Mater and Rob PA had this on their facebook feed today. I remember rolling like this back in the day, but now when I roll down the street all I ever see is kids with helmets, pads and parents watching them like hawks. Have parents become too overprotective with their kids these days???
I think they have. It was always funny when I was a kid and into video games. Some of my friends couldn't play games that were rated M for mature, simply because of the rating. My dad is overprotective, but I always just did it anyways and he finally loosened up.
Pretty sure I fall in to the category. Every time I take my 20 month old to the park or in public I don’t let him get very far at all from me. To many crazies these days. And he will be wearing a helmet while on a bike/anything that rolls. Especially if he does half the stuff I use to do.
Parents have become smarter not more overprotective. If I can put a helmet on my child when she is riding her bike and possibly prevent a concussion, why wouldn't I? To me it is smarter to take reasonable precautions when I know the possibilities. With that said, this past summer my daughter was seeing how fast she could go on her scooter, got the front wheel turned and almost did a face palnt that would have cost some front teeth. As it was she is athletic enough to roll and only lost skin on her chin and shoulder. We normally make her wear at least a helmet but if she is just out front Dad sometimes lets her slide. If she would have hammered her head (she hit the ground really hard) and concussed how do you think I would have felt knowing she has a helmet? We used to ride dirt bikes hard with no helmet. One time a buddy hit my front tire on a gravel road and we both went down at about 30mph. My mother was picking gravel out of my back for an hour. We didn't go to the hospital. Nowadays it would be much smarter, not overprotective, to have made me wear a helmet, at a minimum, and we likely would have gone to the hospital. I have already started telling my daughter to never dive into water when she doesn't know the depth and, even then, don't dive unless there is a compelling reason. Am I being overprotective or smart? I have seen two people paralyzed like that. I don't think I am being overprotective but someone that hasn't seen what I have seen might think so. When I was a kid I saw plenty of friends and other kids get messed up in ways that wouldn't have happened if they had been wearing helmets or other protective gear.
LMAO I may be old and square but I do remember all the kids that got good and messed up when we didn't have "overprotective" parents. Sometimes we only remember the good, cool stuff that happened when we were kids and not the bad, messed up stuff. Hell, I was playing basketball when I was 13 and got rocked to the mouth. My lip was cut in half and needed 6 inside stitches and 7 outside stitches. When my son was growing up he had a mouthpiece for stuff like that .
I woke up in the hospital and had no idea why I was there when I was 12. That was the mother of all concussions, still have no memory of two days of my life but Mom still let me ride helmet free. Guess times were just tougher then and they figured we would be alright. I often wonder if I will end up like some sports players with all the concussions I had growing up with and without helmets.
I used to leave and go hitchhiking around the country for weeks at a time when I was 15. My mother wasn't overprotective either LOL. I don't let my children do that.
Its always people without kids that think today's parents are soft. People confuse stupid with tough.
I agree with everything Bruce has said. I don't have kids yet, but I know I will be one of those over protective Dads. I freak out when our cat goes within 10 feet of our street, which may get 10 cars a day. And no, I never wore a helmet or anything as a child.
I never wore any of that protective stuff when I was a kid, course that was back in the 50's, and I still have a scar on my chin to prove that I went head over the front handlebars of my bike and did the chin plant...that required a few stitches too. When My kids were growing up, I don't think any of them had that protective stuff either...maybe I'm too soft. The grandson will be a different story, helmut, knee and elbow pads, the whole shebang !!! Maybe I'm an old square guy now too !
I did do all of those things without any helmet, pads, anything like that. There's times I think back an wish I was wearing a helmet. Had two concussions on a 4 wheeler and was to dumb to start wearing a helmet. He will always be wearing one as long as he is in my sight/an hopefully when he's not.
Yes we are over protective in a world of freaks like sandusky at Penn State...I will like to put it on the record... A Perv would rather walk through hell with gasoline draws on than to bother my child. nuff said!!!!!
It's the government intruding too far into home life that has made it difficult to be a parent. If you let your child ride their bike without all the protective gear you could be charged with child endangerment. Also, there seems to be way too much interference on other fronts too. When my daughter started 7th grade, she came home one day and said that "some people" (turned out to be the department of human services social workers) came to her school and told all the children that if their parents spanked them, the child should report it to the teachers so her parents could be arrested! My first response was "As long as you abide by my rules, you have nothing to worry about." After thinking about it for a while, I got let's just say, irked. I looked at both my children and told them if they ever called someone because they thought I was a bad dad, they better hope they have somewhere to live the rest of their lives, because it wouldn't be under my roof. When the government takes discipline away from a parent, they have pretty much screwed our society up for a long time.
When I found out that I had a daughter I went to the gunstore and bought a Benelli Super Black Eagle.
That sounds a little excessive. I never understood why guys get made when they find out they are having a daughter. IA, its completely unlike you to blame the government.
I worry more about my kid getting swiped/abused than I do about getting hurt on a bike. I put a helmet on him every time we ride the four wheeler further than up to my brother's house (125 yards). I want him to be able to take a brush burn or a good scrape without much issue, but don't want something bad to happen because I neglected his safety.
I have to agree that Government.... feds, state and local are way to intrusive in our lives in many many respects. As for parent being overly protective...I work as a paramedic, during my 72 hours a week i seen most everything......I have to say I have seen just as many parents who aren't protective at all...never mind overly so. I guess it balances out. I keep a close watch on my son but I am not so delusional that i think I can prevent every accident. On thing you should underestimate is the number real Scum Bags out their that can do harm to you and yours..... So protect you children while you can and just as importantly teach them every chance you can..teach them to keep themselves safe always.
