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ngdawg · 04-26-2009, 08:14 PM

I am a quasi-coddler, I think, but not nearly as bad as some of the moms I associated with as our children grew up together.
My kids were allowed to go around the neighborhood to friends, as long as I knew where they were going. We live off a busy main road and until my son was about 11, I walked him to the intersection; his friend's father on the other side of the road would do the same and we each would walk the visiting boy to the corner light, where the other parent would be waiting opposite.
On the other hand, I started teaching my kids how to manage alone in the house when they were nine; they were taught how to do things like their own laundry, household chores, etc. at about the same age.
Yes, I drove them to school, which wasn't far at all, but across that same busy road-they started walking on their own in 6th grade. I cringe seeing "babies" (kindergarten or so) making that trek and noticed that they didn't know how to do so-they didn't go to the crossing guard or stood where cars make lefts into their path (not a good way to cross).
I wonder where people like the ones in that Daily Mirror article got their thinking-my mom was also a quasi-coddler, although we 4 walked the mile or so to school and followed the "street lights" rule.
We weren't raised with cell phones, we were raised with trust and rules. We had bikes, we had neighborhoods filled with other kids to hang and play with. Moms either stayed home or worked part time and there wasn't "day care", there were babysitters.
We got into trouble, we got hurt; we didn't know anyone who had died or gotten disabled or kidnapped because of being away from a parent's eye. I did have one friend who died at the age of 12-from a virus that "ate" her heart.

I think I'd mentioned this somewhere else, but...in the 30's there was a rash of crimes against children of which both my parents were victims. My mom was abducted, beaten, pissed on and left for dead in 1933 when she was 3-taken from her stroller which was left outside of an apartment while her mother visited a friend. My father, swimming at Coney Island, was attacked and held under the water by a man until someone saw it unfolding and stopped it, in 1935 when he was 5. In that decade, at least seven children had been murdered within the five boroughs.

I'm not sure why boomer parents are the way they are. Fear? Laziness? Combination?
Oversaturated with new items about kids in peri, which, if it was so commonplace, wouldn't be news?

04-26-2009, 08:14 PM	#34 (permalink)
ngdawg peekaboo Location: on the back, bitch	I am a quasi-coddler, I think, but not nearly as bad as some of the moms I associated with as our children grew up together. My kids were allowed to go around the neighborhood to friends, as long as I knew where they were going. We live off a busy main road and until my son was about 11, I walked him to the intersection; his friend's father on the other side of the road would do the same and we each would walk the visiting boy to the corner light, where the other parent would be waiting opposite. On the other hand, I started teaching my kids how to manage alone in the house when they were nine; they were taught how to do things like their own laundry, household chores, etc. at about the same age. Yes, I drove them to school, which wasn't far at all, but across that same busy road-they started walking on their own in 6th grade. I cringe seeing "babies" (kindergarten or so) making that trek and noticed that they didn't know how to do so-they didn't go to the crossing guard or stood where cars make lefts into their path (not a good way to cross). I wonder where people like the ones in that Daily Mirror article got their thinking-my mom was also a quasi-coddler, although we 4 walked the mile or so to school and followed the "street lights" rule. We weren't raised with cell phones, we were raised with trust and rules. We had bikes, we had neighborhoods filled with other kids to hang and play with. Moms either stayed home or worked part time and there wasn't "day care", there were babysitters. We got into trouble, we got hurt; we didn't know anyone who had died or gotten disabled or kidnapped because of being away from a parent's eye. I did have one friend who died at the age of 12-from a virus that "ate" her heart. I think I'd mentioned this somewhere else, but...in the 30's there was a rash of crimes against children of which both my parents were victims. My mom was abducted, beaten, pissed on and left for dead in 1933 when she was 3-taken from her stroller which was left outside of an apartment while her mother visited a friend. My father, swimming at Coney Island, was attacked and held under the water by a man until someone saw it unfolding and stopped it, in 1935 when he was 5. In that decade, at least seven children had been murdered within the five boroughs. I'm not sure why boomer parents are the way they are. Fear? Laziness? Combination? Oversaturated with new items about kids in peri, which, if it was so commonplace, wouldn't be news? __________________ Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.