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I completely agree. One of my biggest issues with this is parents that still order food for kids. An 8 year old should be able to look at a server and tell them what they want to eat. My kids know if they do not order, they do not eat. I am not doing it for them. But starting this at a young age, allows them to build necessary skills in order to talk to people.
I completely agree. One of my biggest issues with this is parents that still order food for kids. An 8 year old should be able to look at a server and tell them what they want to eat. My kids know if they do not order, they do not eat. I am not doing it for them. But starting this at a young age, allows them to build necessary skills in order to talk to people.
Definitely something to be started young. I get my 6 year old to buy things from the shop herself (give her the money, or she brings money from her piggy bank) and either wait behind her in the queue or more recently I wait outside the shop (small corner shop). Next time we go to a restaurant I'll get her to order for herself as she hasn't done that yet.
I completely agree. One of my biggest issues with this is parents that still order food for kids. An 8 year old should be able to look at a server and tell them what they want to eat. My kids know if they do not order, they do not eat. I am not doing it for them. But starting this at a young age, allows them to build necessary skills in order to talk to people.
I think too many parents today try to live their kids lives for them or are afraid of everything. Our, now 10 year old great granddaughter has been ordering her own meals for a couple of years; sometimes off the kids menu and other times a regular menu. she even knows when to ask them to hold something, like, say onions or maybe will ask for extra cheese, whatever.
too many parents think the entire world out there is bad and their kids are going to get hurt or get in trouble if they let go for even a second.
I will add, I do think that leaving a 6 year old alone for hours, whether you live in a foreign country, a small American town or a metro area is too young. But that is just my opinion.
I think a neighbor's mail is different than going 3 blocks to the store, which is what the OP asked about. I used to go down the street 4 houses to the mail box when the kids were very young. I didn't consider that "leaving them alone."
If you aren't there, you are leaving them alone. And if you had a Dennis The Menace type kid....yikes.
Because depending on where you live, four houses could be a 1/2 mile....
Definitely something to be started young. I get my 6 year old to buy things from the shop herself (give her the money, or she brings money from her piggy bank) and either wait behind her in the queue or more recently I wait outside the shop (small corner shop). Next time we go to a restaurant I'll get her to order for herself as she hasn't done that yet.
Definitely start allowing her to do so. My 6 year old has been ordering his own food for a good two years, right down to how he would like his meat cooked.
I think too many parents today try to live their kids lives for them or are afraid of everything. Our, now 10 year old great granddaughter has been ordering her own meals for a couple of years; sometimes off the kids menu and other times a regular menu. she even knows when to ask them to hold something, like, say onions or maybe will ask for extra cheese, whatever.
too many parents think the entire world out there is bad and their kids are going to get hurt or get in trouble if they let go for even a second.
I will add, I do think that leaving a 6 year old alone for hours, whether you live in a foreign country, a small American town or a metro area is too young. But that is just my opinion.
I agree. I allowed short period of time when my oldest was 8. If I leave my 6 year old home for hours, my teenager is also home and supervising.
Hours is too long for a 6 year old but an hour or two isn't that much, especially with about half being taken up by the walk home. I could sit her in front of cartoons now and probably leave for hours without her moving an inch!
Hours is too long for a 6 year old but an hour or two isn't that much, especially with about half being taken up by the walk home. I could sit her in front of cartoons now and probably leave for hours without her moving an inch!
When those in my school were age 5, in Kindergarten, most of us walked to school, either alone or with a few others. A couple of kids from wealthy families were driven by their mothers. The rest of us felt sorry for them, as we knew what their were missing. The nicest and brightest girl in my class came up to me and said she wanted us to walk home together. Now that was a delightful and hallmark event in my young life.
Most of us by that age, would take off from home, when school was not in session and go places and do things together, about which our parents knew nothing. That was what made our lives so interesting and formative, by being able to manage our own activities. We learned how to stay out of trouble, how to avoid costing our families any money or causing them embarrassment. Again, we had sympathy for the few who were regimented by their parents and allowed no unscrutinized activities.
There were no parks or playgrounds, except for those at school. No organized sports teams, such as Little League or Pop Warner Football. Instead, the whole neighborhood and sometimes beyond, was our playground and we coached ourselves in very vigorous athletics on vacant lots or alleyway basketball hoops. This still goes on in many large, inner-cities and that's why so many of our great athletes come from those early environments. And many successful others, in all sorts of endeavors, come from these places, mostly independent from adult repression.
It doesn't work for all of them in today's world and some get into trouble. But if a natural, undisrupted order of life is allowed to develop among young people, as it did all throughout the previous time of our species, it can be the building-block of our society. The current trend of almost total adult management of children's activities, is a major cause of our decline. And these protected children, unable to fend for themselves, are easy prey, when they finally get out on their own. And often, they don't even know how to be on their own.
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