[beersk]

Around here it seems it's the older college aged kids making snowmen because the snow reminds them of when they were a kid.  Nowadays, kids are way too lazy, they don't do "kid" things anymore, instead their parents keep them busy with stupid s*** like football, baseball, soccer, after school activities...
Kids can't be kids anymore, they have to be kept busy at all times in order to maintain "normalcy".  Instead of climbing trees, making soapbox derby cars, building bridges in your ditch, riding bikes, mud running bikes through big puddles, going sledding, exploring in the woods, like I used to do when I was a kid.  And that wasn't long ago!  I'm only 26!  
Things have really changed a lot in the internet age.  It's really a shame.

EDIT: I guess it's not necessarily limited to the internet, but advancement in technology like computers, video game systems and such.  I had regular Nintendo when I was a kid and loved it, but I didn't spend all my time on it...I spent the night at friend's houses and did things that little kids should be doing...and not doing anything related to school...I left school at school. 

[dbeechum]

I think there's been an unfortunate rise in a combination of "stranger danger" fears and helicopter parenting. I mean, I get the stranger danger fears, it's part of my day to day job, but really folks, the worry you really need to focus on is your kid being bullied or harassed.

With the parenting stuff - so much of the rigidly planned stuff seems to be born of fear that if you don't do these things with your kids - you're a bad parent and the kids will end up going to crappy schools, hooked on drugs and shanked in the pokey by age 22 and its all your fault!

[Robert]

My favorite statistic I've seen....

I'm not completely accurate, but a group took a poll of parents asking them what percentage of child kidnappings were stranger on stranger type. The average answer was around 50% or so. The actual number, < 5%. TV and media sensasionalize the whole thing. If you look at Amber Alerts nowadays (and I'm not knocking the system, it's great and I've seen it work in person several times) it's always a child custody issue.

I know several people putting their Three year old in sports! C'mon, let him be a kid and play in mud and do kid stuff. I agree with all the posts on here talking about letting kids be kids. It's no more dangerous now than it was back then, it's just our 24/7 media outlets that run continuous loops on this crap.

Rant over.

[dbeechum]

Indeed, it ends up being that about 100 or so out of over 200,000 abductions per year are the classic stranger danger abduction scenario.

From the statistics that I've seen compiled over the past few years, right now it is the safest time to be a kid in the past ~50 years.

[beersk]

I think there's been an unfortunate rise in a combination of "stranger danger" fears and helicopter parenting. I mean, I get the stranger danger fears, it's part of my day to day job, but really folks, the worry you really need to focus on is your kid being bullied or harassed.

With the parenting stuff - so much of the rigidly planned stuff seems to be born of fear that if you don't do these things with your kids - you're a bad parent and the kids will end up going to crappy schools, hooked on drugs and shanked in the pokey by age 22 and its all your fault!

This makes me think of the kids class they have at my kung fu school and how useful of a skill that really would be for a young kid to have, being bullied around at school.  The kid wouldn't be bullied for very long.  There's a couple, probably, 5-7 year old kids that go there and if they keep it up will probably be pretty good at it when they reach middle school when kids are bullied the most.  Don't get the wrong idea, someone in kung fu isn't going to go around looking for fights.  That's for tae kwan do hotheads. 

[rabid_dingo]

From the statistics that I've seen compiled over the past few years, right now it is the safest time to be a kid in the past ~50 years.

No kidding, how long have

Child proof caps
Seat belts
Car child seats
bicycle helmets
knee/elbow/wrist pads
outlet covers
etc etc etc

been around?
By all accounts I should be dead. I miss riding in the back of the pickup truck. I miss dirt clod wars.
I miss playing neighborhood-wide hide and seek (we never played more than one round, it would get dark by
the time we found everyone)

One thing's for sure. I will try and pass all of this onto my boys. They deserve to see it before getting sucked into "the media"

 

[dean]

By all accounts I should be dead. I miss riding in the back of the pickup truck. I miss dirt clod wars.
I miss playing neighborhood-wide hide and seek (we never played more than one round, it would get dark by
the time we found everyone)

One thing's for sure. I will try and pass all of this onto my boys. They deserve to see it before getting sucked into "the media"

RabidDingo, I think the things you mentioned in your list are mainly for people that are into themselves more than keeping an eye on their children to make sure they don't get hurt.   I raised four children on a farm and just about everywhere you look on a farm there is something that can hurt or even kill them, but they all grew up fine.   The media is the image of the Me First or I'm Too Busy mindset.  It all started with no supervision...  the "latchkey kids".   

[akr71]

With the parenting stuff - so much of the rigidly planned stuff seems to be born of fear that if you don't do these things with your kids - you're a bad parent and the kids will end up going to crappy schools, hooked on drugs and shanked in the pokey by age 22 and its all your fault!

Gee, I must be an aweful Dad - I was actively actively trying to discourage my daughter from joining another rigidly planned thing (free tennis lessons at her school).  I said "wouldn't you rather play and do fun kid stuff instead?"

Oh well, I guess I shouldn't complain that she wants to be physically active...

[a10t2]

I guess it's not necessarily limited to the internet, but advancement in technology like computers, video game systems and such.

It's a seeking out of stimulation. Kids' brains *need* to be challenged in order to develop properly; it's hard-wired. And no game of stickball can match the stimulation provided by an XBox.

OK, so some of it's laziness.

[redbeerman]

I guess it's not necessarily limited to the internet, but advancement in technology like computers, video game systems and such.

It's a seeking out of stimulation. Kids' brains *need* to be challenged in order to develop properly; it's hard-wired. And no game of stickball can match the stimulation provided by an XBox.

OK, so some of it's laziness.

They could always exercise their brain by using their imaginations and creating instead of having it jammed into their senses through visual and sonic bombardment.  But that's just my opinion.

[beersk]

I guess it's not necessarily limited to the internet, but advancement in technology like computers, video game systems and such.

It's a seeking out of stimulation. Kids' brains *need* to be challenged in order to develop properly; it's hard-wired. And no game of stickball can match the stimulation provided by an XBox.

OK, so some of it's laziness.

They could always exercise their brain by using their imaginations and creating instead of having it jammed into their senses through visual and sonic bombardment.  But that's just my opinion.

Yes, I agree with this sentiment.  I think a lot of it is laziness...go ride a bike, go outside and play in the snow...go do something instead of sitting on your ass watching a tv screen.

[MrNate]

My girls built a snowman today, and they did it just for you'ns!

So there! 

[majorvices]

Pics or it didn't happen.

[scottyb]

[dean]

There goes another one... cut off at the knees.