I feel sorry for kids today...

[T.O.M.]

I just finished reading the Frazil Ice thread.  And, while the original topic, and the linked video, were fascinating, the part that really struck me was reading about posters's memories of youth.  Running around the woods.  Camping with the Scouts.  As I read these memories, and recalled some of my own youth experiences, I suddenly felt sad for my sons.  They are great boys, and I'm doing my best to raise them right.  Teaching them about honor, integrity, etc.  How to shoot the black out of a target, put an arrow in the bull, use your knife to carve a stick, how to build a campfire.

But there are things I did, and experienced, that they will never be able to do themselves.  They won't know what its like to run into the woods at the crack of dawn and spend the day running. playing, cooking on an open fire, etc.  Last group of boys that started a fire in the woods ended up explaining it to the police because the neighborhood busy-body called the cops for the boys drinking in the woods (they weren't).  Carry a BB gun in the neightborhood, and someone will call 911.  A soccer game in the mud?  Nah, they close the fields becaue the kids might get hurt slipping and sliding, or catch a cold.  Loan your teacher your pocketknife?  Nope.  For that you'd be arrested, expelled, and subject to psych evaluations.  Even the Scouts, my last hope for teaching my boys about what really matters, is becomeing soft...no fixed blade knives permitted at most events.  Too dangerous.  Many times, they don't even allow open fires.  Propane cooking is more environmentally correct.

So, while on occassion I'm jealous of the newest toy the kids have, the video games, the computer for homework, etc., I"m sad that they wil never know the simple joys of childhood I, and apparently many of you, relish.

[charby]

I miss building forts in the woods and the monthly scout troop campout.

[TommyGunn]

I was a scout as a kid and had a lot of fun there, as I also did in YMCA boys' camp in the summer.

Yeah ... our society is turning into a fascist  state pretty quickly .... 

[Doggy Daddy]

I just finished reading the Frazil Ice thread.  And, while the original topic, and the linked video, were fascinating, the part that really struck me was reading about posters's memories of youth.

Yeah, that thread was mildly hijacked.  But, it's with my full blessing and partial assistance.    I approve of the direction it veered off to.

DD

[makattak]

I just finished reading the Frazil Ice thread.  And, while the original topic, and the linked video, were fascinating, the part that really struck me was reading about posters's memories of youth.  Running around the woods.  Camping with the Scouts.  As I read these memories, and recalled some of my own youth experiences, I suddenly felt sad for my sons.  They are great boys, and I'm doing my best to raise them right.  Teaching them about honor, integrity, etc.  How to shoot the black out of a target, put an arrow in the bull, use your knife to carve a stick, how to build a campfire.

But there are things I did, and experienced, that they will never be able to do themselves.  They won't know what its like to run into the woods at the crack of dawn and spend the day running. playing, cooking on an open fire, etc.  Last group of boys that started a fire in the woods ended up explaining it to the police because the neighborhood busy-body called the cops for the boys drinking in the woods (they weren't).  Carry a BB gun in the neightborhood, and someone will call 911.  A soccer game in the mud?  Nah, they close the fields becaue the kids might get hurt slipping and sliding, or catch a cold.  Loan your teacher your pocketknife?  Nope.  For that you'd be arrested, expelled, and subject to psych evaluations.  Even the Scouts, my last hope for teaching my boys about what really matters, is becomeing soft...no fixed blade knives permitted at most events.  Too dangerous.  Many times, they don't even allow open fires.  Propane cooking is more environmentally correct.

So, while on occassion I'm jealous of the newest toy the kids have, the video games, the computer for homework, etc., I"m sad that they wil never know the simple joys of childhood I, and apparently many of you, relish.

Well, I blame the lawyers. (And the people who willingly use them, and the judges that allow crap to go to trial.) If people didn't sue over things that are normal childhood risks (falling off the monkey bars, cut with a knife, burned by a fire), we wouldn't see "defensive child care".

We're not putting our children in a bubble because we're afraid they'll get hurt. Kids are getting put in a bubble because adults are afraid they'll get sued.

[P5 Guy]

Don't forget to blame John Walsh and America's Most Wanted and the Sex Predator guy on MSN.
Most of the people that have kids that I know are scared stupid about abductions. There is a pervert behind every tree don't you know?

[T.O.M.]

"Well, I blame the lawyers. (And the people who willingly use them, and the judges that allow crap to go to trial.) If people didn't sue over things that are normal childhood risks (falling off the monkey bars, cut with a knife, burned by a fire), we wouldn't see "defensive child care". "

Don't blame every lawyer.  I am one, after all.  you know, 99% of lawyers give the rest a bad name.   

Seriously, I know many lawyers who don't act this way.  But, none are personal injury lawyers.  They seem to be the cause, not the rest of us. 

[RevDisk]

It's a very gradual thing.  Thousands of court cases being a primary motivator.  But there's plenty of other concerns.  Safety Nazis, busybodies, overanxious parents, police procedures(1), etc. 

There is no real one thing to point the fingers.  It's a fear of severe consequences for mundane activities. 




(1) - Arresting a kid or even remote condoning any malicious behavior on behalf of a police department towards a kid for butterknives, aspirin, nailclippers, scissors, et al.

[Viking]

Strange how it seems like we have a bit more freedom over here regarding certain matters. Then again, we don't have the same legal culture of parents suing left and right because their kid got a bloodied knee from playing soccer in the mud. I quit Scouting after only a few years, but I just looked it up, and yeah, they still learn how to use knives and axes, how to build towers with nothing but logs and ropes, cook over open fires. While I don't know what would happen today if a kid brought a pocket knife along with him to school, I know that no police got involved when I was a brat and technically broke the law by having a SAK in my pocket. Teacher confiscated it, but I got it back at the end of the day, and nothing came of it.

[AJ Dual]

I do find it interesting how the U.S. is more "PC" than some parts of Europe, or even Canada at times.

I think in part it's actually due to America's long standing notions of egalitarianism and disrespect/skepticism of authority, which really accelerated in the 1960's.

While this is a good thing in most cases, it creates some unintended consequences. Nanny-staters get a seat at the table, and their ideas get heard due to that egalitarianism, instead of being (rightfully) just laughed out the door. It creates a camel's nose in the tent effect.

Then, due to the "healthy" disrespect/skepticism of authority, more faith is invested in the RULES than in the people, and you get things like zero tolerance policy, where the honor student with a butterknife is given the same punishment as the delinquent with a switchblade.

[GigaBuist]

While I don't know what would happen today if a kid brought a pocket knife along with him to school, I know that no police got involved when I was a brat and technically broke the law by having a SAK in my pocket. Teacher confiscated it, but I got it back at the end of the day, and nothing came of it.

I'm sure reasonable actions like that are still taken in the US; we just don't hear of them in our media. Why would we?  Nor do parents take to the web forums and call attention to rational actions of their teachers.  If they do they die quietly and don't get bumped up in the blog world or other social networking sites.

[MicroBalrog]

AJDual: You have a problem with switchblades now?

[Ned Hamford]

And kids don't even have to work to see porn!

I recently got myself a 'smart phone.'  I now have the internet walking about in my pocket.  Its like a super-power.  And in just a couple years, it will largely be the norm.  I will be the old man who remembers having to go to special places to access the internet and my parents will be the unfathomable folks who didn't even have computers growing up.

[grampster]

the quantum leap in mass instant communication is a mixed blessing.  One the one hand, the fax machine had quite a prominent role in bringing down the Soviet empire and is causing China to become a hybrid marxist state rather than the monolith it was.  Mass instant communication and the attendent need for the media to one up the competition has created a paranoid state because horrid crimes are played out to be everyday affairs on a monumental basis; ie: a serial killer behind every tree.

If one stops and thinks about it for a moment, if one didn't read, watch and listen to the media nearly on a constant basis, the places we live would seem to be quite peaceful and safe.  How many of you can say they have witnessed a major crime as it occured, or even seen a traffic accident as it happened??

PS:  I think I was the one who veered the other thread.  Thread veer is fun.

[BridgeRunner]

I wandered into the aftermath of a shooting in the Garment District when I was twelve.  It's probably unusual for Midwestern twelve-years-olds to spend a day exploring Manhatten solo while the rest of the family is back in Queens visiting. Somehow, I survived. 

[AJ Dual]

AJDual: You have a problem with switchblades now?

Yes, because most of them are flimsy junk. And the ones that aren't, like Microtech or whatever, are way over-priced for what you get.

I can deploy this just as fast.

[MechAg94]

I miss building forts in the woods and the monthly scout troop campout.

Ha!  I forget about our old forts. My brother and my cousin and I used to designate covered bare spots among the yaupon bushes as forts.  Then one day my Dad brought home a pile of 2X6's.  We knocked the nails out and built ourselves a fort out in the woods.  It was a lot of fun.