Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts... have times really changed so much?

[Flatheadyoungin]

man, i think of this all the time........

like many here, it's a miracle we survived; making homemade "firecrackers", playing with gasoline, riding atvs, leaving for the woods EARLY in the morning and not returning until way past dark, riding bullet bikes, driving cars way too fast, etc.......

i look back and think my dad let me have too much freedom......but growing up i thought he was pretty strict on many things.......

now, looking ahead to my kids, knowing what i used to get in to, there is no way i'd let them do some of it......especially not checking in all day and crossing MANY other people's property without permission....

i think this is why kids are sheltered, or whatever you want to call it for the sake of this thread.....

people don't trust each other as much and i think this contributes......we are leary of our fellow man; molesters, rapist, murderes.....they've always exhisted but i do think we have gotten worse in our morals and ethics.........

however, a lot of this is why we bought 43 acres.....so the kids can run and GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY.......i want them to have similar experiences as mine; fishing, camping, hiking, playing rambo, riding dirt bikes and atvs, damming up creeks, etc.....just no gas or things that go boom!

i work with high schoolers and i'll tell you, over-all, it's scary.....i'm sure my teachers in school thought the same of me, however.......i work with some of my former teachers and many times, during meetings, they'll lean over and say, "i never thought i'd see the day i would setting next to you at a teacher's meeting"........heck, one used to tell me i was going to be on welfare (if i didn't change my ways- even though my parents worked).....i did and she thinks i'm great, now......

and, i have former students come back that have finished college, graduated from boot camp, started a business.......and it makes me proud and makes me feel better about the future.....

so i go back-n-forth with it...

 

[Ken_CT]

As a retired teacher I can say there is a big difference in how parents treat their kids since I was young. If my parents, or any others I knew got a call from the teacher, we were in trouble. Call a parent today, and the parent sides with the child. Not his fault, not my little angel, etc. One of my favorite was when I called a parent about the student not doing homework. The parent defended him by saying all of the extracurricular activities (baseball, part time job etc.) didn't leave him enough time for homework.. in other word, baseball was more important than school. At a later date I was driving behind the same student with his mother driving him to a school activity. Drivers window opens up and a Burger King bag flies out. Nice. Apple doesn't fall far......etc.

 

[MossRoad]

Maybe they are German and you don't know it

Took me a while to figure out what the problem was, but Germans (and many other countries) don't navigate the way we do. They navigate by the direction of a major known point, such as Drive in the direction of Nurenburg instead of go north.

I know it is not the case but just thought I would share what I always found to be interesting.

Nowdays, my German wife knows our town better then most as in the landscaping business she ends up covering it pretty well.

Well, heck! They do have a tiny bit of German in them, but so do I. I can usually look around and determine the direction I need to go, no matter where I am in the country. My wife is real good at finding her way around, too. And she doesn't stop to ask for directions either! (she's mine and you guys can't have her ).

 

[tommu56]

My girls are way past their parents, aunts and uncles for their ages as far as grades, intelligence, etc... goes. That is encouraging. And they both prefer classic rock over modern music. That makes it downright rewarding to be a parent!

However, I've noticed that they and their friends, both male and female, have no sense of direction (compass wise, not life wise). They cannot find their way around town. I wonder why that is? I make them tell me how to get to places, hoping that they will develop a sense of direction, but many times they think they are on the south side of town when we are on the north. I think there's some disruption in the magnetic field.

When I went to philmont as a adult with the crew the term NAVAGUESSER was coined.
We wouldn't correct them as they had to learn how to navigate.
After the 2 or 3 mistakes all the boys would start studying the map and we (the adult's) would just ask why they would go that way even if it was the correct path and they would start understand the terrain and compass.

tom

 

[Bird]

baseball was more important than school

Ken, I'm not so sure about baseball, but in Texas, football is the top priority of every school I know of. And that can't be blamed on the kids; it's the adults who have made that their priority.

 

[ultrarunner]

Don't tell me you don't carry a handgun?

Well, I didn't get too far in that department. Even Reserve Police Officers working one night a week don't quality for a CCWP and they are required to leave their service weapon at the station when not on duty.

My neighbor would occasionally duck hunt down at the marsh. He told me he would take the bus down to the marsh near the airport with his single shot Montgomery Wards shotgun... never a glance was given. He bought his home in 1931 and lived their to 1990.

Every year the newspaper publishes the name and address of each non-law enforcement person with a CCWP... less than 200 with a population of 1.5 million.

Probably wouldn't help if I had one anyway... one of my sister-in-laws wouldn't let her kids visit her parents untill her father got rid of his military rifle and pistol.

 

[reb]

Have you noticed Parents tend to be much more cautious today then in the past?...

I just read a bit of the history of this area yesterday. About 100 years ago, one of the ranch owners was away for a few days and his wife sent their 9 year old son to sell their bean crop. He took two pack mules to a town about 60 miles away. Her main worry was rabid skunks reportedly in the area. She told him to use the bags of beans as a barrier around him when he camped at night. He made the trip without incident. Kids were tougher then than now.

 

[scott_vt]

It does make me stop and wonder if this generation is doing the next any favors...

Before I was 10, I was making pocket money doing odd jobs and painting... One of my colleagues at work mentioned her 17 year old didn't know how to do anything and it was time he got a summer job. I needed a few apartments painted inside and offered to give him a try... one would of thought I was sending her son to mine asbestos or something... she said no way would she allow her son to be exposed to all those chemicals and that's why she hires painters for her home....it's just too dangerous, but not so dangerous to have hire it out.

Good Evenin Ultrarunner,
Im with you on this one, I would be dead 10 times over if house painting inside or out was that toxic or dangerous !
This kid probablly cant tie his own shoes either, his parents have done him a huge disservice !!!

On your original post, I agree, honestly I cant imagine growing up in todays world, yesterdays world was way more fun IMHO !

 

[Sigarms]

He made the trip without incident. Kids were tougher then than now.

Why?

Kind of like the conversation I had with a man the other day and how he felt people today don't work like people in the 1970's. I asked him why just the 70's (perhaps the 50's-60's as well?), but he really didn't give me an explanation.

Couple of years ago I helped a buddy take his buddies 12 year old son down the upper Gauley for his first run on that river kayaking (the sons father was still out in Colorado). Now, the upper Gauley isn't like some of the "biggies" for whitewater out west, but here on the east coast, it's some pretty good whitewater when it's running over its average flow release. That 12 year old boy made it down the river no problem, no swims. I've seen grown men sitting out of their boats on the rocks on that river after a hard swim trying to "get it back together". But not that "boy". Was he tough enough?

If boys in the early 1900's/1800's were tougher than the children of today, what about the children of the 1500'/1600's? Were they tougher than the children of the 1800's-early 1900's? Better yet, at what point in man's history were children the toughest? Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't the children of today have the lowest mortality rate than those children of past centuries? You would think if the children were so tough back then, they would have a lower mortality rate.

yesterdays world was way more fun IMHO !

I think it's what you make of it. Kids today have AMAZING resources available to them if they actually want to utilize them to have some serious fun.

Heck, I'm old enough into kayaking that I rember when there were no "play boats" for whitewater rodeo (heck, I remember when the only whitewater rodeo was when you got in a big butt hole by mistake and your buddies watched you try to get out). Kids some years ago were picking up a playboat as their first boat, hitting a nice big hole the first year, practicing, and were simply amazing.

Heck, wish we would of had paint ball guns and all the clothing the kids have available today. Only thing we had as kids was bb guns, levi's and perhaps a jacket that mom gave you (no way were you going to tell her what you were going to do).

she said no way would she allow her son to be exposed to all those chemicals and that's why she hires painters for her home....it's just too dangerous, but not so dangerous to have hire it out.

Likewise, I'm certain you could of found "over protective mothers" like that in all points of mans history. A lot of mothers today still let their 17 or 18 year old sons and daughters put their life on the line serving our country so we can enjoy our freedom.

Guess however you could argue though that back "then" when you didn't have goverment social programs that help pay you not to work, people were more motivated to actually work because they had to have money somehow. Woops, starting to sound like my father again!

 

[scott_vt]

I think it's what you make of it. Kids today have AMAZING resources available to them if they actually want to utilize them to have some serious fun.

Good Evenin Joe,
Good story about your buddies on his first kayaking trip ! What I see too much of today is todays youth sitting inside behind video games and computers, certainly not all but just the same, many ! Im not trying to stereotype todays youth, its just an observation !

I think all the stuff that I did as a kid outside beat the heck out of sitting inside ! JMO, Im all most , oh never mind..... and I still love being outside !