Eddie Haskell was the exception, not the rule, when I was growing up.

Boy, will this article make me sound old.

Before the onslaught of video games and computers were used to babysit an entire generation, I spent my time running around outside playing with all the other kids in the neighborhood. Be it a rousing game of freeze tag, racing our bikes around the block to impress the girls or creating entirely new worlds for my Star Wars figures to explore in the sand box, I was outside and I was active. This incessant fun always ended, however, when I’d hear the booming shout of Mom or Dad shouting “Kenny Mike?” from the front porch. Play time was over and it was time to head inside.

Throughout the years I’ve learned that I had an amazing and atypical childhood. My parents were forged on Mt. Olympus by the gods and sent to Earth to live out a fairy tale love story while raising four children. I grew up knowing I was safe, sound and well loved.

Somehow they had managed to instill in me a sense of quiet authority — it was as if their eyes were on me at all times offering protection while also making sure that I was doing the right thing. I learned that parents were to be respected and that talking back to them was NEVER acceptable.

Now I cut my teeth on prime time television in the latter portion of the 1970s. Watching TV back then was a privilege and not something that I could do any time I chose. Most of the time it was a family event. We had a den in hour home that, upon reflection, was the greatest classroom I ever sat in during my youth. It was there that I had life lessons reinforced through the types of programming that we’d watch together as a family. The respect that I had been taught by Mom and Dad was being repeated verbatim by the children on “The Waltons” as well as on “Little House on the Prairie”. Everyone knew not to disrepect Ma or Pa.

One show that I watched by myself, however, was “Happy Days”. I, like every other boy in America, was walking around saying “aayy” and begging my folks to buy me a Fonzie jacket shortly thereafter. I remember one episode in which Richie talked back to Mrs. C. A chill ran down my spine. The audience gasped. A collective “ooooooooh” poured out of their mouths because everyone watching knew that Richie had just broken a serious rule.

One character that toyed with the line of parental disrespect almost constantly was Eddie Haskell of “Leave it to Beaver”. Haskell, well known for his two-faced shrewdness, would belittle Wally and The Beav one moment and then quickly turn on the charm once he was around parental authority. Even though Eddie was basically the archetype of today’s typical d-bag young male – a “wise guy” back then – he knew he’d “get the business” if he was disrespectful to a parent.

My, how times have changed.

A chill ran down my spine. The audience gasped. A collective “ooooooooh” poured out of their mouths because everyone watching knew that Richie had just broken a serious rule.

Recently I’ve found myself inundated with shows that both my daughter and my girlfriend’s daughter watch. My eyes have been subjected to the likes of “The Suite Life of Zach and Cody”, “Hannah Montana” and “The Mighty B”. During one particular episode of “Zach and Cody” that we were all watching together I witnessed one of the kids tell his mother — who had walked in to ask if anyone there wanted a snack — to basically shut up and sit down as he was running a meeting with all of his friends that were over.

Like when Richie Cunningham dared to back talk his Mom, a chill ran down my spine. I knew that this precocious kid with the bad haircut was about to get his little ass whooped. I was anxious to see how his Mom was going to handle it in front of everyone.

And then the unthinkable happened — the mother acted like a complete idiot, made some goofy sounds reminiscent of someone moving quickly in a Marx Brothers routine and then immediately sat down. The audience, in turn, laughed.

What?!?

There was no reprimand. There were no consequences. I was dumbfounded. Had I done something like that back when I was a child I would not have lived to see daybreak.

I glanced down and saw our two girls watching this show. Neither of them even blinked at this scene. I slowly turned my head in absolute disbelief to catch Melissa’s eyes. She, too, couldn’t believe what had just occurred.

Several weeks later I was sitting in my favorite recliner with my daughter curled into my chest. She wanted to watch “Hannah Montana”. After a couple of well-hidden eye rolls on my part, I switched over to let her watch it. The episode dealt with Miley wanting to go to a school dance with a particular boy. We soon find out that he’d already asked another girl to go to the dance. The audience groaned their disapproval at poor Miley finding this out…but rejoiced and handed out approving laughter and applause when she TRIPPED the girl that was going to the dance. “There, that makes me feel better” hung in the air from Ms. Cyrus while the audience continued to laugh.

Seriously?!? Are these the types of messages that are being spoon fed to children these days on TV? It’s acceptable — and apparently cool — to talk back to your parents? Tripping other kids because you aren’t happy with a situation is actually condoned? Wow.

I’ve often heard members of the older generations longing for the return of the values of yesteryear…count me in.

Now the responsibility truly rests on the parents themselves to make sure that the proper lessons are being handed down to their children. Television cannot be the babysitter nor should it be the sole instructor on how to deal with others and situations. But in this ever busy world with incessant demands, more and more parents are just glad to have their kids not bugging them and welcome the reprieve from having to watch them that TV shows can bring.

Just be careful, parents…we’re breeding an entire generation of disrespectful brats.