SYRACUSE POST-STANDARD, Nov. 18, 1976

By Audrey (Kentuckypine)


TIMES SURE HAVE CHANGED in the last decade.
Remember when little girls used to dream of growing
up to become nurses? And boys wanted to be firemen or
policemen? Kids don't dream of those occupations anymore.

The girls want to become the star, quarterback for a
professional football team, and the boys want to become
hairdressers or dress designers.

Now, I realize that's a rather broad statement, generalizing
maybe more than I should, but you've got to
admit, things ain't like they used to be.
And who can we blame? This is the age of "do your
own thing." And the minute a kid makes an effort to
"do his or her own thing," we're on their backs trying
to tell them they're nuts.

WELL, MAYBE THEY ARE . . . and again, maybe,
they're not. Very often I feel myself contemplating the
future of my beasties; wondering what will happen 15 or
20 years from now.

At the moment, J. R. says he wants to be a cop. Not
just "a" cop, but one like Barretta, who has his own
show and a trained cockatoo.

Tracy is trying to decide between carpenter and electrician
and, if he blows one more fuse in this house with
his "repairing" of radios and lamps, the choice will be
an easy one for him.

Tina is torn between being a veterinarian, a professional
basketball player, a pilot, and a commercial artist.
Somehow, I see her as the first woman president.
She has all the qualifications, loves to spend money,
gives orders well, has a working relationship with most
other members of the family, but will not hesitate a
moment to exercise a veto if things don't go the way
that she thinks they should.

MICKEY - WELL, SHE'S STILL A LITTLE YOUNG
and it's hard to tell what direction her life will take her
At this stage, however, I would think she'd make an excellent traveling salesperson. Since she is her daddy's
shadow, she has been to as many grocery stores, banks
and other places of business as has any adult. She certainly
isn't shy, and her mouth is in constant motion.

Whatever they decide to be — it will be their decisions
— I only hope to provide a guiding hand. All I ask
is that they make enough money to send me on my
longed for trip to Hawaii. Like I said, I will offer only a guiding hand, which may or may not be placed upon one's backside if he is not a doctor or lawyer, of if she is not a-senator or a professor.