Being smart by being more aware and taking responsibility for our actions and helping our children learn to make wise choices is just plain smart. However, I watch way to many parents being so overprotective today, that they won't ever let their child make a mistake, take the blame/responsibility for their actions and yes sometimes that means getting a scraped up knee. Every child has "rights" and are way smarter than most of us "old" people are. Yes guys, we definitely are better prepared to guide our children with seatbelts, helmets, air bags, water filters, etc. but at the same time we have to help them to learn to be responsible for their actions.
I'm not a parent so I won't pretend to comment or really have an opinion but Iowa Vet saved me a lot of typing about government infringing on parents choices.
I was never angry at all..Just overly protective. Through the blessing of the Lord above she turned out to be a beautifully smart child.... Sad to say we had one incident. She was never touched a older kid tried to coerce her into leaving the area with him, she ran to me and told me what was happening and I tried my damnedest to break his effing neck!! When I got tired of punching him I kicked and stomped him by this time I was in blacked out mode! The rest i don't remember but her mother stopping me from beating on his uncle. I'm no slouch in the meat grinding department at 5'8 210lbs bench press of 450lbs....like I said A fool would rather walk through hell with gasoline draws on. When you become a father you will make rules, solve problems, and answer questions. And of course be the protector of your family.
Clam up junior, this is an ADULT conversation..... :D When you were a "kid," and games rated "M" means you're still a kid to us OLD farts!!! I think that some people ARE overprotective. When little kids have to wear a facemask with their batting helmets in slow pitch or coach pitch baseball/softball, we've gone just a little too far!!! I think there are varying levels of "overprotectiveness." I never wore a helmet when I rode a bike, had one little incident where I bumped my head, nothing major, but there are some kids that should wear a helmet when they go to the bathroom because they are just that accident prone. I don't even own a helmet to wear on my "ATV," but at the same time, I don't ride like a maniac either. I do have helmets for my kids but rarely MAKE them wear them. If they opt to ride in the woods though, the helmets go on. When I was a kid, you could get in a fight without having to worry about getting sued, we had BB gun wars, we could buy chewing tobacco and snuff when we were 8 and 9 yrs. old, we went into the woods with axes and hatchets and chopped trees down and built forts, and we had fun!!! Most kids today will never get to do some of the fun stuff that us "older" kids did...... Kinda sad really.
I think all the arguments are right as well as the original premise. Parents are WAY too overprotective these days. Screening text messages, checking Facebook pages, etc... But wearing helmets/knee pads? That is stupid NOT to these days. You old farts grew up with lead paint and asbestos conditions as well, are those all good for kids these days too since you all are still breathing? Safety precautions should not be laughed at, nor should the scary thought of parents now controlling children like pets rather than letting them grow up on their own some...
The problem is people don't show their children any attention they stick them in front of televisions shows like keeping up with the Khardasians, and a multitude of idiot programing. Still I may be an old fart but my ways has gotten my child through her second year of college. And from the hell I put my parents through and been through...being old and protective isn't too damn bad.
There is a HUGE chasm between being a parent and being an owner. Sounds like you aren't the latter. Kids should be given guidance as the grow and live THEIR life....not forced to live the life you see fit. Hard for all parents to stomach, especially with a first child. I thank God everyday my parents weren't that way with me and my sister. They set strict guidelines and expected more from us than any of my peers, but they allowed ME to meet those expectations on my own choices.
What are these things called helmets and pads ?? We never had them as kids. Geesh... we were working with livestock when we were kids. Driving tractors/vehicles when we could barely see over the steering wheel. We went were we pleased... I was usually carrying a rifle. I would saddle a horse and be gone all day if we didn't have to work. As long as we made it back for meals or by dark... they didn't care. It is amazing we survived our childhood back then. It was a blast though !!! Some of the things I do at work are stupid even now. Still do them though and never worry about getting hurt or dieing. Now my kids... they all wore helmets when riding bike. We over protect them and love them to death. We worry ourselves sick over the little things. Things have changed. I feel bad they can't experience what I experienced as a kid. The wife is worse then I am but I wouldn't even give them the freedom that I had as a kid. I also don't work them like dogs either... not even remotely close to how I was worked as a kid. They have it easy. Probably way too easy !!! LOL I wouldn't give up one moment I had as a kid. I would not have wanted the same childhood my kids have. Too boring !! They seem to love it though. Only Britney out of the 3 kids would like to have my childhood with the exception of the work part. She is a lot like me in her ways. She will be the one we watch the most !!!!!!!! Tim
Yes, parents are overprotective these days and I am not talking about making kids wear helmets while riding bikes. Our society is screwed up and nuts right now with pedophiles, nut bags that run into businesses and shoot people up, to school shootings and on and on and on. People are scared right now. Then they have every Johnny citizen watching their kids and tattling on them about things like spanking their own kid to how late their kids are outside after dark. Even my wife is getting soft. My oldest daughter stayed home sick from school yesterday. Between my oldest and my son, that is the only day either one of them has missed of school in about a year. I watched my daugher and knew she had a cold. I made her rest, stay warm, and hydrated. Well my wife gets home and demands we go to the doctor to get tested for Strep throat because she said my daughter was "spitting all night"...huh? My mother used to make us tough out colds and sicknesses and that has translated to my brothers and I rarely ever getting sick and when we do, we tough it out and go to work anyways. Well I take my daughter in and pay $20 to have her seen yesterday after my wife acts all soft....the doctor said she had a cold. Great, $20 down the tube for nothing.
There is one given in history...the generation before you will always think you are doing it wrong. Never fails.
I have two daughters. One is 11, the other is 8. I do NOT want my kids wearing helmets and pads and junk while just riding around on their bikes/scooters/whatever. What does it teach a child when they can wreck their bike or wipe out while skating and they do not get hurt? It teaches them that being sloppy has little to no consequence. On the other hand, I remember wrecking my bike, getting hurt, crying for a bit, thinking about what made me wreck, and working to not ever make that mistake again. I talk to my kids and my brothers kids about improving whatever they are doing. I push them to engage in critical thinking and skill building, not rely on pads and helmets to cover up mistakes they make. I recall watching one of my nephews (probably around 7 years old at the time) walking over the top of the monkey bars at a park once. The bars where probably about 6.5 ft off the ground. I said "Be careful up there. Do you know what I will do if you get hurt?" He said "What?" I replied "Laugh." The other adults around looked at me with complete horror on their faces, but the boy slowed down what he was doing, and methodically went about getting safely from rung to rung. Of course I would not have laughed at him, but I made him really pay attention to what he was doing. Relying on safety equipment TOO much covers up deficiencies in skill or planning. It is no different than an archer relying on an 8" brace because he/she does not have the skill to shoot a 7" brace height, save the chance for injury. Or, one that relies on NAP Quick Fletch Quickspins to help cover up the fact their bow is not tuned properly. Now, I do plan on shooting the Quick Fletch because I want the convenience of slapping them on. I have neither the gear, nor the room to store the gear to fletch my own arrows. Now, I do think that if one were to engage in things like downhill mountain biking (as I do whenever I can), more extreme types of climbing, motocross, auto or bicycle racing, they should wear the appropriate body armor. Things like that involve a lot more kinetic energy, a larger chance of getting hurt, and potentially more devastating injury. Even adults these days have no concept of "grit your teeth and bear it" or "rub a little dirt on it and walk it off". We are seeing the advent of a generation of adult males who are not men and adult females who are not women. When I take my mountain bike to a nearby park with relatively flat hard-pack trails, nearly every other biker I pass has on a helmet. This is flat ground with a few hills less than 6 feet tall. This is insane behavior. What the heck do these "men" and "women" need a friggin helmet for there? They do not seem to be pedaling even 10mph! Also, as far as protecting my kids for weirdos out there, the kids are used to me packing my Kimber .45 on my hip, even around the house. It comes off at bedtime and lays on the nightstand.
I can see how happy I was as a kid without my protective bubble. I even drove without a seatbelt while asleep behind the wheel.
I can't imagine watching your own kid take a header off a bike without a helmet and feeling good about it. To each his own but we're definitely not on the same page. How do NAP Quick Fletch Quickspins improve tuning?
I never had a bicycle helmet until this past year....I'm now almost 27. I've been mountain biking a little and wouldn't dare riding without a helmet nowadays. My parents were pretty lax with my hunting adventures. I was hunting on my own at a very young age, 12 maybe a tad younger. I guess I proved to my dad I was responsible. Don't think I could let my child be on his/her own at that age though. Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk
I'll chime in now. Yes we are way overpertective,we went skiing today and my daughters ski bag weighs 25 pounds.I never wore a hemelt to ski. The next generation of kids will have to where a helmet to take a crap. We never wore anything that remotely looked like a helmet when I was a kid. We just tried harder to pull of the trick we were doing so we didn't get hurt. Being older and not so invincable anymore I'm surprised I'm still alive. So with that being said kids should wear safety gear but nlets not get to carried away with it.
I haven't read all of the posts and I may be in the minority simply because I'm a woman; but, there are some parents who are overprotective and there are plenty of things I don't agree with. However, because of my son's recent accident he will wear a helmet. I will wear a helmet for the simple fact that I can't expect my children to follow my rules if I don't follow them myself.
I never said I felt good when one of my kids gets hurt. I just have no interest in protecting my children to death. This is why I am one of those who are against people using hand sanitizing stuff all the time. A persons immune system is like a muscle in that it needs to be exercised in order to work efficiently. Yes, I do require my children to wash their hands at appropriate times. Things like Quick Fletch do not improve tuning, but they can help cover up tuning problems. I should have articulated that statement more clearly.
