Dudelsack

I don't know anyone who was ever a victim of a violent crime. I would never be so silly to suggest therefore that violent crime does not exist

Anyway, the specific concern of the OP is whether we are being overprotective of our children. Once again, if I am being overprotective, it has absolutely nothing to do with guns.

Not P&R one way or the other, unless you choose to turn it into that

rolliepollie

Please don't be one of those who blame games or anything like how the media blames games for murderers, etc. Blanket blaming like that are bad. Maybe it's a combination of cell phones, always-online living, a multitude of online media and entertainment, social networking, and everything becoming more digital. We have more things to do than ever before, which may mean less time to do anything else. Plus, I reckon less people actually want to "work" these days than before to stay in shape. Just look at all the diet pills, vitamins and supplements, plastic surgery, and other body enhancements available that are booming. Not to mention people seem more paranoid and wary these days.

AdrianFly

Have kids lost their desire to roam?

They've lost the desire.. yes. It much easier to Roam in exciting places like World of Warcraft or Skyrim...or roam about the city in the new Grand Theft Auto game.

The kids I see roaming around town.. or even in the woods in our local nature preserve have got earbuds in or are walking blindly swiping through menu's on their smartphones. Oh.. and texting their friends who live 3 miles away with pictures of their "Adventure". Hilarious.

MEversbergII

As much as I like the outside world, and I really do, man if other things aren't a siren's call. A friend of mine commented that video games are far too effective entertainment.

M.

alienbogey

Overprotectiveness?

A coworker recently told me that his boys, aged approximately 7 and 4, aren't allowed to run unless they put their helmets on. Yes, THEY HAVE TO WEAR HELMETS IN ORDER TO RUN, and he said they're well-trained, and now almost always put them on without asking first if they don't have to.

I believe I stared at him with my mouth open for a few second before I could get my face under control.

Wilfred Laurier

you had me until you talked about the increase in diet aids
for decades there have been a myriad of ridiculous and or maginally (in)effective diets and products

but the idea that technological activities pull people away from real activities
is right on the money

i often tell my kids to shut off the electronics
which the do very reluctantly
only to find myself slipping intot he computer chair right after they leave
i feel the hypocrisy of it
but i struggle to pull myself away

enigmaT120

Wow. Though I do feel I need a helmet more whilst running than whilst riding my bike, considering my history of tripping and falling. So far nothing but road (trail) rash though, no head injuries.

Keith99

Actually I'm beginning to think it now has become more dangerous, but only as a self fulfilling prophesy. So many think it is too dangerous to let their kids out so now we have a world where the kid (singular) at a park is the only person there. Where before there were numbers that made crime doubtful and gave help if you fell out of a tree and were hurt, we now have no help in either case.

ThermionicScott 

Pedophile... or sex offender? Not always the same thing.

mrodgers

Not only that, but there is a 19 year old kid a stone's throw away from my home. At 19 years old, is he a pedophile, a sex offender, or just a 19 year old kid who was caught having sex with his 17 year old girlfriend and the girlfriend's parents didn't like their daughter being sexually active? Those are 3 very distinctly different kinds of people all labeled exactly the same.

DubC

I skipped the last page of this thread. I am 33 and from the age of 5 i roamed my huge neighborhood playing with other kids. My parents always knew where i was going because i made a call home to tell them where i was going and they knew the parents of most of the 20-30 some kids close to my age in the neighborhood. I live in the same home now that i grew up in and 3 weeks ago let my 24yr old niece and her 2 boys 5-6 move in with me temporarily. Within 3 days of me teaching the boys how to ride a bike they started riding close to my house on their own, but with me or her knowing where they are. Some other parent called the law on us for letting them ride in the street without supervision. We didn't get charged with anything but were verbally warned to watch them while they ride. What has this world come too? They were within 1/4 mile from my driveway just around the corner where my road flattens out.

BikinPotter

I was a child in the 60's. My parents moved from Chicago & bought a house about 50 miles northeast, close to a lake, when I was 4. Big back yard. Kids my age close by. We roamed the fields & woods around my house, playing "army", climbing trees, swimming in the lake, chasing fireflies, catching frogs, getting poison ivy. My dad made a rope swing for me on one of our trees. I spent HOURS on that swing in summer. In winter we built snowmen & snow forts, had snowball fights & went iceskating on the lake (I had to be accompanied by my big brother on the lake).

The summer I turned 8 we moved to a suburb of Chicago. For my 8th birthday I got a bicycle, which I was not allowed to ride in the street, but I and a bunch of neighborhood kids rode our bikes on sidewalks, bumping over curbs to cross a street when necessary. Around and around, just to ride, sticking bubblegum cards in the spokes, pretending we were riding motorcycles. There was a really big road I wasn't allowed to cross alone, but one evening I did anyway, in order to go to a carnival with my friends. I felt so rebellious! Somehow I survived.

When we got bored we visited "The Bubblegum Lady." I never knew her real name. She was an elderly woman who was lonely, enjoyed kids, and had a big bowl of bubblegum for anyone who stopped by & asked. Bazooka Joe. She wasn't creepy or weird. It was perfectly safe to go there, say "Hi", chat about school or whatever kids talk about, and get some bubblegum. We played baseball & rode bikes in summer. We built snowmen & snow forts in winter. I can still remember the wonder I felt walking around outside on a sunny day right after an ice storm. The sunlight gleaming on the ice-covered trees was intensely beautiful. Somehow, even while running all over the place, I still managed to be within earshot of my mother. When she called your name, you better get your butt home in a hurry! There were places my parents didn't consider safe for kids to be alone, and it was agreed that I wouldn't go there. With the exception of my one wild night on the Tilt-a-Whirl after crossing that forbidden busy road, I obeyed. There were predators. You never talk to strangers. You don't accept candy from strangers. We knew there were bad people in the world, and we were taught to stay out of places where they might be.

As I grew out of childhood, into my teenage years, bicycles played less of a role in my life, but I walked everywhere. I walked to school, I walked to my friends, I walked to the park (where we smoked pot), I walked to this place that had these tired old horses where you could pay to ride for an hour, and home again. It was nothing to walk 10 miles in a day. But then I started driving. And then I started having trouble keeping weight off.

The point is that I know people who have kids they never let play outside. When little BooBoo (names have been changed to protect the innocent) was about 8-years-old I asked his mother about him going out to play. "He never goes out to play," she said. "He doesn't like to be outside." I don't think I've ever heard a sadder statement in my life. This kid, who is now 18, spent his entire childhood in front of a computer, or a video game. He's never ridden a bicycle. He knows nothing of the pure joy of moving through space using only your own power. He's never had the delicious feeling of running out the back door, free at last! jumping on a bicycle and heading off for an adventure. Or even better, riding a bike while spending quality time with a parent (my parents wouldn't be caught dead on bicycles. I always envied the kids whose dads would ride with them.) I feel sorry for kids today. So much distraction. So much pressure. And most of them have never had the amazing olfactory experience of smelling burning leaves on a cool autumn night.

BeginnerCycling

I've seen some articles saying that what parents are most trying to protect against, abduction/harm by strangers, are actually not any more common today than 50 years ago -- just the 24 hour news cycle means almost every child abduction is national news. So, I think parents are more protective, but have at least an excuse for being more sensitive.

Here's one of the articles I read a while back. Interesting, regarding the risk of unsupervised neighborhood play (page 3) - basically MUCH safer than playing football, riding horses, or (especially) riding in cars: https://missingchild.files.wordpress....-childhood.pdf