I roamed everywhere when I was a kid. My kids didn’t get to do that.
It happened in one generation.
I roam on FR...
Being born in 64 I had a great deal of freedom as a kid. Up until is was about 8 years old we lived in one of those patches of private property in the middle of some state land. When I was 6 I got bit by a small massasauga rattlesnake when I was looking under rocks and logs.
When we did move to town it was just a tiny village where all the kids ran wild. From town I walked the 4 miles down the old railroad bed to the lake for fishing. When I was about 10, myself and a few of the other kids my age would go camping in the woods outside town by ourselves.
People drive into their garages, go inside from the garage, and rarely stray outside after that. And if they do, the only place for them to go is their fenced-off back yards.
As a result, many subdivision-dwellers don't know their neighbors.
And, of course, there's the "ninny state" effect at work, too. Parents want to protect their kids from all sorts of monsters -- some that are real, of course, but many that are not.
Todays y'ut doesn't WANT to roam; would rather sit inside and become big flat fannys with two blood-shot eyeballs...
In comparison to my mom I am more overprotective. My kids aren't embarrassed by it, since I don't go around announcing it to their friends.
ping
Four? More like one generation!
That may be very true for these ever expanding city urban types. But there are also many country kids, go look at the blue states by county map... and we’re always out doors and doing stuff. BTW I was born in 85, so I’m not talking about some previous generation. But I know others from college who came from Chicago and such and they have spent all their lives in condos and downtown neon worlds. But I think that it’s more a symptom of population concentration than generational differences.
I consider myself very lucky, in that we live on a USMC base. My children are, for the most part, safe to roam and run outside whenever they choose. Too bad it’s too dang hot lately. It is also a neighborhood where there are few who are afraid to come outside and greet their neighbors and chat over the back fence, so to speak.
One of my favorite things about being a military family is the sense of community that living on base gives me. My children seem to have a more “normal” after-school existence, because they are able to run and play in a safe environment, in addition to the fact that I know a majority of my neighbors. As a result, I have never felt the need to over-extend them with arranged activities. We also have a great youth center here on base (within walking distance) that they can play at when it gets too hot (110 here at 4pm).
The contrast between Edward and George's childhoods is highlighted in a report which warns that the mental health of 21st-century children is at risk because they are missing out on the exposure to the natural world enjoyed by past generations.Gosh, this wouldn't be an attack on private property er anythin', would it? Kids plant their little asses in front of the idiot box (used to refer to TV, now includes computer gaming machines) and never read a book for the same reason they don't go outside -- no action.
Report: Corvallis teen accused of sexually abusing horse
Oregonlive | June 15, 2007 05:34AM | Associated Press
Posted on 06/15/2007 3:19:58 PM EDT by MovementConservative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1850922/posts