Posted on 07/11/2010 9:00:13 AM PDT by rellimpank
Last week, I offered a different take on why so many kids are getting fat.
For once, it appears we can all agree on something: Today's youngsters don't get outside enough. That's a no-brainer.
But I have yet to hear anyone -- from first lady Michelle Obama, who's made reducing childhood obesity her personal crusade, to the advocacy groups that shake down the fast-food industry -- seriously address why kids don't get outside. And I can't see American kids slimming down until we do.
My conclusion: Children don't get outside because our current parenting culture prohibits unsupervised outdoor play. Today's kids don't have anywhere near the freedom that previous generations enjoyed.
Instead of exploring our neighborhoods and rounding up friends for outdoor play -- and getting a great workout in the process -- our kids are contained until parents or other adults can plan activities and accompany them outside. Which, in the age of stressed, working parents, is infrequent at best.
(Excerpt) Read more at lvrj.com ...
These days, some deviants have learned not to leave a witness behind. Having my children molested would be horrific, but having them abducted, molested and killed would be far worse.
We are blessed to have a few acres out of town. My kids can roam the yard and the woods, but they are not allowed to get near the road. If we still lived in town I’m afraid that I would keep very tight reins on them. Too many stories in the news with very bad endings.
Porn plays a part but only a moron would believe its the sole cause.
I grew up in a small rural town. All the adults kept an eye on us to some extent. When we weren’t riding bikes, in the park or on the school playgound we were playing in the woods and fields around town.
I didn’t have a horse until I was 14, when I was 10 I used to tie a piece of string on a tobacco stick and run with it between my legs as a horse, I can still remember wearing the skin off my legs and how sore they got.
Dad got a horse to work the garden later and we used to rid her, but she had this bad habit of running into the stable when she got close to it. Duck your head or get nailed.
Liberalism has turned children into prey.
There was a time when there was a mom home behind every door. If a child cried, all the mothers came running. Today, the neighborhood is barren.
There was a time when a child molester wouldn't have survived a week, but today they're considered politically correct if they're homosexual. The child is portrayed as the villain.
There was a time when neighbors got along. Today, with the liberal trial lawyers, everyone is suing each other in an attempt to get rich quick.
People used to work for a living. Today, half the population sits on it's butt and complains about everyone elses happiness. In order to "make it fair", they vote in politicians who'll make everyones life miserable, and the kids are considered too much of a burden or a useful political tool instead of human beings. Children get in their way.
Then, there's the value of their life. Liberalism murders infants by the millions each year. To liberals, children are simply expendable.
The country isn't as morally conservative as it used to be, and the children are too vulnerable to walk the streets alone.
Porn culture, particularly extreme porn culture which breeds deviancy and general culture of degeneracy.
Add in the lax laws for sex offenders and criminals in general. The extreme mollycoddling we do with sex offenders is beyond bizarre.
I tried to let my daughter walk to school (1 mile) or ride the city bus to school (about 2 miles en route)from the time she was 12. Each time she recieved unwelcome approaches by men who harrassed her with lewd language, was harrassed and followed several times, and in one instance had a man expose himself to her.
I ended up driving her to school which was ridiculous that I would have to do that
Also at her school, a teacher was fired for sexual harrassment of a kid (this was year before she attended but it still caused a lot of fear and caution among parents for years afterward). While she attended there was an incident with a vagrant man hiding in the bushes outside the girls gym bathrooms. In that case it was unclear whether he was there to spy or just a homeless person looking for a place to sleep, but still...
In short, we live with some sick deranged people among us ... people without any moral compass whatsoever and no accountability. And we are afraid of them instead of them being afraid of us.
I’m a big ‘rule of law’ person but this issue makes me so angry I’m sorely tempted to allow vigilantism and allow people to blow away those who think they have a right to harrass others, especially kids. There has to be an extreme line drawn or it will only get worse.
I’m ashamed to say what I think should happen to these people.
“I got on my horse and rode off and I didn’t come home until supper.”
And then, after supper, it was until the street lights came on.
Street lights! We didn’t have no stinkin’ street lights!
Really we didn’t. This is almost inner city Houston now, but at the time it was out in the country.
moron writer
It remains true that for every kid who is harmed by a stranger, ninety-nine are prey for Uncle Billy (or Aunt Judy), or mommy's current live in boyfriend.
The reason that the '50s and '60s were perceived as being safer than today is that in those days, we had fifteen minutes of local and fifteen minutes of network news every night.
It's interesting that Freepers who easily perceive how the MSM twist the news politically, don't also see how they twist the news to create and maintain a level of fear.
A population that lives in fear is a population that is far more easily controlled.
IMHO helicopter parenting came to be after people stopped having more than one or two kids. Back when people had a whole herd of kids we were sent out to play so Mon wouldn’t lose her mind over the mess and loudness.
IMHO helicopter parenting came to be after people stopped having more than one or two kids. Back when people had a whole herd of kids we were sent out to play so Mom wouldn’t lose her mind over the mess and loudness.
Did you read post #12? I have figured out how the media is controlling us more and more. Tragedies happen but when you listen to the news they make you think they are happening next door and don’t even get me started on Storm Stories.
We had strong family units, and because of that strong neighborhoods. Kids were actually safer. The fabric that held this country together has been torn.
That is very true. We had a guy in the neighborhood when I was a kid who was flashing little girls. The men in the neighborhood started being home and outside when school let out. It only took about a week before they caught him. They did call the cops after they had made sure he would never dare entering out neighborhood again. The cops didn’t say a word other than that it ook 3 of them to carry him to the cruiser and that he was heavy.Predators have always been with us it’s just the media made people hysterical about them.Porn has been with us for centuries too. IMHO it is more abut the supervision than it is any of those things.
Yes I did, you and me along with the original poster appear to have our heads on straight here.
Amen! I didn’t see your post when posting about helicopter parents.
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