Posted on 10/19/2007 7:33:32 AM PDT by SmithL
Every time I buckle my son into his car seat - positioned between the side impact air bags and above the antilock brakes in our five-star safety-rated automobile - I think about my preferred mode of travel in the summer of 1983.
I spent that season at the Connecticut wilderness home of a friend from elementary school, who was moving from the Bay Area to the East Coast. When it was time to drive the station wagon down the mountain road, his father would often give us a choice: Would we like to ride in the backseat or on the roof of the car?
In retrospect, this was probably a really bad idea. If two 12-year-olds were seen traveling on the roof of a car in 2007, it would likely trigger an Amber Alert, four dozen cell phone calls to Child Protective Services and a viral YouTube video to be played endlessly on "Nancy Grace." But I'm sort of glad it happened. Being perched on the top of that slow-moving Ford Country Squire was a small risk (remember, this was the pre-Ford Taurus 1980s, when station wagons had giant luggage racks that were practically made for passenger travel), but there was also a reward. Riding on the roof of that car made me a little bit less of a wuss.
The wussification of American children is a relatively recent phenomenon, but a very real one. . . .
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
When I was a kid playing little-league baseball, the coach drove a red Ford pickup and would pile about half the team in the back to take them home after practice.
He was kind of a hot rodder and I remember doing 100 mph in the back of a pickup a time or two. Absolutely crazy now that I look back on it. We thought it was absolutely wonderful at the time though. :-)
Oh no! I used to think the paste-eaters in class were so gross! Glad to see there was no permanent damage....er, uh, well, you *are* on FR.
LOL!
When my little boys come in crying over a scraped knee or something, I say, “Now you’re a real boy!”
I'm glad I'm not the only guy who needed a transfusion because of those things.
great article...shocked there are still people in SF with common sense.. I thought I was immune to this PC stuff by sending my daughter to a private Christian school...nope..they just banned “Red Rover” because my daughter and another girl flipped over while trying to breach the other team’s line.. apparently it didn’t bother her because this is the first I’ve heard of it and it happened a few weeks ago. (In fact when I picture it in my head, it looks pretty funny)..but my daughter is a klutz..she’s the type that goes at life pretty fast and is always coming up with boo-boo’s and owies.. and she doesn’t complain much about em. Even my daughters aren’t wusses.
Damn, I felt like Indiana Jones!
read later
This was the real village raising before Hillary Clinton warped it. In the SCA I have had a few women let me know when they had to discipline one of my children and vice versa. That way there is no, "But, she --" I already know about it.
I hardly think my son is on the cutting edge in terms of things he’s allowed to do, but compared to many of his friends, he sure seems like it.
He has done archery, bb gun shooting, swam in a lake, rowed a canoe and rowboat, been camping, built a fort in the woods, plays outside regularly, rides a bike etc etc etc.
Most of his contemporaries outdoor experiences are basically going from one friends house to another... so they can play XBOX or WII or watch TV.
Its quite sad commentary. By 10 or 11 years old, a boy should have pretty much free reign, and know every cool thing and hiding spot, of his neighborhood.... not anymore for most.
Sat on my grandfathers lap at maybe 5, and drove the last block home, at maybe 5MPH I was king of the world. Of course now, thanks to air bags, putting your kid in front of you like that could kill them if it went off.
Excellent!
I’m sorry about your loss..that’s the worst thing that can happen... but I have to tell you.. I’ve lost 3 dear friends who WERE wearing their helmets.. and my husband was also wearing his the day his motorcycle was hit by a 3/4 ton pickup truck...he was hit so hard it knocked his helmet one way and him the other.. Christopher Reeve wore a helmet too...so I don’t agree that they help at all. They aren’t sturdy enough to save our heads from injury..
"Maybe I'd be able to stay off my a$$ if I didn't have 25 pounds of this 'safety gear' strapped to my body.
Aw, crap, my nose itches."
Those are pedals? Eek
I am the kind of parent that made his kids wear helmuts, knee and elbow guards when the rollerbladed when they were little. Local laws require a helmut when bike riding under 18 yrs old. Growing up I had 3 broken arms, 1 broken nose 1 concussion, 1 knee surgery numerous stitches and a partially blown off finger. I know what can happen.
I wasn’t so much afraid of them getting hurt, I was more afraid of the level of medical care they would get.
I’m sorry about your losses as well. In my nephew’s case given the location and nature of the injury I’m pretty sure a helmet would have saved him. Of course, I can’t know for sure. Just as important, in my opinion, if my sister in law had insisted he wear his helmet and he died anyway her feelings of guilt would have been far less. That’s what’s been eating her up.
There is a small playground park next to my house. Due to a large municipal flood mitigation project the playground equipment from the fifties were taken down. The park become a construction zone. A few years ago, my husband and I were on the committee to return this area back into a playground. Needless to say the old metal seesaws, large metal slide and metal swingset with chains were not replaced. The committee chose a lovely climbing structure with safe plastic slides which ended in a soft bed of mulch.
Here’s the crazy “bubblewrap the children” part, when it was proposed to add in a modern safe swingset we were told that in order to have the “regulated free area surrounding the swings” we would have to cancel the climbing structure. According to state law, there had to be a sufficient area for the children to walk around the swings without chance of injury. The diameter of the area they required was unbelievable.
In other words, picture a park with nothing in it except a four-swing set. Let’s face it, put a swingset in the middle of a football field and the children will still walk in front of someone swinging.
So today we have a nice park but if one more mother complains that there are no swings, I’ll scream.
“Today I do let my kids have some fun and try not to notice when they’re being crazy”
I tried not to notice my kids climbing to the top of a tree and jumping onto the trampoline below.
From the article: Kids aren’t learning how to get hurt, lose, fend for themselves, find their balance and discover minor dangers on their own - all important parts of growing up.
***
Amen to that!
I must say I am amazed to see such an article coming out of SF.
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