You Can Do Anything!

[JSngry]

Edited February 2, 2012 by JSngry

[shaft]

Hilarious!

[Jazzmoose]

I'd love to comment, but the video pretty much says it all...

[Chuck Nessa]

sad

[paul secor]

Reality is more ridiculous than anything SNL could ever hope to do.

[PHILLYQ]

Hilarious with quite a bit of truth to it.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I would say "let's blame the parents" but since my daughters are from this generation, I can say with a straight face that it ain't us!

I think I first noticed something was wrong when our oldest daughter started playing soccer. Her team sucked. I mean really sucked. Among a whole bunch of sucky teams, their team sucked the most. I don't think they won a game. At the end of the year, we started to leave the field when the coach called everyone aside and handed out trophies. Yup. Trophies. I asked him what they were for and he said "It's a participation trophy".

I have tried to keep my daughters above the stupidity. I keep warning them that in real life, there are winners and there are *losers* too. I don't know if a lot of today's kids can handle rejection. The therapists will be making a fortune in the future.

[AllenLowe]

this stuff is great - and let us not forget that the jazz/improvised music world is one of the worst offenders - anyone ever listen to the Wiretapper CD that the Wire issues yearly?

[JETman]

All kids today are spoiled ---- except for mine!

this stuff is great - and let us not forget that the jazz/improvised music world is one of the worst offenders - anyone ever listen to the Wiretapper CD that the Wire issues yearly?

Ain't this the truth!!!!

[jeffcrom]

The throwaway line, "I'm full of unearned confidence!" rings very true to me, as someone who taught public school music for 29 years. I never got used to the percentage of kids who thought they could achieve without effort, and who were totally unable or unwilling to take stock of themselves and their abilities. One year I had a beginning band class on Friday - it was that hectic day when I taught the kids to properly assemble their instruments and make a sound. (I taught all the woodwinds and brass in one large class.) That's all we did that day - make one sound. No instruction about notes. On Monday one of the students proudly told me that he had played his saxophone in church the day before. Not only could he not figure out that perhaps he was not ready for that yet, his parents apparently couldn't. I just hope he didn't tell anyone who his teacher was.

Edit: I originally misspelled "abilities." Oh, irony....

Edited February 4, 2012 by jeffcrom

[Dan Gould]

I have no idea how many young adults (and those following them) are royally fucked up by the self-esteem movement but I seriously suspect that Kevin's daughters are very much the exception.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I have no idea how many young adults (and those following them) are royally fucked up by the self-esteem movement but I seriously suspect that Kevin's daughters are very much the exception.

Ha ha! You give me too much credit. My oldest does not take rejection/disappointment well at all. My youngest is much better at it.

Truth be told, I'm still working on them, even when they're 22 & 19.

I hope I put them out into the world in decent shape.

[Jazzmoose]

The throwaway line, "I'm full of unearned confidence!" rings very true to me, as someone who taught public school music for 29 years. I never got used to the percentage of kids who thought they could achieve without effort, and who were totally unable or unwilling to take stock of themselves and their abilites. One year I had a beginning band class on Friday - it was that hectic day when I taught the kids to properly assemble their instruments and make a sound. (I taught all the woodwinds and brass in one large class.) That's all we did that day - make one sound. No instruction about notes. On Monday one of the students proudly told me that he had played his saxophone in church the day before. Not only could he not figure out that perhaps he was not ready for that yet, his parents apparently couldn't. I just hope he didn't tell anyone who his teacher was.

I assume the sermon was based around Matthew 27:46...

[AllenLowe]

when I think of stuff like this I very quietly whisper (because I hope Berigan and Weizen aren't listening) that this is one instance in which the Repubs are right about certain tenets of the Liberal faith.

[Dan Gould]

I have no idea how many young adults (and those following them) are royally fucked up by the self-esteem movement but I seriously suspect that Kevin's daughters are very much the exception.

Ha ha! You give me too much credit. My oldest does not take rejection/disappointment well at all. My youngest is much better at it.

Truth be told, I'm still working on them, even when they're 22 & 19.

I hope I put them out into the world in decent shape.

The important thing Kevin is that you see the foolishness and are doing what you can to prepare your daughters for the real world. Its the parents who reinforce the stupidity whose kids won't have a clue.

when I think of stuff like this I very quietly whisper (because I hope Berigan and Weizen aren't listening) that this is one instance in which the Repubs are right about certain tenets of the Liberal faith.

To borrow a phrase, Lowe is becoming unhinged.

[JSngry]

My kids used to stare bullets at me when I'd tell them that their work was bad, or that it was good, but not as good as they could do, so much so that when I told them that they were both bright enough that with just a littel more effort and foucus they could put out a log better quality of work. Their perrs' parent's always were all "oh, that's GOOD! I know you TRIED!" and they wondered why they couldn't get that at home. Well, becuase I love you and I'm preparing you for live away from home, that's why. You don't do this when they're tiny tots, ya' know, but when they start reaching the age where they start deciding to try to decide things for themselves, that's when you as a parent are called up to start setting expectations of what their best decisions could be. More often than not, they figure it out eventually.

Now, after a period of "settling", my son gets promotions on his jobs, and moves to better jobs every few years, and my daughter steps into every job she gets and distinguishes herself as "the smart one" who is a proactive problem solver. All of a sudden Dad's not a hardass, dad's just "crusty"

By the time they're my age, I'll be A Great Man!

Your children are long-term investments. They're not short-term acquaintances, they're not your buddies, they're not your playmates. They're gifts of life given to you to prepare to move the species along in some form or fashion. That takes work, and work ain't always pretty. But if you do it right, do it with love (lots pf love), and keep it real, the results can be beautiful.

[Noj]

While I found this funny, it actually hits home for me in a not so pleasant way. I have suffered consequences from delusions of grandeur early in life; delusions which were bolstered by the compliments and leniency of authority figures. Tough love and a realistic perspective can't be undervalued.

[Big Wheel]

when I think of stuff like this I very quietly whisper (because I hope Berigan and Weizen aren't listening) that this is one instance in which the Repubs are right about certain tenets of the Liberal faith.

Yeah! Remember the good old days, when treating your kids like worthless dirt came with no costs whatsoever?

Oh, right, me neither.

[A Lark Ascending]

There are still plenty of kids whose problem is being told 'You can't do anything.'

[Jazzmoose]

While I found this funny, it actually hits home for me in a not so pleasant way. I have suffered consequences from delusions of grandeur early in life; delusions which were bolstered by the compliments and leniency of authority figures. Tough love and a realistic perspective can't be undervalued.

I hear you.

[Jim Alfredson]

As Bev points out, it's a balancing act. I was frustrated with Zora about a year ago when she was in my studio and I was trying to show her how to play a simple C major scale (she's 7 and has taken rudimentary keyboard classes in elementary school) and she boldly proclaimed, "I can play piano, dad." And she wouldn't listen to me. And when I tried to get her to repeat what I was showing her, she had no interest.

Then again, she can figure out melodies, like Happy Birthday, by herself at the piano. So what do I do?

I am hard on her when it comes to homework. It's tough because she's so incredibly smart, she gets bored easily. But I make her sit down and do the math, do the problem solving for herself. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth. I can relate, though. I never, ever studied until I got to college. Never. I wrote full papers in mere minutes. I had all A's. I was just smart. Or school was really stupid. It's hard to keep kids like that interested. For me, it was music. I'm not sure what Zora will do yet to keep her sane.

[Neal Pomea]

But the people who need to hear this message will probably reply "Get off my lawn!" or tl;dw (too long, didn't watch). That's what passes for an utterly devastating rebuttal these days!

[Hardbopjazz]

I laughed so hard my side is hurting.

[.:.impossible]

Tune in tonight. Bon Iver will be musical guest, featuring a friend Reggie Pace on trombone and percussion. This band is up for multiple Grammys this year. Justin Vernon is employing some serious talent in Bon Iver.

People seem to be taking notice.

Reggie plays in Fight The Big Bull, Glows In The Dark, NO BS! Brass Band, Etaka, and Bon Iver. Richmond VA is stocked with trombone players, but Reggie is tops.

Good skit.

[JSngry]

There have been a fair number of good skits on SNL last season and this one. And some not so good ones. But I usually watch when practical, which was not the case for quite a while.