The Founder

August 8th, 2017 at 4:06:58 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
I used to go to a friends house and watch
color TV too, but not often. Parents didn't
like visitors in those days.


When I was a kid, kids were supposed to "go outside and play." And we did. I don't see kids just playing with a ball or hide-n-seek much anymore. As for watching color TV, one of my friends had parents who were separated, he lived with the mother, and the mother worked a regular day job. Said friend preferred to play outside but agreed to let us in to watch TV sometimes when his mother was at work.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
August 8th, 2017 at 4:32:56 PM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard
When I was a kid, kids were supposed to "go outside and play." And we did. I don't see kids just playing with a ball or hide-n-seek much anymore.


Everyone is worried the kids will be "snatched." The odds against this are longer than you can imagine. Almost all kidnappings are family, husband or wife taking them

Odds are a million to one. The refrain goes, "Yeah, but what if yours was one of them?" The podcast guest had some math guy flip the odds around. If a kid played outside every day, it would take over 100,000 years for them to be "snatched" at random.

Instead of logic, people call the cops if the kids are outside alone.
The President is a fink.
August 8th, 2017 at 5:39:47 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: AZDuffman
Everyone is worried the kids will be "snatched." The odds against this are longer than you can imagine. Almost all kidnappings are family, husband or wife taking them


The guy who hosted America's Most Wanted had
his son snatched in a Target in the 80's, or some
such store. He turned up murdered and it's
stories like that that make people think there is
a potential kidnapper in every aisle now. He told
that story to a national audience hundreds of times.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
August 8th, 2017 at 7:58:18 PM permalink
Wizard
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Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
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Quote: AZDuffman
Everyone is worried the kids will be "snatched." The odds against this are longer than you can imagine. Almost all kidnappings are family, husband or wife taking them


I don't know how everybody else thinks but my wife is big on screening all our kids friends. So she wouldn't like them playing outside with just anybody unless she knew and liked both the kid and his immediately family.

As for me, I say just go out and play. You can't protect your kids from everything. Furthermore, I think outdoorsy kids, and adults, are generally better people than those who stay indoors all the time.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
August 8th, 2017 at 8:04:09 PM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
The guy who hosted America's Most Wanted had
his son snatched in a Target in the 80's, or some
such store. He turned up murdered and it's
stories like that that make people think there is
a potential kidnapper in every aisle now. He told
that story to a national audience hundreds of times.


Just goes to show that the average person can't protect his kids 100%. I'm all in favor of the America's Most Wanted show, don't get me wrong. Entertainment, education, and it has brought criminals to justice. I don't watch it but have absolutely no issues with it. My point is that one murder shouldn't put every kid in America on house arrest. In doing anything, you have to consider the pros and cons.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
August 9th, 2017 at 12:48:20 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Wizard
I don't know how everybody else thinks but my wife is big on screening all our kids friends. So she wouldn't like them playing outside with just anybody unless she knew and liked both the kid and his immediately family.


When I was a kid in the 50's my parents
had no idea who my friends were and
could care less. Most parents were
like that, their kids were not the center
of their lives like it is now. We just went
out after dinner and played till it was
dark. In the yard or 3 blocks away, my
parents never asked. I remember a
kid who had protective parents, we
made fun of him relentlessly. lol
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
August 9th, 2017 at 2:39:30 AM permalink
AZDuffman
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 135
Posts: 18136
Quote: Wizard

As for me, I say just go out and play. You can't protect your kids from everything. Furthermore, I think outdoorsy kids, and adults, are generally better people than those who stay indoors all the time.


Not only can't, but shouldn't. Part of success is screwing up here or there. Figuring your own things out. Seeing how the world works.
The President is a fink.
August 9th, 2017 at 9:37:50 AM permalink
Wizard
Administrator
Member since: Oct 23, 2012
Threads: 239
Posts: 6095
Quote: Evenbob
When I was a kid in the 50's my parents
had no idea who my friends were and
could care less. Most parents were
like that, their kids were not the center
of their lives like it is now. We just went
out after dinner and played till it was
dark. In the yard or 3 blocks away, my
parents never asked. I remember a
kid who had protective parents, we
made fun of him relentlessly. lol


My story is very similar. However, my parents simply didn't like other kids. They got familiar with faces because they came over all the time to ask, "Can Mike play?" One of them, the same guy with the color TV, my mother didn't like because she thought he was a con artist. The claim had some merit. As the story goes, he sold a sparkler to my brother, when he was only three or four, for $1. This was before my brother had a concept of the value of money and $1 for a sparkler was way overpriced. Anyway, once I was allowed to play, they didn't care where I was. We often rode bikes to a bowling alley in Garden Grove, which was rather far, and my parents had no clue and wouldn't have cared if they did.
Knowledge is Good -- Emil Faber
August 9th, 2017 at 10:59:22 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Wizard
My story is very similar. However, my parents simply didn't like other kids.


Nobodies parents did, I don't remember
one parent who was a kid person. It was
how they were raised, the wants and
desires of kids was not high on their
parents list. They just wanted them out
of the way. My dad always told me that when
I got out of HS I had to leave or pay rent.
This seems harsh now, but then it was not
an unreasonable request. I paid him money
every week for a 3-4 years.

In the school year now I see parents at every
bus stop in their cars waiting to pick up Jr
so he won't get snatched or have to walk the
grueling 200 yards to his house. I took a bus
for 7 years and never saw even one time a
parent waiting. And the bus didn't stop
every 300 ft in those days, some kids had to
walk a half mile or more.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
August 9th, 2017 at 11:33:58 AM permalink
petroglyph
Member since: Aug 3, 2014
Threads: 25
Posts: 6227
Quote: Evenbob

In the school year now I see parents at every
bus stop in their cars waiting to pick up Jr
so he won't get snatched or have to walk the
grueling 200 yards to his house. I took a bus
for 7 years and never saw even one time a
parent waiting. And the bus didn't stop
every 300 ft in those days, some kids had to
walk a half mile or more.
I live about 6 blocks from a grade school. I am amazed at the lack of kids that ride bikes anymore. We rode them everywhere, even wore tires off of them. I have watched one pair of girls go by for a few years and see them getting older. They are even braver at times than I, they go down and cross hwy 95, using the light system. Ballsy there. A whole school full of kids and there aren't ten that go past my house with any frequency. The rest are catching rides somehow?
One of the short walks I take goes past that school. It is so fenced with cyclone fence in places ten feet high, that the playground equipment is impossible to access without a gate key. As kids we used to go to the school on weekends or whatever to use the monkey bars or merry go round or just play ball.

I hear tell, lots of grades don't even have PE. Not healthy. We covered a lot of miles on bikes and many more on foot. Times a changin I guess?
The last official act of any government is to loot the treasury. GW