http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/10/19/DDB9SQVJ3.DTL
What do you think? Are kids over-protected?
What do you think? Are kids over-protected?
The Wussification of American Children
- Thread starter OGRipper
- Start date
My best memories were from doing dangerous things as a kid.
Burning garbage
Riding a bike/skateboarding without helmet
BB gun fights
rock fights
Riding a red flyer wagon down 12% grade public roads
Burning garbage
Riding a bike/skateboarding without helmet
BB gun fights
rock fights
Riding a red flyer wagon down 12% grade public roads
Yup... to the point that my neighbor up the street used to stitch me up on a regular basis.
And no... he didn't give me any Novocain.
EDIT - just read the article... reminded me of when my dad used to take me for a ride on his mortorcycle. Neither of us wore a helmet and I would hold his beer for him. That stopped when I got to big to sit in front of him.
Let's not forget
Bluff jumping
Bottle rocket fights
making bombs of various kinds
Fashioning weapons in the garage
making animal traps/pungee pits
3 wheelers
Grabbin' tight aces in the crowded shool hallways?
heck yeah, and don`t forget bottle rocket wars ,yard darts ,and playgrounds with marry-go-rounds and lead paint all over everthing.
In high school, seemed like every other week somebody was coming in in a cast due to a 3 wheeler incident.
My long held theory on the topic is that since we are messing with natural selection via helmets, airbags, and other so called "safety features" our offspring are all going to end up as mushy blobs of fatty tissue, encased in some sort of metal exoskeleton.
Youth: a place where rockclimbing in a rattlesnake infested drainage basin seems like a great way to spend an afternoon.
My brother, the two neighbors and myself built a "go-kart" out of random junk. Steering the front wheels was accomplished with your feet on the 2X4" front axle. Brakes???? well those two 3' long metal pipes straight into the pavement didn't so much stop you are cause a 30' long stream of sparks off the pavemnt.....ahhh memories
My brother, the two neighbors and myself built a "go-kart" out of random junk. Steering the front wheels was accomplished with your feet on the 2X4" front axle. Brakes???? well those two 3' long metal pipes straight into the pavement didn't so much stop you are cause a 30' long stream of sparks off the pavemnt.....ahhh memories
LOL - everything but the 3 wheeler... but we had boats instead. Ever seen a 13' boston whaler with a 75hp engine on it hit a wake at full speed? That one was expensive...
I hit my cousin in the head with a lawn dart, and I hit my older brother in the head with a garden rake (the one with the hard steel tines).
We did that as well but one of my favorite "rides" was a 4 wheeled furniture dolly. It had two swiveling wheels and two fixed wheels like a shopping cart. All 4 wheels were about 2" diameter and made of some sort of rock hard plastic. Steering was equivalent to a saucer sled (at 30mph on asphalt). You'd hold on to the sides and lean and drag the inside foot on either side to turn. Since the wheels were so hard they had zero grip, so if you did manage to turn, typically it was of the 4 wheel drift variety. Needless to say, there was much carnage.
my uncle brought me a bag of m80s when I was 10...man that was a fun day...flaming arrows were the best though. actually caught my parent's yard on fire and almost burned the house down.
WOW! Flaming arrows, now theres one i forgot about. and you weren`t an american boy if you haven`t had a bad experience with a m 80.
I loved getting a pocket knife when I was 9 (a blue Swiss Army one... it was awesome!). I loved climbing trees, hopping fences, riding a bike and skateboarding without a helmet (in the front yard or at the park, not in the street). I remember my brother and I would tumble around the back of my dad's old Tacoma while he drove around town (it had a camper shell, but still). I remember drinking from the same canteen as my friends, digging holes just to dig holes, having mud fights, getting splinters, crashing on my bike off the 3' dirt jump at the school behind my house, and having air soft gun fights in the living room with my brother (okay, I was 23 when I did that).
Whatever. People are so over-protective that they almost drive their kids to obesity. It's insane how much protection is placed on kids these days.
My kids will be out-door thugs... but they will, most definitely, wear helmets while riding bikes. I guess it's just a matter of balance.
Whatever. People are so over-protective that they almost drive their kids to obesity. It's insane how much protection is placed on kids these days.
My kids will be out-door thugs... but they will, most definitely, wear helmets while riding bikes. I guess it's just a matter of balance.
I want to buy an '85 Honda 350x 3 wheeler for myself soon. Trikes are AWESOME.
We used to have Roman Candle fights, what fun we had.
To think games like dodge ball and tag are outlawed in public schools here makes me think we have gone too far for sure.
We used to have Roman Candle fights, what fun we had.
To think games like dodge ball and tag are outlawed in public schools here makes me think we have gone too far for sure.
I seem to remember:
-Ice skating on/playing in a swamp
-Super soaker fights with various household chemicals
-Fashioning knives/arrows with sticks and getting into wars with my brothers
-Rock throwing
-Trip wires/pungee stick pits/animal traps
-Riding our bikes full speed across the yard and trying to jump from our driveway to our neighbors
and many more stupid ideas
-Ice skating on/playing in a swamp
-Super soaker fights with various household chemicals
-Fashioning knives/arrows with sticks and getting into wars with my brothers
-Rock throwing
-Trip wires/pungee stick pits/animal traps
-Riding our bikes full speed across the yard and trying to jump from our driveway to our neighbors
and many more stupid ideas
-BB guns were awesome, one wall of our neighbors garage bordered our back yard. It's still full of bbs where the backstop thing had holes in it 'cause the holes made the best targets.
-Bike tag
-Having the run of the town and logging thousands upon thousands of miles on my bikes wandering all over hells half acre. (what helmet?)
-throwing rocks at the trains
-using the tracks as a bike route 'cause they were usually the most direct path to wherever I was going.
All **** my kids (if I ever actually have any) will never be able to do
lthumbsdown:
-Bike tag
-Having the run of the town and logging thousands upon thousands of miles on my bikes wandering all over hells half acre. (what helmet?)
-throwing rocks at the trains
-using the tracks as a bike route 'cause they were usually the most direct path to wherever I was going.
All **** my kids (if I ever actually have any) will never be able to do
lthumbsdown:
It's funny what people are listing the crazy sh*t they did. I'm sure most parents didn't have a clue. I'm willing to bet 99% of the previous posters DON'T have children. However once you have kids you do tend to be over protective. I was a big shot saying all the sh*t I'd allow my kids to do. Now that I have children, I find myself fairly protective with them.
-hopping trains and riding until it slowed down enough to jump off. which wasnt until we were an hour an a half away.
-scaling 1200 ft radio towers
-sneaking out and riding bikes all night
-101 ways to use a gallon of gas and a bic lighter
-dads blackpowder horn full to the brim
-golf cart swiping
-scaling 1200 ft radio towers
-sneaking out and riding bikes all night
-101 ways to use a gallon of gas and a bic lighter
-dads blackpowder horn full to the brim
-golf cart swiping
My daughter wears a helmet ALWAYS. She has full gear for the quad (her boots are nicer than mine). I have spent the last month giving her saftey lessons while holding the remote kill switch in the back yard.
I used to ride 3 wheelers in shorts and no shirt. We made jumps out of stacked bricks and a scrap of wood. I was never taught how to ride an ATV or dirt bike other than "Here's the gas..."
My pop can whoop your pop.
More important in this article to me is the fact that the word wussy shows up in print (slight variation of).
I mean half that word is pussy.
It's a great day in america.
i have a 4 year old girl i would kill over. i pray every day she doesnt give me the trouble i gave my parents. i dont think i could take all the late night phone calls.
Or, "Hey dad I need to borrow your chainsaw"
"Yeah, just dont **** it up or I'll kick your ass"
Pretty good safety brief.
Oh man, we inherited this 15ft aluminum scanoe with a 4-horse johnson outboard when I was about 8...by 14 it was my boat. That thing went to hell and back in water and conditions no boat should ever have to endure. Caught alot of fish out of that thing.
Would still have it today if some friends hadnt borrowed it to go night fishing with no lights. They got hit by a bassboat going full blast and it was torn in half and sank. The motor is still around somewhere.
I need to get another of those things.
Childhood:
- Jumping my Huffy over a long line of milk crates on concrete w/ no helmet.
- Gunk engine cleaner, a lighter, and many, many dead action figures.
- BB gun wars.
- Wrist rockets.
- Archery. (I got shot in the face once)
- Train dodging. Really.
- Very steep hills on fvcked up bikes w/ no brakes.
- Throwing watermelons off freeway overpasses.
- Bringing home made weapons to school. (maces, clubs, knives)
- 6am paper route in a Latino neighborhood filled with untethered pitbulls.
- Darts.
- Lawn darts.
- Pellet guns.
- Nunchucks (home made and store bought).
- Throwing stars.
- Caltrops.
- Bullwhips.
My girl is NOT a tomboy. At all. She just doesn't go and get into physical trouble.
I am fairly protective of her. The world was a tad less psycho when I was young. Way less guns and drugs out there. That is what I am most concerned with. That and diseases.
I'm already shopping for a wrist rocket and BB gun for if the next one is a boy.
Kids are way too overprotected today. Anyone remember the thread with article about red marks on failing paper's hurting students emotionally? "well, duh, they f'ed up.."
Also, kids can see 'violence' in PG-13 movies, but if there's one boob, it's an R movie...
It seems like this stuff is just getting worse.
Also, kids can see 'violence' in PG-13 movies, but if there's one boob, it's an R movie...
It seems like this stuff is just getting worse.
oh man,the memories. so much i`ve forgot. the love affair i had with my crossman 760 air rifle (which got at least one visit from the sheriff. i am feeling the scar in my eye brow from nunchucks right now and my parents had to fork out a more than few bucks to pay for my share of thowing star damage.
another big difference back then was when i turned 16 and i mean that day i got the keys to my own mustang. this resulted in car surfing, yard jobs, mail box baseball, and more than a few sets of back tires. boy, i am glad they dont give that kind of freedom today, i wouldn`t get out on the road for nothing.
another big difference back then was when i turned 16 and i mean that day i got the keys to my own mustang. this resulted in car surfing, yard jobs, mail box baseball, and more than a few sets of back tires. boy, i am glad they dont give that kind of freedom today, i wouldn`t get out on the road for nothing.
street luge with oldskool skate boards (the ones with plastic scuff pads)
zip line races with steel cable and pieces of pipe
thorn wars
and most memorable.. BB Britches, when if you spoke a word starting with the letter B, you'd get hit untill you say BB britches
zip line races with steel cable and pieces of pipe
thorn wars
and most memorable.. BB Britches, when if you spoke a word starting with the letter B, you'd get hit untill you say BB britches
My parents knew everything I posted and even participated in some. The things they didn't know about were the bombs and playing with real guns.
You're still a kid dude.....me too for that matter.
It makes me laugh when I read the posts about the good ole days when the good ole days were just a few years ago.
Much of that listed above and rolling down steep hills in a barrel...
Yeah, I'm 17.
The world is a different place now, I was allowed to wonder around the neighborhood at that age, I don't let my 4 year old daughter go out of my sight when she's playing out with her friends. Too many loonies nowadays.
Hah...glad that didnt happen to me, and I'm 16.
I grew up with all the neihborhood kids and teens in the local woods blowing things up, shooting various metal with BB/pellet guns, jumping our BMX bikes on our crappy nailless jumps, and Skateboarding/louging down the biggest hills in town.
Ahh yes, the times when who your friends didnt matter, it was all about doing to stupidest craziest thing you could find.
Hah...and it was only like 5 years ago.
I grew up with all the neihborhood kids and teens in the local woods blowing things up, shooting various metal with BB/pellet guns, jumping our BMX bikes on our crappy nailless jumps, and Skateboarding/louging down the biggest hills in town.
Ahh yes, the times when who your friends didnt matter, it was all about doing to stupidest craziest thing you could find.
Hah...and it was only like 5 years ago.
I'm still pretty young, but I'm glad my parents didn't protect me too much. I would get home from school and know that I will be more or less kicked out of the house and told to play outside. They usually had a vague idea of where I was, but didn't keep tabs on me. They took us on camping trips, did big, rough hikes, encouraged me to play football (did for 8 or 9 years) and watched as my friends and I got in trouble/got hurt doing stupid things.
We all have a tendency to idolize the good ol' days and think we always had it tougher and better, but I think that there is something to this wussification. Many of the parents I know now are just waaaay to worried about their kids.
I'm glad my parents let me and made me go outside and do stupid things, because I just do the same thing now but slightly more responsibly. I can't imagine if they were more restrictive that I'd do what I like to do now- ride bikes, go on long trips alone if necessary, sleep in my car to make those trips financially possible, etc. I forget sometimes that this isn't the majority. I was living at home last year and came back from a DH race with a huge bruise on my forearm. My mom was a bit concerned, but let it go. Dad asked if it was okay and moved on. People at the office I worked at thought I was going to die or something.
We all have a tendency to idolize the good ol' days and think we always had it tougher and better, but I think that there is something to this wussification. Many of the parents I know now are just waaaay to worried about their kids.
I'm glad my parents let me and made me go outside and do stupid things, because I just do the same thing now but slightly more responsibly. I can't imagine if they were more restrictive that I'd do what I like to do now- ride bikes, go on long trips alone if necessary, sleep in my car to make those trips financially possible, etc. I forget sometimes that this isn't the majority. I was living at home last year and came back from a DH race with a huge bruise on my forearm. My mom was a bit concerned, but let it go. Dad asked if it was okay and moved on. People at the office I worked at thought I was going to die or something.