Posted on 06/03/2007 2:38:07 AM PDT by Lorianne
My late husband used to tell semilar tales - a rifle at an early age, overnights in the woods w/pals, and hunting & eating frogs. He grew up in a small town in Michigan. To this DC girl, he might as well have lived on the moon, those activities were so foreign to me.
On the other hand, tho I lived in DC, my childhood was very much Mayberry-like. We shucked corn and shelled peas on the front porch. The only store open on Sunday was the drug store, from which we might get a quart of hand packed ice cream for a Sunday treat. We knew our neighbors and they knew our parents well enough to let them know when we messed up. Being a city girl, I didn't play in the woods, but we did hang out in the cemetary. Happy days.
I remember my parents let me take the bus to Northland when I was 11 years old.
The reason I say that is they are usually attracted to other types of people as well.
The culprit in destroying the safety of the neighborhood?
AIR CONDITIONING for the home;with TV as an accomplice.
With the house now a cool refuge from summer's heat,no one needed to sit on the porch for the breezes and shade that made it better than a closed house.Without those millions of adults quietly reading the paper,talking,listening to the ballgame on the radio ,and casually watching the streets and sidewalks the world became less safe.People turned their backs literally on their neighbors.Rare is the TV that could be viewed comfortably in the brighter ambient light outside of the house,so TV viewers had a double inducement to stay inside.
Those kids of earlier times were watched more than they realized but people didn't forbid the kids to be kids as now;plus the perverts knew the real adults were watching ,too.And nobody was taking seriously any crap psychologist when a pervert tried his stuff.
I some places, when the cops did show up they helped certain perps disappear down sewer grates.
True, we didn't have air conditioning until I was in high school (and only window units then, which were used mostly at night in the DC heat and humidity.
Still, with my sinuses, I thank goodness for airconditioning. I couldn't get over it not being available in Seattle and am thankful for central air here in Iowa.
I'm also such a nerd, I went to the air conditioning exhibit at the National Building Museum. Most of the US would be unproductive w/o air conditoning. Kinda like France.
When I turned 14 I got a brand new Remington 12 guage for my birthday. My mom would get up at the crack of dawn and drive me out to a buddies farm. I’d be gone all day with a sack lunch and a bag of duck decoys. It was no big deal to anyone. Those were the days, a young boy hunting on his own. I’d bag ducks, squirrels, rabbits, doves, pheasants, and even a couple of rattle snakes once. I’m sure a mom would be arrested for child abuse if that happened today. Too bad for today’s kids, they will never know the self esteem I was taught.
Psychiatrists have been trying to answer that question for years. I don't know why, some people are just perverts and sociopaths, I guess.
I suppose SF isn’t exactly typical, but I think (at least partially) the sense that things have gotten more dangerous since the 70’s is imagined.
Sorry to pile on, but I grew up in the late 70’s, early 80’s in suburban Dallas, and we were never home afterschool until dark and out all day during the summers. We walked or rode bikes to the store or pizza place to play “asteroids”. Had secret forts in the “woods”.Our creeks we played in was on a golf course, but hey, it was still a creek to us! We knew not to talk to strangers, and if we were in trouble we always knew our neighbors would be home to help us..I think kids don’t play outside as much because they are too heavily scheduled with activities...
True, but the question is, are there more now and if so why?
I am not sure that there are more of them. In the 70’s research showed about 1/3 of women were sexually molested in a local study. I would say that still holds true, using 70’s standards.
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I think with more “churched” people back in the day; enough people who are saddled with dark desires would control them out of fear of going to hell.
That's a good point you bring up there.
I also wonder how much of it may have to do with the incredible amount of development today as compared to just 20 years ago. To truly live out "in the woods" these days, you have to be pretty far away from the city.
With private developments and strips malls increasingly taking up every possible inch of space in the near suburbs and heavy traffic on every street, there's just not as much room for the kids to run around and play games anymore.
Something similar out of my childhood. The only shop in our neighborhood was run by a kindly old man whose son joined him in the business. The son was also the "adult advisor" for our Explorer Scout troop. Turns out he fancied young boys, and it wasn't long before he was sent up for a term of two-to-ten. I went to the shop after he was released, and wound up in his chair. Before long, I realized that the chair was at the height where his privates could rub against my arm on the arm rest. I pulled my arms into my lap and gritted my teeth until he finished the haircut, and got the hell out.
My, my ... now there's a stupid poll. They don't know this, they just think it's likely?
SF became atypical even before you were born. I'm not surprised that you think others' perceptions are "Imagined" just because they're not the same as yours.
“If someone was funny with one of the children, they were driven out of town. We grew up not so far from the old days of tar and feathers.”
Driving Chester The Molester out of town was mere mob rule. Those were truly savage days. Chickens were killed and their feathers used in those barbarous mob events.
Now we have enlightened courts, social workers to counsel any and all, psychologists, psychiatrists, and lawyers beyond number - all working to make you and your child safe.
Can’t you see how much more safe we are? /sarc
And they are often correct in that belief. The advent of interactive mapping programs tied to databases of registered sex offenders is very revealing. We can finally see very quickly where the convicted offenders are living. It doesn't cover where the undetected offenders are lurking.
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