Under 21? Lowe's Won't Sell You Some Products

WMUR ^ | May 13, 2003 | Associated Press

[AngryJawa]

Ah, dope...the magical orange can! It always made me sick too. The Deft lacquer I use on my furniture project is similar in smell. Even a respirator isn't enough. I'd stop using it if the results weren't so good.

[Squawk 8888]

Your rant echoes my thoughts almost to a tee. Now it's my turn- everybody's blaming Big Food for the epidemic of childhood obesity but look at how kids are being raised these days- when I was a kid in the 1970s a typical summer day would be a 5-mile bike ride in the morning, a walk through the woods grazing on wild berries for lunch, a dip in the neighbour's pool, another bike ride, dinner at home then a game of British bulldog or hide & seek once it got dark. We ate just as much junk food as kids do now but it all burned off. Today parents won't let the little darlings walk beyond the end of the driveway- any further and it's into the minivan and off to some pre-planned, organized, non-spontaneous activity that is designed for the parents, not the kids. The schools are no better; I was shocked when I found out about our school board's transport policy- any kid who lives more than 1000 yards from school gets bussed. It was brought in at the same time our gov't ran an ad campaign exhorting Canadians to get more exercise; the slogan was "Walk a block a day".

[-YYZ-]

Yeah, well according to my co-workers who have children, there are child-molestors and abductors lurking around every corner waiting to scoop the kids up, so they must be driven everywhere. Not to say those things don't happen, but I doubt if they're any more common today than they ever were. Parents have gotten so over-protective that it's incredible. When I was 8 or so, I used to ride my bike back and forth to school, and all over town, as far as I could manage to pedal. And that wasn't the middle of nowhere, it was a moderate sized city of 100,000 or so.

As far as the huffing goes, it was obvious to me, and made clear if it wasn't, that inhaling solvents would do nothing but deprive your brain of oxygen and eventually cause brain damage. We got someone to buy us beer, and later we moved on to pot, also, but I didn't start any of that until I was 16 or so. I know it would be better if teenagers didn't do any of this stuff, but I'd sooner see them drinking a few beers or smoking a joint or two than messing around with inhalants.

[Squawk 8888]

I don't think a person can learn discipline and self-restraint by having things denied them by others, how can somebody learn not to drink to excess when they aren't allowed to drink at all? All we seem to do is move the crisis period back, the longer it takes to expect them to behave responsibly the longer it's going to take them to learn reponsibility.

Exactly. In my neck of the woods the drinking age is 19 (it was raised from 18 in a typical Canadian response to demands it be raised to 21), campus behaviour here is light-years removed from US colleges. Most campus pubs here are the most civilized watering holes you'll ever find, with cheap beer and intelligent conversation. We don't get the Animal House type of behaviour and alcohol poisoning is a rarity.

[jmc813]

WOD Ping

[oldironsides]

We have a terrible problem with spray paint from hardware stores and from the Dollar Stores. The kids buy it and spray every darn stop sign, street signs, speed signs etc.
I found cans on my road from Dollar General. I went and asked them to not sell to teens. They looked at me like I was a kook. The spray paint is cheap and costs our township a fortune to repair and replace signs. I was advised to contact the managers or the area stores.

[I'm ALL Right!]

Definitely put DUCT TAPE on the list of No-No's!

[talleyman]

"The Thundering Herd Of Turtles" ?
More info, please?
I happen to be fond of turtles - my back yard is a turtle sanctuary. We currently have 3 residents - Helmut, Buttercup & Peanut.
No, Doctor, I don't think I ramble on and on and on....

[Squawk 8888]

Yeah, well according to my co-workers who have children, there are child-molestors and abductors lurking around every corner waiting to scoop the kids up, so they must be driven everywhere. Not to say those things don't happen, but I doubt if they're any more common today than they ever were.

They were just as common as when I was young but it wasn't blown out of proportion by the media the way it is now. We were all made aware of the commonsense ways to protect ourselves (I actually encountered the classic "help me find my dog" operator, the cops took him to Cherry Beach), but now instead of giving kids the knowledge to stay safe we're scaring them half to death and never letting them out of our sight. From about the age of five my parents (and most parents) had a policy that the first time I went somewhere they took me, the second time I took them, after that I was on my own. By the time I was seven they were confident that I could read a map of the subway system and the restrictions were gone.

Parents have gotten so over-protective that it's incredible. When I was 8 or so, I used to ride my bike back and forth to school, and all over town, as far as I could manage to pedal.

Me too, and it stuck. I'm 40 now and still ride my bike to work, 11km each way in traffic. When I was a kid, if we were caught riding on the sidewalk we were grounded; today parents are telling their kids to ride on the sidewalk even though it's safer on the road.

[Hatteras]

Actually, the name is of my freeper NASCAR fantasy racing team which I haven't checked on in weeks. I took it from an old rallying cry my mama was fond of as we headed off on vacation (usually a few hours late).

"We're off, like a herd of turtles!"

The only turtles we have at home is a framed picture, now tucked away somewhere, of two turtles enjoying each other's company during mating season while we were on our honeymoon at the Bermuda zoo. I take that back, my daughter did find a baby snapper (about 2 inches around) and she put it in the garden pond (thanks, sweetie...). I'm sure he'll make his presence known when we throw some goldfish in there in a week or two...

[tacticalogic]

When I was growing up, my dad owned a body shop. I had to work at not spending my Saturday afternoons breathing paint fumes.

[judgeandjury]

I will NEVER understand why kids think huffing brake fluid is cool.

Have you ever noticed how many of these so-called "cool" kids get in trouble with the law or otherwise have screwed-up lives? I guess maybe it's not really so cool to be "cool" after all.

[gcruse]

The excuse is always huffers, taggers are considered
 a nuisance but they aren't "hurting themselves"

Taggers may not be, but to say that huffing is
noninjurious to oneself is a lie.

[discostu]

As we've figured out on this thread by the time somebody starts huffing more than likely they're already a total burnout and probably past redemption.

[Dengar01]

If people are stupid enough to sniff glue then they deserve the brain damage. I'm guessing Loew's is doing this so they aren't "liable" for damages if little Johnny buys some paint, huffs it, and kills himself.

[gcruse]

I was married and in my late twenties when a neighbor of mine got me to try huffing Bactine. I did it once, and as I was fighting my way back to consciousness realized this wasn't something I'd be doing again. Yeck.

[30-06 Springfield]

Heck - Go to Wally Wrold after the pharmacy closes and try to buy Sudafed. No go. It is used for Meth.

[discostu]

Sure most of us (especially those that had a "wild youth" period) have tried it. And most decided it kind of sucked. It's those people desperate for a high and too poor to get a real drug that become habitual huffers, those people are already a mess this is just the last step to the grave.

[daylate-dollarshort]

"WHY would a kid do THIS? I do NOT understand....and I wonder if this is God's way of making sure they don't reproduce."

I'm to busy trying to figure out why the hell a kid would do this! When I can understand this, I'll work on the subject matter of this thread!!

James Keen, a 19-year-old from Scottsville, Ky., shows off his spilt tongue at his home Wednesday, May 7, 2003. James got his tongue split in December by a piercer after a surgeon declined to do it for him. He says the piercer used a scalpel heated by a blow torch and no anesthetic. Some say the practice, still relatively uncommon but edging up in popularity, is nothing short of mutilation. Lawmakers in Illinois are considering regulations that would all but outlaw it. (AP Photo/Joe Imel)

Sheeeese......my age is showing

[Dengar01]

Yeah, that's justifies denying the sale of basic household products to a 20-year old homeowner.

I happen to be a 20 year old homeowner and I think this is ridiculous. And to react because 150-200 crackpots die from sniffing glue! It is the same with guns, liquor ect. I didn't put the paint under their nose.

When I was younger I knew some girls who sprayed air freshener into a towel and huffed it. I'm assuming they are probably drug addicts now.

More laws, restrictions don't help anything. Are they going to restrict the sale of whip cream, perminent marker? What's next?

The ironic thing is that the 21 law is ridiculous since there are many mature 18-20 year olds who can handle paint without sniffing it and getting drunk and driving.

They can restrict all they want but if you get genuine addicts they will find their drugs, whip cream, alcohol, ect.