Posted on 07/17/2014 6:00:58 AM PDT by EBH
Yes my Mom always took us to the Library once a week and we would stock up on books to read. In my neighborhood every kid had a dog and a bike so we would all take off on our bikes with the dogs following along wherever we went. I feel sorry for kids nowadays who cannot even be out of sight of their parents for a moment.
My sister’s husband makes a good living, so her (admirable) job is to be a stay at home Mom. A boy from my nephew’s school made a play date to occur at her house. The other Mom, never met my sister, dropped the boy off, and instead of coming to the door, sent an EMAIL from her smart phone, while parked out in the street, in front of the house, confirming when she would pick the boy up.
I am SO glad my kids are adults, now !
We would constantly go in and out of different houses on any given day, there was no plan.
And that's even with the availability of cell phones. I do recall though a few times attempting to stay in contact via walkie-talkies growing up, but it never really worked.
I was fortunate to grow up in a time when every other person was not a pervert trying to snatch kids off the street. Nowadays you would have to be insane to let your kids run the neighborhood unattended. Very sad.
Actually, the snatch-off-street perv is still exceedingly rare. Most child molesters do their deeds under cover of positions of trust- family “friends”, daycare workers, clergy, youth group volunteers, etc.
we had a walk in refrig in our store. I would run in and hit a large jar of cold water and then it was outside to play. After dark we played hide and seek and chased june bugs (fire flys).
I hear you...but I question whether truly it is more prevalent than before, or do we just hear about it more, because of the proliferation of mass media and 24/7 news highlighting every bad thing that goes on out there?
I think the whole “play date” thing started with fractured families and kids coming for visitations. They don’t have any relationship with the kids in the area so the parent tried to build one. After a while it seems to have turned into something else.
From the 1700’s up until the early 1900’s Missouri's French PawPaw community would have tiff mines in their backyards. They'd do some lead mining during the week and plant a vegetable garden to get by.
I wonder if they ever said the phrase “Whining equals mining!”
It is so unreal these days how things are done...and then people wonder when they don’t connect with other people, can’t form relationships, are stressed beyond the breaking points....
I too question the whole proliferation of over protectiveness. I’d get up ride my bike to the local pool (mile away) at 6am for swimteam, ride home afterwards for breakfast and then go back and spend the whole afternoon there. No parents around, just a group of friends at the public pool swimming, diving, patio lunch for under a $1. I know I was under 12 years old at the time. Now ...a 12 year old shows up unaccompanied and the parent gets arrested for neglect!
There’s been a huge cultural shift and I think it all started with the ‘stranger danger program’ and now carries on into the gun fearing program, anti-bullying program, and the controlled playdate thing.
All the while very subtly teaching our kids what?
Thanks for the reply. So many ways to communicate, but folks no longer talk to each other :(
I wonder why they bother recruiting, if it has no effect. /s
Fact of the matter is, there is a much bigger problem with sexual predators than there was when we were kids. And children are taught to accept this, and not make judgments. They’re taught to explore their sexuality, and even how to explore it, with no holds barred. Instead of stringing up pedophiles we coddle them and give them every opportunity to continue with their terror. Our tax dollars go to programs like Planned Parenthood, to give abortions to victims of child rape, and cover up the crimes. Public school children are taught fisting, oral sex, mutual masterbation, homosexuality, etc. Sexual deviancy is encouraged by our own government officials. Speaking out against it is a crime in some cases. It’s illegal to discriminate against sexual perverts in hiring. If a business refuses service to a pervert they face prosecution and lawsuits. Do you really believe all this has no effect? This is not the atmosphere I grew up in, and I don’t believe you did either.
Its hard to know but I remember we were told not to talk to strangers etc but we never felt uneasy out and about. Maybe it was an illusion.
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