Taking the fun out of fun......

I think the flood of press for child predators and kidnappers has reduced the number of kids even allowed to walk or bike to their school. I'm sure there were the same amount of "threats" when I was a kid, we were just ignorant about them.

 

There was a story in the Toronto Star a few years back about overprotective parents.

Anyway it started talking about some kid who got to ride his bike around the block for the first time--under the watchful eye of his mother.

Kid was 12 friggin' years old.

 

They have Lego class?

 

Huggy, I was right behind you.

What's next? An advanced degree in Jenga? O-levels in Puzzletown?

Jesus.

 

I definitely think that's a factor...I delivered papers as a youngster, as we were fortunate enough to have a paper that used paper boys and girls. I went back home recently to find a girl on my old route, delivering papers with her mother accompanying her. Apparently that's common, and it's been difficult to find youth carriers, since so many parents are scared of letting their kids deliver and collect alone.

 

I taught "Capture The Flag" but only at the AAA level. God, those parents were assholes. They'd follow little Johnny around and show him the best places to hide.

 

Along the lines of the NYT column...

If my mom had told the 12-year-old version of myself to wear a bike helmet, I would have replied -- after I stopped laughing -- that only dorks wore helmets. Which was true.
Today, EVERY KID wears a helmet. Talk about a cultural change.

 

Chuck Norris wins every game of Connect Four with only three moves.

 

I wish we had been forced to wear helmets as a kid..........I lost 14 friends to bicycle accidents in the summer of '86 alone.

 

Another version of this: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/060507dnnatheely.1597cc07.html

Parents today are so scared of their kids getting hurt, they don't want to accept bumps, bruises and minor broken bones as just part of growing up. I broke my thumb swimming into the edge of a hotel pool when I was nine- should pools be outlawed because they're dangerous?

Two of the kids in this story astound me. One is the one you tripped and fell, breaking both his wrists. It sucks, but I'd imagine as a kid there's just as big a chance of tripping and falling over your own two feet as there is on wheelies. The other is the foot doctor who won't let his daughter have rolling shoes or trampolines. I bet he won't let his daughter play any sports either because of the risk of injury. And people wonder why kids are more and more overweight in this country.

Part of being a kid is getting a little banged up. Now, you do whatever you can to prevent serious injuries (bicycle helmets, careful instruction about the art of streetball), but breaking an arm or smashing a nose or pulling all sorts of muscles are just part of growing up.

I hate wheelies. But this whole trend of steering kids away from things that make them active because of the risk of injury is stupid.

 

I'm sure kids today are a lot different than my generation, growing up with newscasts spouting fear, politicians spouting fear, diseases without cures, threats everywhere, terrorism, global warming. Shit - I'd be afraid too.

 

Kritter...

After recently gaining custody of my son, I've been playing with him (and watching him play) a whole lot more. I know he's going to get hurt, and I fear for it as only a parent can, but I know it's part of growing up.

I just don't want to be the one to hurt him (letting him ride on the bike with me, etc) or see him get hurt "on my watch."