Dennis Prager Show - Is Fear Controlling Your Life?
Aired: 2021-10-29
Duration: 04:44


=== Would You Change Anything? (02:20) ===

[00:00:00]  And it's really troubling to observe.
[00:00:05]  Boy, is that true.
[00:00:08]  I hate to put this to you, but I will, nevertheless.
[00:00:13]  And it's only meant for good, obviously.
[00:00:17]  But if you had to do the raising of them over again, what would you change, if anything?
[00:00:24]  Well, that's a really good question.
[00:00:28]  I don't think I would change much, frankly.
[00:00:31]  The old days, without the internet, without the phones, we weren't afforded the self-indulgent luxuries that the modern child has.
[00:00:42]  We just didn't have options.
[00:00:45]  And kids today have options, so I probably wouldn't have changed anything.
[00:00:50]  You and I have chatted about my daughter that graduated from KU, and you admonished me for sending her to college four or five years ago.
[00:00:58]  And I think my comeback to you is until Medtronic hires a salesperson without a college degree, what is one to do?
[00:01:06]  Right, right, right, right.
[00:01:10]  That's a good discussion, and I thank you for the call.
[00:01:17]  By the way, I used cuddled.
[00:01:19]  It should be cuddled, I think.
[00:01:21]  The word is cuddled.
[00:01:22]  That's what I meant earlier.
[00:01:25]  Sean, could you put down...
[00:01:27]  I want to actually have a subject for an hour.
[00:01:35]  If you could raise your kids over, what would you change?
[00:01:39]  I think that would be a very compelling topic.
[00:01:45]  It doesn't have to be...
[00:01:50]  A happiness hour or even an ultimate issues hour, but I'd like to do it.
[00:01:59]  And so all of you should think about it in preparation for that show.
[00:02:03]  Okay, all, and Monica, Sandy, Oregon.

=== Over-Coddling Due to Medical Fears (02:38) ===

[00:02:11]  Hi, Dennis.
[00:02:12]  Thank you so much.
[00:02:13]  I'm grateful to you for all you are and all you do.
[00:02:16]  Thank you.
[00:02:18]  Oh, you are so welcome.
[00:02:19]  Okay, a couple things.
[00:02:20]  I totally agree with what the gentleman said in the prior call.
[00:02:26]  I don't have fear for myself, necessarily, nor my husband, because we're both not really fearful people, but my anxiety and fears go with my child.
[00:02:38]  Again, in our current day in society, it's hard to avoid that.
[00:02:43]  I do think, because she was my only child, she had some medical issues when she was younger, so that led me on this kind of probably over-coddling quality.
[00:02:53]  The other issue, however, is that when I was young, my parents, like you had mentioned about your parents earlier, were rather unfazed about where we were, what we did, all six of my...
[00:03:06]  Five of my siblings and I talk about that frequently, that we lived in a very free way.
[00:03:12]  And so we kind of grew up that way.
[00:03:15]  I grew up with, of course, my own set of irrational, irrational fears here and there.
[00:03:19]  But when I was in high school, I was on a bus going from or to my high school, which was kind of down in what you would consider the ghetto of St. Paul, Minnesota.
[00:03:29]  And I remember sitting there passing a billboard, a big billboard that said, I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees.
[00:03:40]  It's fascinating that you remember that, that it made such an impression on you.
[00:03:44]  Like a punch into the chest.
[00:03:46]  Yes, for good reason.
[00:03:48]  It is a great line.
[00:03:49]  I'm familiar with it.
[00:03:50]  I don't know who came up with it, but it is great.
[00:03:53]  So here's another insight based on this call.
[00:03:57]  You know, whenever I get calls from Sandy, Oregon, some things just come to my mind.
[00:04:07]  I wonder how many of you noted that Monica has one child and that this daughter had medical conditions, so she has a lot of fears and coddled the child as a result.
[00:04:23]  She said that.
[00:04:25]  Whereas she grew up with five siblings, I think that's correct.
[00:04:31]  Maybe that's another factor in the coddling.
[00:04:36]  of young Americans because you can't cuddle six kids.
[00:04:41]  You can one or two.