while back. I was working for the hospital as a volunteer doula. They called me in as this pt was particularly "high maintenance" (read: on the call light every 5 minutes and screaming so hard the entire floor could hear). She couldn't have an epidural because she didn't want to get into the position for an epidural, so, she went through labor on a boatload of Stadol. She reached the max for Stadol, was so out of it yet kept asking for more.

All the while her mother was saying "Oh wow! It's just amazing that she's doing this all natural without an epidural!"

I really had to bite my tongue on that one. That poor kiddo was so limp at birth. Very sad.

SDS_RN, RN · Dec 21, 2007

I have just recently started in the ER and oh lord some of these people are just crazy. I have only been in the ER for not quite 2mo now and I have seen the same family come in at least 4 times for minor things that could have waited until the clinic opened up in the am. But of course they wait until 1-2 am and then decide that they just can't take it anymore so the whole family loads up and comes to us for a few hour visit only to get sent home & f/u w/ their doc in the am. We've had people come in& say that they are constipated but they just had a BM that day. What??????? W/ our society everybody is looking for a quick fix. If the clinic is not open well let's just go the ER pay a ridiculous amount of money so we can feel better faster.