Raising children

Past and present. You can't make this stuff up.
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Typhoon
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Raising children

Post by Typhoon »

Krulwich | Do You Know Where Your Children Are? Is That Always A Good Thing?
There was a time — and it wasn't that long ago — when kids would leave home on a summer morning and roam free. "I knew kids who were pushed out the door at eight in the morning," writes Bill Bryson of his childhood in the 1950s, "and not allowed back until five unless they were on fire or actively bleeding." That's what kids did. They went out. Parents let them, and everybody did it. "If you stood on any corner with a bike — any corner anywhere — more than a hundred children, many of whom you had never seen before, would appear and ask you where you were going," Bryson writes. That was then.
And then we have the current generation, Ed.

His freedom to roam is drastically different from his great-granddad's. In an interview with the Daily Mail in 2007, Vicky said her son, then 8, was "driven the few minutes to school, is taken by car to a safe place to ride his bike and can roam no more than 300 yards from home." Basically, he stays on the block.
Roaming far and wide - exploring new places - is one of my best memories as a kid.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Skin Job
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Re: Raising children

Post by Skin Job »

Society is no longer tolerant of parents who wish to allow their kids even small amounts of independence. Last year, my seven year old daughter was disappointed to learn she would not be permitted by her school to walk two blocks home from school in a quiet residential neighborhood, even in the company of her older sister.
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Typhoon
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Re: Raising children

Post by Typhoon »

Skin Job wrote:Society is no longer tolerant of parents who wish to allow their kids even small amounts of independence. Last year, my seven year old daughter was disappointed to learn she would not be permitted by her school to walk two blocks home from school in a quiet residential neighborhood, even in the company of her older sister.
Wow.

Is this because of a fear of liability and litigation?

In Japan, for example, primary school kids typically walk or take the train to school by themselves.
May the gods preserve and defend me from self-righteous altruists; I can defend myself from my enemies and my friends.
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Enki
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Re: Raising children

Post by Enki »

Typhoon wrote:
Skin Job wrote:Society is no longer tolerant of parents who wish to allow their kids even small amounts of independence. Last year, my seven year old daughter was disappointed to learn she would not be permitted by her school to walk two blocks home from school in a quiet residential neighborhood, even in the company of her older sister.
Wow.

Is this because of a fear of liability and litigation?

In Japan, for example, primary school kids typically walk or take the train to school by themselves.
Here too, but not until like 9 or so.
Men often oppose a thing merely because they have had no agency in planning it, or because it may have been planned by those whom they dislike.
-Alexander Hamilton
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Parodite
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Re: Raising children

Post by Parodite »

Change of times indeed! When 5 year old boy I was allowed to cross streets and walk to school 50 blocks away. Went into the fields to explore things. Now as a parent I'm much more concerned about my 7 years old daughter. I find the traffic here very stressed and unsafe for young bicyclists to participate in, people in general don't pay much attention so it seems, everything appears faster and more dense, more indifference. Big part my parental concerns and stresses no doubt. Childmolesters, biting dogs, bullying kids, stressed drivers in huge SUVs... Too much knowledge of bad things that can happen. :shock:
Deep down I'm very superficial
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Skin Job
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Re: Raising children

Post by Skin Job »

It seems as if the perception of danger has increased, while the reality is that the crime rate has decreased. There's nothing much to be done about it, except realize that kids are going to take longer to grow up, and have fewer life skills, and/or less experience applying them at their age of majority.
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Marcus
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Re: Raising children

Post by Marcus »

Skin Job wrote:. . kids are going to . . have fewer life skills, . .
Our granddaughters, about four years ago . . some skill required to boat one of these . . ;)
kids.jpg
kids.jpg (70.48 KiB) Viewed 497 times
And they each know how to butcher, fillet, and cook the fish . . :shock:
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
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"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
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noddy
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Re: Raising children

Post by noddy »

luckily the worst case paranoid parents are only affecting certain schools in certain areas,so their are some suburbs id flatly refuse to visit, let alone live in.

for all the newspaper articles ive read of schools banning kids from running lest they fall and other absurd post modern fear worshipping, i recently went with my nieces to a new playground in our area.

it had flying foxes,rock climbs, huge swings and all sorts of dangerous spinning contraptions which scared them and they had a ball.

on the flipside my brothers wife does sometimes get worried about them going to school with bruises, the group of petty nasty women sniffing around for child abusers is not a pleasant environment to be around.

you can *assume* the best or the worst, everything else flows from that unfortunately and thats why im so anti the progressive lowest common denominator approach.. its repulsive and empowers the nasty ones with little hitler issues.
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Skin Job
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Re: Raising children

Post by Skin Job »

Marcus wrote:
Skin Job wrote:. . kids are going to . . have fewer life skills, . .
Our granddaughters, about four years ago . . some skill required to boat one of these . . ;)
kids.jpg
And they each know how to butcher, fillet, and cook the fish . . :shock:
Congratulations, they are of good stock and a salutary upbringing.

Certainly you understand my comment to be generally speaking, your fine exceptions notwithstanding.
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Marcus
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Re: Raising children

Post by Marcus »

Skin Job wrote:Congratulations, they are of good stock and a salutary upbringing.

Certainly you understand my comment to be generally speaking, your fine exceptions notwithstanding.
Most assuredly. Though it's not the world in which I grew up, some things never change.
"The jawbone of an ass is just as dangerous a weapon today as in Sampson's time."
--- Richard Nixon
******************
"I consider looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels."
—John Calvin
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