Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You can't go out and play with other kids on the street/park bc there are no other kids out there anymore.
Kinda nutty.
I live in the same neighborhood I grew up in.
Graduated high school 1993. Went off to other places for college, med school, residency...saved up enough money to move back...
EVERYONE is outside biking, walking dogs, skating, running, etc. It's a very outdoorsy town and very outdoorsy neighborhood.
But not groups of kids like we used to do all the time. I don't see that anymore. The kids at the playground are with their parents/nannies. There aren't groups of them just outside. Many of them are riding bikes and skating...with their parents.
Sunday morning, I played tennis and then went for a run with my dog. Park totally empty. No one around fishing, playing ball, etc. No one.
My daughter is now 18 but when she was 2.5, I left her sleeping in her car seat (in winter) in a locked car while I returned an item at the store. I was not gone more than 5 minutes; when I came back there was a lady knocking loudly on my car window asking my daughter if she was alright. My daughter looked scared and was crying. I told the lady to get the hell away from my car. She started yelling at me for leaving the child in the car and that she called the police. I told her to mind her own business and got in the car and started it. She looked incredulous and said - "you're not waiting for the police?" I pointed to the front of the car told her to memorize my license plate and said that she could wait and give that to the police when they arrived. At that I drove off. Nothing ever came of it - my local police were a very practical lot and I could well imagine their reaction to her would have been similar to mine.
Who knows what would happen if I did that today. Would the police come to my house and arrest me for Child Endangerment ? Really, although there are obvious cases of neglect and abuse which are usually medically obvious, who is a better judge of proper parenting than a child's own parents ? If only the school system was so vigilant in enforcing the rules.
Why didnt the kid just say "hey look, ive got shade and water right there. I just had something to eat. Thank you for being concerned but please go find something more worthwhile to do"?
but no, he kept his mouth shut and let his parents get in trouble
Sure, blame the kid! As an adult, cops intimidate me. I can't imagine how I'd feel as a child. The entirety of the blame in this case falls on the nosy, ******* neighbor and the idiot bureaucracy.
I had five sons. All were allowed to play outdoors from the time they were 8 y.o. During the Summer, they needed to come home for lunch, then back to play as long as they were home for supper.
They're all grown up now (the eldest is 62) and have their own families. Wonder how that happened?
My daughter is now 18 but when she was 2.5, I left her sleeping in her car seat (in winter) in a locked car while I returned an item at the store. I was not gone more than 5 minutes; when I came back there was a lady knocking loudly on my car window asking my daughter if she was alright. My daughter looked scared and was crying. I told the lady to get the hell away from my car. She started yelling at me for leaving the child in the car and that she called the police. I told her to mind her own business and got in the car and started it. She looked incredulous and said - "you're not waiting for the police?" I pointed to the front of the car told her to memorize my license plate and said that she could wait and give that to the police when they arrived. At that I drove off. Nothing ever came of it - my local police were a very practical lot and I could well imagine their reaction to her would have been similar to mine.
Who knows what would happen if I did that today. Would the police come to my house and arrest me for Child Endangerment ? Really, although there are obvious cases of neglect and abuse which are usually medically obvious, who is a better judge of proper parenting than a child's own parents ? If only the school system was so vigilant in enforcing the rules.
You'd have been arrested, a link to your story would have been posted to the Drudge report, and we'd be arguing over what your rights as a parent are here on City Data.
Weird neighbors are understandable. It's the system - police, government, courts - that is baffling. How did it come to be that way?
I have a friend who suspects that it is the overall agenda to weaken the family as a control unit. He ascribes it to the left. I am not so sure.
However, I personally have had some very bad experiences. I have two children, now 19 and almost 18. Almost exactly 7 years ago, when they were 12 and almost 11, my older son was considerably stronger than my younger son, who is on the high end of the autism spectrum. One day my older son was playing a little bit more roughly with my younger son than I liked. I sat him down on the stairs for a lecture. I told him that he is never to pick on someone smaller or weaker than him, for any reason.
That upcoming October, my younger son is bothering my older son at school. We ask the school to keep them separate during the day to the maximum extent possible. Not an uncommon thing that siblings will bother each other during the school day. The school psychologist asks my older son if his parents (meaning my wife and I) have ever done anything that "scared" him. He tells her that I "put" him on the stairs for the above-mentioned lecture. She writes it down as "pushed" and files a report with Child Protective Services. They come out to "investigate." The report is dismissed as "unfounded."
We scheduled a meeting with the head of the department that handles special education and the school superintendent. The former says that he "wishes more parents" would take bullying as seriously as we did. I said "not when it results in a Child Protective Services complaint."
Circling back to my friend's view, he believes that the left wing is out to weaken families. He cites such things as gay marriage, child protective services agencies, restrictions on corporal punishment and the like. I am not sure that the agenda is deliberate. I believe (and have posted elsewhere) that government overreacts to individual situations. The easiest way for them to react is to pass a law. Performing real services, such as hiring skilled social workers that could make a real difference to a dysfunctional family is hard and expensive. Thus the blunderbuss approach of passing a law rather than enforcing existing laws.
Sort of like lowering a speed limit from 40 to 35 on a road where someone is killed doing 100.
Quote:
Originally Posted by theatergypsy
I had five sons. All were allowed to play outdoors from the time they were 8 y.o. During the Summer, they needed to come home for lunch, then back to play as long as they were home for supper.
They're all grown up now (the eldest is 62) and have their own families. Wonder how that happened?
The world today seems to think it's in our best interest to safeguard kids against........ well, everything! Rather than teaching our kids from a young age, we instead just remove the things from the area that may cause trouble. Sheltering them from every single thing, why not just make them wear helmets when walking, knee pads in case they fall down, and why not just ban concrete sidewalks because they may hurt themselves if they fall. Letting a kid play along for 90 minutes without proper supervision... oh the horror. This is why kids these days are growing up and are remaining dependent on their parents. They have no idea how to take care of themselves. They don't know how to handle certain situation and fear too much. Independence and free thinking isn't encouraged till after age 35.
The world today seems to think it's in our best interest to safeguard kids against........ well, everything! Rather than teaching our kids from a young age, we instead just remove the things from the area that may cause trouble. Sheltering them from every single thing, why not just make them wear helmets when walking, knee pads in case they fall down, and why not just ban concrete sidewalks because they may hurt themselves if they fall. Letting a kid play along for 90 minutes without proper supervision... oh the horror. This is why kids these days are growing up and are remaining dependent on their parents. They have no idea how to take care of themselves. They don't know how to handle certain situation and fear too much. Independence and free thinking isn't encouraged till after age 35.
You just made a great case as to why many adults still act like children.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
