Parents’ fear dictates their kids’ lives. This is not being a parent (I hate the word “parenting.”) YOU are the adult - master or mask your fear and let kids do the stuff. ALL the stuff. There will be blood and broken bones and potential fire or flooding in your house, and you still let them do the stuff. (When we went on date night we told our kids “DO NOT CALL US except for fire, flood, broken bones, or copious amounts of blood!”) Will you be scared? Of course. Should you let the kids know that? Absolutely not. And you should also FOLLOW THROUGH with discipline. If you threaten a consequence, you have to follow through with it no matter how “inconvenient” it is. Helicopter parenting is one of the worst ills on society.
my dog makes me go outside several times a day. Nice weather is okay, but when it rains she refuses to go unless I do too. I also have 2 dog like cats that follow me around so there comes our little train !
One does not have to be a parent to act like an adult, especially with kids. Adults have ceded acting as role models in fear of the reactions of others, to the detriment of children's development. I was taught to respect adults as a default. If they didn't deserve my respect my parents dealt with things.
I only half agree with that. Respect should never be automatic; it needs to be earned. If I were a kid, I would respect very few of the adults I see around me today.
Respect means very different things in different cultures.
For celtic/germanic-originated cultures it means something you give freely and something you work to deserve to be given; it cannot ever be demanded or forced from someone.
Have you served in the Middle East? Doesn't mean even remotely the same thing there: to them, it means showing deference and acquiescence to the stronger. Thus it can be demanded and forced from someone via (the threat of) humiliation and abuse.
A big part of the problem is that kids aren't allowed to work anymore. I'm sure there are still openings, but in my day it was a given that you could deliver newspapers and do the milk round. It was great being an "adult" and earning some good money.
In the catagory of grab your smelling salts..my Dad used to call me “ my son Martha” and would take me to the Hardware store with him and then be his assistant teaching me how to fix stuff, etc. My first marriage , I was the one with the tool box who did simple repairs... when my now husband and I were dating he was dully impressed that I had a tool kit, mitre box , electric drill, etc... I recoil when women say “ oh, I can’t do that... “ Thanks Dad!!
That is awesome!!!. I wrestled when I was in school and they'd give me smelling salts and stuff a tampon up my nose if it started bleeding and then shove me back out in the ring!
The number of under-30s I've heard sing the song of "I could never do that, I'd die" about things like marching 20 miles wearing a measly 30 pound backpack, on a trail or similar exercises...
The gold medal goes to the ones who breathlessly ask "How do you know how to make a fire in pissing rain? Which prepper-expert do you follow online?". They get snippy like old spinster harridans when you reply - innocently - with "I've got a three-digit IQ?"
Make a fire. Dig a shit-pit. Splint a leg. Build a hut or a bivouac. Make a harpoon for fishing. Simple traps. Know your berries and roots. There's not one swedish man my age doesn't know how to do that, no matter if theywere boyscouts or conscripts or not.
Today's juves, they buy bottled water. In a country where you can drink from virtually every stream or creek or lake.
It's why all of the fast food restaurants are struggling to stay open. It's meant to be a job for kids in high school/college but not many kids that age are working anymore.
Parents’ fear dictates their kids’ lives. This is not being a parent (I hate the word “parenting.”) YOU are the adult - master or mask your fear and let kids do the stuff. ALL the stuff. There will be blood and broken bones and potential fire or flooding in your house, and you still let them do the stuff. (When we went on date night we told our kids “DO NOT CALL US except for fire, flood, broken bones, or copious amounts of blood!”) Will you be scared? Of course. Should you let the kids know that? Absolutely not. And you should also FOLLOW THROUGH with discipline. If you threaten a consequence, you have to follow through with it no matter how “inconvenient” it is. Helicopter parenting is one of the worst ills on society.
Straight up truth.
Kids don’t even know the thrill in trying to become the neighborhood legend anymore.
To me that was the beginning of the competition that is life.
Same, in my case there were 6 of us, so we were a gang.
You know I enjoy technology but I would still rather be outside just about any day.
I think that would take care of 50% of the "mental" health issues with children.
Get your lazy butt outside and play.
my dog makes me go outside several times a day. Nice weather is okay, but when it rains she refuses to go unless I do too. I also have 2 dog like cats that follow me around so there comes our little train !
One does not have to be a parent to act like an adult, especially with kids. Adults have ceded acting as role models in fear of the reactions of others, to the detriment of children's development. I was taught to respect adults as a default. If they didn't deserve my respect my parents dealt with things.
I only half agree with that. Respect should never be automatic; it needs to be earned. If I were a kid, I would respect very few of the adults I see around me today.
Respect means very different things in different cultures.
For celtic/germanic-originated cultures it means something you give freely and something you work to deserve to be given; it cannot ever be demanded or forced from someone.
Have you served in the Middle East? Doesn't mean even remotely the same thing there: to them, it means showing deference and acquiescence to the stronger. Thus it can be demanded and forced from someone via (the threat of) humiliation and abuse.
A big part of the problem is that kids aren't allowed to work anymore. I'm sure there are still openings, but in my day it was a given that you could deliver newspapers and do the milk round. It was great being an "adult" and earning some good money.
How many men do you know under 30 who could change a doorknob out?
Kids don’t learn how to work with their hands anymore and have no idea how things are "made".
Voila they just show up at the front door as if it were magic.
I truly believe these are two areas that have led to where we're at with the youth in America.
In the catagory of grab your smelling salts..my Dad used to call me “ my son Martha” and would take me to the Hardware store with him and then be his assistant teaching me how to fix stuff, etc. My first marriage , I was the one with the tool box who did simple repairs... when my now husband and I were dating he was dully impressed that I had a tool kit, mitre box , electric drill, etc... I recoil when women say “ oh, I can’t do that... “ Thanks Dad!!
That is awesome!!!. I wrestled when I was in school and they'd give me smelling salts and stuff a tampon up my nose if it started bleeding and then shove me back out in the ring!
Lol
Make that doorknob a lightbulb...
The number of under-30s I've heard sing the song of "I could never do that, I'd die" about things like marching 20 miles wearing a measly 30 pound backpack, on a trail or similar exercises...
The gold medal goes to the ones who breathlessly ask "How do you know how to make a fire in pissing rain? Which prepper-expert do you follow online?". They get snippy like old spinster harridans when you reply - innocently - with "I've got a three-digit IQ?"
Make a fire. Dig a shit-pit. Splint a leg. Build a hut or a bivouac. Make a harpoon for fishing. Simple traps. Know your berries and roots. There's not one swedish man my age doesn't know how to do that, no matter if theywere boyscouts or conscripts or not.
Today's juves, they buy bottled water. In a country where you can drink from virtually every stream or creek or lake.
Because they can't think.
Yep. We now allow fully capable adults to take up those entry-level jobs that taught teenagers so much. Safety, you know.
It's why all of the fast food restaurants are struggling to stay open. It's meant to be a job for kids in high school/college but not many kids that age are working anymore.