billy.pilgrim wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:40 am
I wasn't complaining or bragging. It was an hour and a half of fun and an example of the difference between the 50s and today.
"Just funnin' wit ya."
I was thinking of the many times I've seen someone writing about difficult situations when they walked to school; which really is nothing to ridicule, but the snow keeps getting deeper
billy.pilgrim wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 7:40 am
I wasn't complaining or bragging. It was an hour and a half of fun and an example of the difference between the 50s and today.
"Just funnin' wit ya."
I was thinking of the many times I've seen someone writing about difficult situations when they walked to school; which really is nothing to ridicule, but the snow keeps getting deeper
When we complained about walking in the cold to school, mom would tell us about all 4 of them riding to school on one horse, each clutching the hot just boiled egg my grandmother gave them to keep their hands warm - and for lunch later.
Her story didn't work, we were all envious of how cool it must have been to ride a horse to school.
Trump: “We had the safest border in the history of our country - or at least recorded history. I guess maybe a thousand years ago it was even better.”
billy.pilgrim wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:17 am
When we complained about walking in the cold to school, mom would tell us about all 4 of them riding to school on one horse, each clutching the hot just boiled egg my grandmother gave them to keep their hands warm - and for lunch later.
Her story didn't work, we were all envious of how cool it must have been to ride a horse to school.
Reminds me of our taking our lunch to school wrapped in a dishtowel stuffed into a one-gallon tin Karo syrup bucket. Mom used to leave a tail-end piece of the towel sticking out and push the lid down, but not locking it in, and warning us not to push the lid down all the way, or we couldn't open it. Mom was right. One day, my teacher had to get the janitor to bring a screwdriver and pop the lid.
Telling this story to a group of kids at a school one time elicited the same reaction; how cool it was to take your lunch to school in a syrup pail!
billy.pilgrim wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 11:17 amWhen we complained about walking in the cold to school, mom would tell us about all 4 of them riding to school on one horse, each clutching the hot just boiled egg my grandmother gave them to keep their hands warm - and for lunch later.
Her story didn't work, we were all envious of how cool it must have been to ride a horse to school.
I would have started asking for boiled eggs on cold mornings, too. ;)
billy.pilgrim wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 6:19 pm... I walked 2 miles to mom's jr high job from my elementary in the 1st and 2nd grade....
I first read that as, "I walked 2 miles to mom's jr high from my elementary in the 1st and 2nd grade," missing the word "job". I was already trying to craft the perfect crack about southerners when I reread it.
In an interview with ABC7, owner Jeremy Salib said about two-dozen high schoolers took armloads of merchandise including candy, chips and beer during the "premeditated, organized" theft.
"Of course, they're gathering -- so many of them -- that I can't stop just one kid, right? It's 24, 25 kids, so it leaves me kind of helpless -- especially with LAPD saying they can't do anything about it," Salib said. https://abc7.com/post/gas-station-owner ... /17399425/
Fairly often there are flip-through articles about things that were normally done 30-40 years ago and are no longer done. They're usually presented with a (really dumb) headline about things that "confuse" young people. Well, I'm sure that a person's parents or grandparents stories about how things were in the past are rarely if ever "confusing" although some would certainly be considered strange. Here's one example of that type of article, and really, if you've seen one you're pretty much seen them all as they all list the same stuff.
Most are always just stuff like using dial phones (gasp!), "appointment TV" with few channels, extensive smoking, etc. Can't you just feel the "confusion"? But one thing is on most of the lists that is confusing - "drinking out of the garden hose." Sure, I've done it - probably most everybody else has at one time or another, but when did it become something that would make people aghast to see somebody drinking from the hose? Is it no longer done? Did hoses become more toxic? Are kids/people accustomed to bottled water just afraid of tap? Do they no longer need to use hose water in the yard because they're always carrying around their Stanley Cup? Do helicopter parents consider hose drinking to be as dangerous as, say, climbing a tree or maybe equivalent to playing stickball in the street? What am I missing here?
O Really wrote: Mon Aug 18, 2025 12:21 pm... one thing is on most of the lists that is confusing - "drinking out of the garden hose." Sure, I've done it - probably most everybody else has at one time or another, but when did it become something that would make people aghast to see somebody drinking from the hose? Is it no longer done? Did hoses become more toxic? Are kids/people accustomed to bottled water just afraid of tap? Do they no longer need to use hose water in the yard because they're always carrying around their Stanley Cup? Do helicopter parents consider hose drinking to be as dangerous as, say, climbing a tree or maybe equivalent to playing stickball in the street? What am I missing here?
It raises the question - If drinking out of the garden hose is sketchy, do we really want to grow our vegetables or even water the lawns kids play on with that water?
Camco's premium drinking water hose is specifically made for drinking. This heavy duty reinforced 1/2 inch ID drinking water hose is 20 percent thicker than standard hoses. It is made in the USA.
Reinforced for maximum kink resistance
Hose is made of PVC
BPA free
2. Bacterial Growth
Garden hoses can also harbor bacteria, especially if they have been sitting in the sun or stored improperly. The warm, moist environment is ideal for bacterial growth, potentially leading to stomach illnesses or infections if consumed. Some common bacterial contaminants include:
Salmonella: Can cause severe gastrointestinal illness.
E. coli: A well-known bacterium that can lead to severe food poisoning.
Along with not necessarily knowing what the end of that hose was used for last.
For Virginia mother Karyann Parkinson, the answer was 5.
On June 5, she let her 5-year-old son, Samuel, walk half a mile to a pond in their gated community to collect goose feathers, a route she says he knows well and that they had just done together. The outing ultimately led to a criminal conviction and her placement on the state's child-abuse and neglect registry.
:wtf: Harsh.
Parkinson has become the latest inadvertent symbol of a growing movement that believes children need more independence. Her conviction has reignited a debate over how much freedom kids should have and how much government oversight is appropriate in parenting. It's also placed a spotlight on free range parenting, a philosophy that emphasizes free play, increased independence and limited parental intervention.
GoFree KidsGo
... "They can do more than you think they can, and as you allow them to do that, they're going to build all this confidence," says Parkinson, who studied family science at Brigham Young University. "I just love to give my kids those chances to have a little success under their belts, and you have to build that, you can't expect kids to suddenly be able to walk down the street on their own if you don't give them the chance."
:clap:
... A police officer and Child Protective Services visited that day. Parkinson was eventually charged and convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to records viewed by USA TODAY. She was sentenced to six months of suspended jail time and also added to Virginia's child abuse and neglect registry for the next seven years. According to CBS, the conviction means she can't do certain things, such as volunteering at her son's school.
... Children are typically ready to navigate streets without guardian supervision around age 10, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Factors like traffic environment, travel length, and a child's maturity all impact when a child is ready to be unsupervised.
And yet, many American children have less independence than that.
A Harris Poll survey conducted of kids ages 8 to 12 found that most respondents aren't allowed to be in public without an adult, and more than a quarter aren't allowed to play unsupervised in their front yard. Research from the conservative think tank Institute for Family Studies found that more than 60% of 17-year-olds cannot go beyond their own neighborhoods unsupervised.
:sick:
... Laws also vary by state on when children can be left without adult supervision. Illinois, for example, doesn't allow children to be left alone under the age of 14....
Too many variables. the kid could be a fucking stable genius or the route to the pond could be vastly free of vehicle traffic. And it's not likely that some random killer would be prowling around a gated community (the cat pan's favorite fantasy). I'd call it a case of mistaken identity and demand diplomatic license plates and entry into the witness protection program. And four beers.
I'm not defending child labor, but it was as late as the 1930's that 11 year olds were working in factories. And way more recent than that when they might take a note and a dollar down to the corner bodega to pick up cigarettes (and maybe a beer) for their dad and a piece of candy for themselves. What happened that now they're not even capable of walking to school and back?
Lenore Skenazy (original "Free Range Kids" author) had a good column in the local fishwrapper today. I'll link it if I can get it to work and avoid paywall, but the main point is that parents complain about their kids on their devices all the time but don't realize that they (the parents) have taken away most alternatives. No more places where kids can just hang out together, and they probably wouldn't be allowed if there were. An amazing percentage of 12 year olds say they haven't ever been allowed to go past their block alone. What malls are left generally ban unaccompanied kids. Bottom line, helicopter parenting has created the situation, leaving kids few alternatives to solitude activities.
O Really wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 11:03 am
Lenore Skenazy (original "Free Range Kids" author) had a good column in the local fishwrapper today. I'll link it if I can get it to work and avoid paywall, but the main point is that parents complain about their kids on their devices all the time but don't realize that they (the parents) have taken away most alternatives. No more places where kids can just hang out together, and they probably wouldn't be allowed if there were. An amazing percentage of 12 year olds say they haven't ever been allowed to go past their block alone. What malls are left generally ban unaccompanied kids. Bottom line, helicopter parenting has created the situation, leaving kids few alternatives to solitude activities.
True Dat. And oftentimes the worst device addicts are the parents.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
O Really wrote: Mon Oct 26, 2026 11:03 amLenore Skenazy (original "Free Range Kids" author) had a good column in the local fishwrapper today. I'll link it if I can get it to work and avoid paywall, but the main point is that parents complain about their kids on their devices all the time but don't realize that they (the parents) have taken away most alternatives. No more places where kids can just hang out together, and they probably wouldn't be allowed if there were. An amazing percentage of 12 year olds say they haven't ever been allowed to go past their block alone. What malls are left generally ban unaccompanied kids. Bottom line, helicopter parenting has created the situation, leaving kids few alternatives to solitude activities.
True Dat. And oftentimes the worst device addicts are the parents.
I asked my brother's family if the kids ever left the cul de sac. Nope. All play with peers required an adult to drive. I was horrified. I used to travel miles on my own.
Kids want the real world; we took it from them
BY LENORE SKENAZY
How do you get kids to stop spending so much time in the virtual world? It’s pretty
obvious: Give them back the real one.
Kids desperately need free time, with each other, in person, in a place their parents let
them go. That’s a pretty simple ask — it’s what you did after school, right? Hung out with
friends? But right now it’s not happening, for a variety of reasons.
First of all, kids are barely allowed to go anywhere on their own anymore. This is due to
factors as disparate as predator panic and bad city planning. A 2025 Harris poll found the
majority of 8- to 12-year-olds had never walked or biked anywhere without an adult.
(Contrast that with your own childhood and sigh.)
As for older kids, they’re treated like toddlers. A huge Institute for Family Studies survey
just found that the majority of parents of 14-year-olds — high school freshmen — will
not let them leave the block.
So problem No. 1 is that they don’t leave the house because they aren’t allowed to leave
the house.
Problem No. 2: Where can they go? A study of teens by the nonprofit California Partners
Project found that many literally can’t get to a “third place” even if they’re allowed off
the block, because they lack transportation. And a lot of third spaces, like cafés, require
money, which teens are perpetually short on.
And then, a lot of kids don’t feel welcome in some places — because they aren’t. Across
America, more than 1,000 malls have banned young people in some way, according to the
National Youth Rights Association. Teens are sent packing.
You might guess that when they come home and hop on social media, they at least talk to
each other online, but actually, it’s even sadder. About half the teens who feel
unwelcome are turning to chatbots, according to the California Partners survey.
They use AI for friendship and advice. But — one note of hope — the survey also found
that almost half of those kids would use chatbots less if they were meeting with friends
in real life.
In fact, that is the after-school life kids desperately want. That Harris poll last year asked
kids 8-12 how they’d most like to spend time with friends: in person, just hanging out; in
an adult-run activity, like soccer or ballet; or online, whether playing video games or on
social media.
The winner, by far? Unstructured, in-person time — basically a Gen X childhood.
Organized activities came in second, possibly because at least they’re in person. Online
was dead last.
The California Partners survey found the same longing among teens. “Unstructured inperson hangouts — time spent together without a set plan or schedule” won big time —
70% — over organized activities (17%) and online interaction (12%).
Kids from elementary through high school dearly want a time and place to be together in
person. Absent that, they go online, sometimes to talk to each other, sometimes to talk
to a bot. Not surprisingly, this is hurting their mental health.
Over the decades, as young people’s independence and free play have been going down,
children’s anxiety and depression have been going up.
What could turn this around? Simple: If kids need a place they can get to and hang out at,
open more public spaces to them.
Stop banning them from shops and malls. (Feel free to kick out the troublemakers — just
not everyone of a certain age.)
Make libraries into hang-out havens and maker spaces.
Put “parkies” — recreation supervisors — back in the parks.
Turn underused locales — the basement of a town hall, an empty storefront, a
community college cafeteria on weekends — into welcoming places with boardgames, or
movies, and snacks. Kids don’t need luxuries. They need a room and some granola bars.
Finally and most simply: Keep the schools open after school for all-age free play. Parents
trust schools, and the kids are already there. Let them hang out for a couple hours every
day. Friendships and those elusive “social-emotional skills” will blossom.
If kids can’t meet up easily in the real world, they’ll meet up in the virtual one. That is
literally the last thing they want to do.
Skenazy is president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience.
Often times we just hung out. Basement rec rooms in the winter or tree houses in the summer . Neighborhood pick up basketball in backyard courts, invented baseball type games in lieu of not being able to field teams and neighborhood 4 on 4 football. Bike excursions to explore shit was an adventure, not to mention riding my bike to my own little league games.
Be home by dinner, or after dinner be home by dark.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
I would have started asking for boiled eggs on cold mornings, too. ;)
:ateeth: 
