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ITA! with this. My mother never volunteered at my school and if she had to talk to my teacher, I was in deep chit! She didn't schedule play dates, drive me around or even know where I was half the time. I was EXPECTED to behave myself at all times and to know where I was and was not allowed to go. In the summer, she'd kick us out the door in the morning and tell us to be in when the street lights came on. I too am glad I had that kind of freedom.
I try to give more freedom to my kids than most kids have. It's easy with dd#2 because she runs with a solid crowd and I don't have to worry about what they are up to. For example, she once went missing after school and I was about to call the police when she, finally, came home. Seems she had stopped by the elementary school to visit an old teacher and she and her friends got enlisted to write "fairy letters" to the kids (the kids ask the fairies questions and the fairies answer them in letters) and her phone doesn't work inside of the school building. She makes it impossible to be mad at her even when she's broken the rules. I don't worry too much about where she is. I just ask that she check in now and again so I know she's alive. Now, her sister is a challenge because she doesn't pick the best friends. Her I have to watch more than I care to but you gotta do what you gotta do.
When and why did we become a nation of hover parents? Is it because we have so little to do at home these days that we feel a need to fill our time hovering over our children, playing chauffer, arranging play dates and entertaining them? Honestly, mothers didn't do this when I was growing up and we grew up just fine in spite of that.
Maybe it's because more kids are in daycare these days?
For those about to attack me for that comment. I am being sarcastic.
When and why did we become a nation of hover parents? Is it because we have so little to do at home these days that we feel a need to fill our time hovering over our children, playing chauffer, arranging play dates and entertaining them? Honestly, mothers didn't do this when I was growing up and we grew up just fine in spite of that.
There may be some debate there!
Oh come ON, all other things aside, you handed that one to me loaded.
Oh come ON, all other things aside, you handed that one to me loaded.
??? Care to clarify?
I see a major shift in parenting. Parents didn't used to hover over their kids. They used to let them be kids. Now parents sweat every detail. The only thing I can come up with is we have way too much free time on our hands these days. Got a better suggestion?
I'd think the opposite here. Parents who are using day care aren't hovering.
Nah, they are just paying someone to do the hovering for them.
Have you ever heard of a daycare center that kicks the kids out the door in the morning and tells them to be back when the street lights come on? Me neither.
I never much got into the idealized, sanitized version of the fifties and sixties. Could be because it didn't exist for anyone I knew. The families across the street bore a suspicious resemblance to the Cramdens (well, except for the single dad wew ere all convinced murdered his wife and was well on his way to doing a repeat performance with his kids); my mother fancied herself a glamorous divorcee and frequently left us to the tender ministrations of either Granny Aconite or a pack of wolves (depending on how recently Granny Ac...er, maybe it was the wolves...had eaten). We ran the neighborhood with the local horde, all right, but I also remember darn well what we were up to when we did. I'm pretty sure I don't want Manchild or Young Miss Aconite pulling the same crap we did.
I wouldn't mind if my kids grew up like I did. For the most part, it was harmless fun. There was that time we nearly blew ourselves up making a homemade cannon though...... In the summer, I remember spending countless hours exploring in the woods, hanging out with kids in the neighborhood, at the neighborhood pool or down at the school for arts and crafts.
Nah, they are just paying someone to do the hovering for them.
Have you ever heard of a daycare center that kicks the kids out the door in the morning and tells them to be in when the street lights come on? Me neither.
Not even my mother did that when I was four, for gawds sake.
Nah, they are just paying someone to do the hovering for them.
Have you ever heard of a daycare center that kicks the kids out the door in the morning and tells them to be in when the street lights come on? Me neither.
Kids who are in day care aren't quite old enough to be kicked out until the street lights come on. I was school aged before my mom did that and when my kids were older and went to day care during the day, I was ok with our dcp letting them go to the park all darned day if they wanted.
Kids who are in day care aren't quite old enough to be kicked out until the street lights come on. I was school aged before my mom did that and when my kids were older and went to day care during the day, I was ok with our dcp letting them go to the park all darned day if they wanted.
A lot of school aged kids go to daycare during the summertime.
So are we now having a contest to see who is the most neglectful/least hovering parent?
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I don't worry too much about where she is. I just ask that she check in now and again so I know she's alive. Now, her sister is a challenge because she doesn't pick the best friends. Her I have to watch more than I care to but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Me neither.
... In the summer, I remember spending countless hours exploring in the woods, hanging out with kids in the neighborhood, at the neighborhood pool or down at the school for arts and crafts.