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Helicopters, I am surrounded by helicopters...

We don't have kids so it's difficult to comprehend sometimes. It does appear some are over-protective - here in Singapore it's one of the safest places on earth to live, and local kids all take the public bus or walk to school (we go past a local school on the way to the office so we can see it happening) but the expat kids go to vastly expensive international schools that provide buses which pick up outside each condo in our street. All the parents bring their kids down to wait with them for the bus - seems a bit over the top to me.
 

rbscebu

Girls call me Makaluod
We don't have kids so it's difficult to comprehend sometimes. It does appear some are over-protective - here in Singapore it's one of the safest places on earth to live, and local kids all take the public bus or walk to school (we go past a local school on the way to the office so we can see it happening) but the expat kids go to vastly expensive international schools that provide buses which pick up outside each condo in our street. All the parents bring their kids down to wait with them for the bus - seems a bit over the top to me.
I noticed the same when I was living in Bayshore Park, Bedok, Singapore. It was the expats, not the locals.
 

JCarr

More Deep Thoughts than Jack Handy
My Mom never had a helicopter...we couldn't afford one. My Dad always used to say, "Maybe next year we'll get one." But we knew a helicopter just wasn't going to happen...not for us. But we did have a Plymouth Valiant though. It was no helicopter, but it got us around town just fine.

Deep Thoughts by JCarr
 

Ad Astra

The Instigator
🤔 "Surrounded by helos" reminds me of these poor people...



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AA
 
Things have changed, but the world has changed too. When I was growing up, we roamed the neighborhood Of course, we had to be home if we heard our name called. But the moms all stayed at home too. Every mom knew who we were and I believe they kept an eye on us.

That neighborhood idea is gone in many cities. Both parents work and kids come home to empty houses. I am grateful for having grown up in the 60's and 70's, but am proud of my kids who have grown up responsible and strong in the 90's and 00's.

I'll never forget what my wife told me, "You must be licensed to drive a car, but there's no requirement to be a parent."
 

luvmysuper

My elbows leak
Staff member
“[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances… They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.”

Aristotle
4th Century BC



“The beardless youth… does not foresee what is useful, squandering his money.”
Horace
1st Century BC



“Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased … The ordinary spoken language has also steadily coarsened. People used to say ‘raise the carriage shafts’ or ‘trim the lamp wick,’ but people today say ‘raise it’ or ‘trim it.’ When they should say, ‘Let the men of the palace staff stand forth!’ they say, ‘Torches! Let’s have some light!’”

Yoshida Kenkō
1330 – 1332



“Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded.”

Thomas Barnes
1624



“The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth…”

Reverend Enos Hitchcock
1790



“…a fearful multitude of untutored savages… [boys] with dogs at their heels and other evidence of dissolute habits…[girls who] drive coal-carts, ride astride upon horses, drink, swear, fight, smoke, whistle, and care for nobody…the morals of children are tenfold worse than formerly.”

Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
February 28, 1843



“Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline…”

Granville Stanley Hall
1904


“Parents themselves were often the cause of many difficulties. They frequently failed in their obvious duty to teach self-control and discipline to their own children.”

Leeds Mercury
1938
 
“[Young people] are high-minded because they have not yet been humbled by life, nor have they experienced the force of circumstances… They think they know everything, and are always quite sure about it.”

Aristotle
4th Century BC



“The beardless youth… does not foresee what is useful, squandering his money.”
Horace
1st Century BC



“Modern fashions seem to keep on growing more and more debased … The ordinary spoken language has also steadily coarsened. People used to say ‘raise the carriage shafts’ or ‘trim the lamp wick,’ but people today say ‘raise it’ or ‘trim it.’ When they should say, ‘Let the men of the palace staff stand forth!’ they say, ‘Torches! Let’s have some light!’”

Yoshida Kenkō
1330 – 1332



“Youth were never more sawcie, yea never more savagely saucie . . . the ancient are scorned, the honourable are contemned, the magistrate is not dreaded.”

Thomas Barnes
1624



“The free access which many young people have to romances, novels, and plays has poisoned the mind and corrupted the morals of many a promising youth…”

Reverend Enos Hitchcock
1790



“…a fearful multitude of untutored savages… [boys] with dogs at their heels and other evidence of dissolute habits…[girls who] drive coal-carts, ride astride upon horses, drink, swear, fight, smoke, whistle, and care for nobody…the morals of children are tenfold worse than formerly.”

Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
February 28, 1843



“Never has youth been exposed to such dangers of both perversion and arrest as in our own land and day. Increasing urban life with its temptations, prematurities, sedentary occupations, and passive stimuli just when an active life is most needed, early emancipation and a lessening sense for both duty and discipline…”

Granville Stanley Hall
1904


“Parents themselves were often the cause of many difficulties. They frequently failed in their obvious duty to teach self-control and discipline to their own children.”

Leeds Mercury
1938
Plus perennial quote (I believe it was first uttered by Johann Sebastian Bach): The music these kids listen to nowadays is just noise!
 
No, it has nothing to do with our generation teaching kids that a crazy person could come into their schools at any time with high powered firearms and kills dozens of them in under a minute.

Or that adults' reactions would to tut-tut, wring our hands, then go back on like nothing had happened, even though this happens more than once a week.

We've failed our kids, not the other way around.
 
No, it has nothing to do with our generation teaching kids that a crazy person could come into their schools at any time with high powered firearms and kills dozens of them in under a minute.

Or that adults' reactions would to tut-tut, wring our hands, then go back on like nothing had happened, even though this happens more than once a week.

We've failed our kids, not the other way around.

so much this… every time i hear/see/read current events /smdh

we had 2 kids shot at a local HS football game recently..

JFC ..

 
I currently live in the Chicago suburbs. I used to go into the city a few of times a year. Now I refuse to do so, especially on a weekend. In Chicago, not even preschoolers are safe from being shot and killed. It is insane. Over the Labor Day weekend, 67 people were shot in Chicago, including 8 children. A four year old boy in is own home was shot and killed by a stray bullet. We are getting ready to begin another weekend; I wonder how many will be shot this time. Chicago has already had more shootings in 2021 through Labor Day than in all of 2019. Will it ever end?
 
The type of violence we are seeing in many locations is hard to understand. This thread caught my eye earlier and I thought about it through the day. My post may therefore be a little out of sync with the previous few but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway.

My B&B participation has been limited of late as I’ve focused time on learning to shave with a straight and other non-B&B matters. But this thread did catch my attention. I am an older parent of kids who are in and approaching their teens—grew up in the 70’s and 80’s but didn’t get my shaving cream together until later in life so I have about 10-12 years on all the other parents in my kids’ classes. I do see some ridiculous helicopter parenting—along with a lot of passive aggressive approaches to issues in school. I teeter sometimes on that intervention line having a child that had life threatening health issues from birth. My protection gene kicks in and I’ve had to learn to scale that back. But, I’m aghast at stories of parents calling colleges about grades or course issues—I’ve seen this even in my own family. The only time my parents were involved with someone at my college was when my financial aid was cut back.

Having said all of that, the world we live in is quite different from the world I grew up in during the 70’s and 80’s (when my mother literally rang a bell to get me in for dinner from somewhere in the neighborhood) and in my view, it’s more dangerous for kids for two main reasons (three given the aforementioned violence we see). First, there is instantaneous and nearly continuous access to ANYONE and EVERYTHING via the internet. Whether or not you think parents enable this by giving their kids electronics at an entirely inappropriate age (I know 6 year olds with Ipads that have almost no controls set….and the 6 year old could probably figure out how to get around whatever controls there may be)—kids can get at stuff everywhere whether we know it or not. That coupled with the unbelievable sophistication of the sickos out there—they were always there through the ages but now they have potentially easy access to kids around the world---uggh.

Secondly, our society has adopted, IMHO, a warped culture that essentially says kids should act and be like adults—from shows to advertising to clothing to online platforms—the message is completely out of sync with the emotional maturity and developmental stages of almost every level from toddler on up. My early teens daughter routinely and rightly complains about not being able to find appropriate clothing. Pants are too tight and too low, shirts are too tight and too high and/or too low—she’s fed up with it and frankly, that tells me that we’re doing something right.

So, kids do need to learn to be responsible and independent and parents complaining about teams keeping score, kids not getting a trophy, or not getting straight A’s, first place, first choice, etc are not helping. But at the same time, we as a society, IMHO, have to look at the messaging, exposure and pressure put on kids to essentially “be an adult” at ages that are WAY too young. Sorry for the rant...guess this hit a nerve. Don't get me started on kids calling adults by their first names....

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My post may therefore be a little out of sync with the previous few but I wanted to share my thoughts anyway.
Thank you for sharing this. I found myself between thought and urge to start typing a reply. Not to argue, but to expand on a point. However I find myself, after reading your post, mostly thinking about your points. Well done.
 
Any educated person knows that statements like these don’t age well. Just ask Aristotle or Horace. Older generations lamenting younger generations is pseudo intellectual brain fodder. Every generation is generation A, period. I feel my 30 something kids are smarter, kinder, better stewards of their environment, and less prejudiced than myself. As it should be. We left them a sick planet, a failing empire, and an increasingly inequitable and violent world. Ditch the platitudes and become part of the solution. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt my Brothers and Sisters.
 

FarmerTan

"Self appointed king of Arkoland"
Any educated person knows that statements like these don’t age well. Just ask Aristotle or Horace. Older generations lamenting younger generations is pseudo intellectual brain fodder. Every generation is generation A, period. I feel my 30 something kids are smarter, kinder, better stewards of their environment, and less prejudiced than myself. As it should be. We left them a sick planet, a failing empire, and an increasingly inequitable and violent world. Ditch the platitudes and become part of the solution. Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt my Brothers and Sisters.
As my friend Mark Twain says, "everybody complains about the weather, but nobody ever DOES anything about it..." Thanks for the reminder.
 
I am fortunate in having three grandchildren that are wonderful and caring kids. However, I have seen many others who are not that way.

There are a group of men who attend a Saturday Men's Bible Study that I also attend. Three of them are currently working with troubled youths in a detention center. One of these men recently told us the history of some of the boys they are working with. They volunteer for this job and although they have no specific training, they try to act as authority or father figures and try to give the boys some direction.

Here is a summary of what we were told about one boy. He is 15 years old. His father has been in jail for seven of those years. His mother works "on occasion." He has been expelled from school for punching a teacher. Apparently, this has happened more than once. Before his arrest, he was one of 12 boys who ran drugs for a 26-year old career criminal. Apparently, he supported himself in style from running drugs. Fortunately, he was not a drug addict. His mentor said that when he arrived at the center he was at a 5th-grade reading level. The volunteer said the most difficult thing to do was to not show sympathy; that would be considered a sign of weakness. Plus, the volunteer said most of the boys are con artists and will say or do anything to get what they wanted. He said he has made some progress in the two years he has worked with this individual. The B.S. has stopped and he has tried to show him that there could be a better life for him. Plus, now he can read at his actual age level.

Another volunteer started working there only a few months ago. The boy he is working with was arrested as a result of a "peaceful protest" [looting] in Scottsdale, AZ. It appears that the only reason he was arrested was that he stabbed an individual who was trying to take from him some electronics he had stolen from a store. To his credit, he has not made any excuses particularly since his encounter was on videotape. Mark, the volunteer, said that he has had a tough time seeing through the b.s. the boy tells him and to call him out for it. Mark said the boy is only 14 years old and has had no run ins with the law until this one.
 
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