I was visiting blogs. I came upon Scary Monster's blog. He was talking about when he was growing up how he used to kick cans and make mud pies. I started to think today's kids know nothing about how it is to grow up in a safe world. Or at least a non technical world, without computers or Nintendo's or any of that stuff.
I would be able to walk to the grocery store, which was 5 minutes away all by myself. If I wanted a friend to tag along, that was ok too. My sister and I would go to the movies with our friends a lot and spend the afternoon watching the same movie over and over and over again. We did that with the two Beatles movies, A Hard Day's Night and Help. Sometimes boys would come with us and I was sitting next to one during a Beatles movie and he told me if I screamed he would not sit next to me. I uttered a small scream and he didn't move. He probably didn't hear me because I screamed quietly. Another reason for him not hearing me is because everybody else was screaming! Our parents took turns driving us to the movies.
When I was growing up I would visit my grand parents and hang out with my friends there. They lived in Chicago. South Side. Gram's only request was when we went anywhere which crossing a street was required that I let her know where we were going.
You could actually run away in those days. Boss lady ran away a few times and came home ALIVE! Imagine that!
Today, you've got to be careful who your kids hang out with. You never know if someone will pick them up and kidnap them. When I was growing up, people hitchhiked. I don't know that they all got to where they wanted to go, but some of them did.
It's a different world today. Both parents have to work to survive in most homes. It's a rare thing where parents stay together anymore. Kids are tossed to and fro visiting both parents. Things are more expensive nowadays.
Yes, I'm a baby boomer. I was alive when the Beatles were together, all four of them. I believe Paul McCartney was the only Beatle who stayed married to his first wife.
I would be able to walk to the grocery store, which was 5 minutes away all by myself. If I wanted a friend to tag along, that was ok too. My sister and I would go to the movies with our friends a lot and spend the afternoon watching the same movie over and over and over again. We did that with the two Beatles movies, A Hard Day's Night and Help. Sometimes boys would come with us and I was sitting next to one during a Beatles movie and he told me if I screamed he would not sit next to me. I uttered a small scream and he didn't move. He probably didn't hear me because I screamed quietly. Another reason for him not hearing me is because everybody else was screaming! Our parents took turns driving us to the movies.
When I was growing up I would visit my grand parents and hang out with my friends there. They lived in Chicago. South Side. Gram's only request was when we went anywhere which crossing a street was required that I let her know where we were going.
You could actually run away in those days. Boss lady ran away a few times and came home ALIVE! Imagine that!
Today, you've got to be careful who your kids hang out with. You never know if someone will pick them up and kidnap them. When I was growing up, people hitchhiked. I don't know that they all got to where they wanted to go, but some of them did.
It's a different world today. Both parents have to work to survive in most homes. It's a rare thing where parents stay together anymore. Kids are tossed to and fro visiting both parents. Things are more expensive nowadays.
Yes, I'm a baby boomer. I was alive when the Beatles were together, all four of them. I believe Paul McCartney was the only Beatle who stayed married to his first wife.
40 comments:
nope....I did see that.
Dang! And you grabbed a couple I chose, too.
....hey. Those horses are kissin'
Ok boneman, you can have the ones I picked, and I can pick other ones. Ok?
No, the horses are snuggling.
I agree, I have to know exactly where the kids are at all times.
I don't think I'm being paranoid just careful.
living
and dying
is what we do
living in fear, you're already dead
/t.
Hammer, I agree with you.
/t. It's not living in fear, it's so you don't have to. Living in fear is not knowing where your child is or who your child is with.
You can die naturally, and we do, or you can die unnaturally, which is getting killed for no reason.
My parents actually encouraged me to talk to strangers and practice crossing busy streets. But those were different times, and different parents.
I remember that too. We were told to play in traffic.
i was
encouraged
to run with scissors
btw, LL -- my earlier comment is meant generally -- it is not directed at you are at anyone in particular
one of your presidents said that there is nothing to fear but fear itself -- i agree completely
/t.
We used to blow stuff up. I remember walking to the store to get cigarettes for my mom - we just had to have a note to buy them...
Now they check I.D.
i ran away once. i was so bored i came home before anybody knew i was gone. and i missed those salads my mom made, you know, the ones where she plopped a pear half on top of a piece of lettuce then added some grated cheese? God! if only i could get that now.
...ok, gal. I just put in a quick pitch fer ya.
(of course, I used boneman humor, but, who knows...)
Now, I gotta go put y'all on the side bar cause t'get to ya, I have to go to any of our common comment hits, find yer comment, go to yer profile (250 YEARS OLD?!?) and eventually land here.
She, I was always afraid to run away. I always thought I'd have to kill wild animals to survive.
Bomeman,A quick pitch in where?
I'm not that old. I'm much younger than that.
Another way to get to a blog not on your blog roll, is to go to someone who has that person on their blog roll. It's easier to put the person in or on your blog roll.
OK, but, that was old hat fer me. Yer actually at the top of the roll.
What wasn't so easy was making an avatar fer draggin' around t'the comments places.
And the pitch was @/t
Meanwhile, how 'bout that smile, eh?
That's a cute avatar.
I left a comment at your place. Did you read it? I know I'm on top and that was sweet of you.
Thank you for sticking up for me at /t.'s.
A smile for boneman: :-) :-D
(...talk about "dual personalities"...)
and now, a word from The Man on the Streets..."boneman, are y'all there?"
"Yes, berry. Here I am, though not all would say I'm ALL here"
"so, what have you to report?"
"well, after a year and a half, it seems I finally have an avatar."
"That's a bit of a time to wait, isn't it?"
"Well, yes....but you see, Ive had a screw loose. However it's good not to tighten them too much, else they'll strip"
"boneman, it sounds more like you're a few bricks shy of a load..."
"Yes I am, berry. That's because I only need enough to build a BBQ pit."
"seems like the lights are on, but, no one is at home...."
"It's true. I leave the lights burning so folks who visit while I'm gone can see their way to the porch."
"yes, well....your elevator doesn't seem to go to the top floor..."
"Absolutely not! That walk up the last couple of flights keeps me fit and trim!"
"....."
"are you still there, berry?"
"Yes...well. You're just not playing with a full deck, are you, boneman?"
"Again, true! I love euchre and chess, but, I never really know what to do with all the other cards"
"....is this guy kiddin' me? Boneman, you're not the sharpest tool in the box, are you?"
"Heck no, berry! But then again, who would want a sharp hammer?"
"......ok, let's go to commercial"
You make me laugh. That's a good thing. I need to laugh more often.
So you want me to come over and tickle you???
Yeah, c'mon over.
Hey lambkins, thanks for the plug. Me talks to kids everyday, no me not be a pederast, it's me job. The thing me notices that be missing is imagination and adventure. Nintendo killed one and well, the boogeyman, killed the other.
When Me were a tadpole me could go out all day long and me parents never said boo. Now iffin me be gone fer only a few hours, the Vixen be chasing me down on me cell phone.
STOMP.
now, wait a minit wait a minit...
I know I'm adult size now, but, when I discovered nintendo, I liked it.
for a while.
I got tired of saving the princess in mario bros and link.
went the next step up to a nin64, and did the mario'n'link and again, got kind'a bored.
(hey, I would save the gal and she'd go and get caught again...I finally just left her at the dragon's place. Got a card from her last Christmas, she and the dragon are doin' fine....)
What am I saying?
Oh yeah, all the while I was doin' the boring games, ol' Steve took to a game called tetris.
He still likes it.
We never went to the next step up in equipment, either, because he still likes the tetris, although, after the one of his parties, he poked it in the closet where it remains today.
But then I got to do sopmething called Simpson's Road Rage.
Dang! IT WAS COOL!!!
(how old am I?)
That doesn't matter.
Nobody dies, there's no dragons or monsters to save any princesses from, only taxi-ing around Springfield and getting points fer getting folks to their destinations.
(...although, maybe they should put ONE warning on the package...don't just play fer an hour and go driving yourself, 'cause the brain makes you want to consider doing what you did in electric land.)
(am I saying anything, yet? No really...you're reading this. Is there any REAL information forthcoming?)
Oh yeah...just because the games and stuff are there, well, doesn't mean the parents have to let them be used so often during the day. And yet, most parents would rather their child become sedintary at some game console than take a chance at them hitch-hiking their butts into a shallow grave (dang,that got a bit serious, eh?) but then, that's because the parents have such active imaginations because they didn't always play the electronics...
(this is kind'a going circular, isn't it?) ...but now the kids growing up with electronics are thinking, "there's NOTHING that can harm me because I'm a seventh level master of blooper world and have killed many dragons. And, probablyt they will wander right straight into some pedojerk and get hurt....
Dang! What in the dickens am I saying?
I don't really know...and the next part isn't gonna get any better.
Our nation is tops on the gamers gig, but, there are places where gaming isn't reigning king. There are countries where kids can still go out and play house with their friends and boys can play war.
Unfortunately, they get real ammo and the girls get real pregnant....
Shoot!
I was going for the "happy ending" but, y'know what?
There ain't one.
Kids are imaginative and creative without the poop that gets shoved down their throats (electronically or otherwise) but big business wants to turn profit, so the thing is, they're (the kids) are gon'na have the same shtuff driven down their throats whether they want them or not.
dang....
no happy ending?
wrong.
The key is parents and peers.
Don't have to buy the nintendo until it's a graduation present (say, high school) and can organize kids and their friends into parties that are just plain fun.
(probably overly simplified, but I will fight for a happy ending, no matter what)
Scary, you talk to kids everyday? I wonder what it is that you do for a living?
boneman, I enjoyed what you said. Some of it made me laugh out loud.
Times have certainly changed. When I was younger, I could crank call a nursing home without worrying about getting caught by caller ID. Or bang a whore without having to wear a rubber.
We didn't have video games, just went around starting random fires.
I think we were better equipped to become adult as we had to use our imagination a bit more, we had nothing to act out for us, we had to come up with things on our own.
i bit
my thumb
/t.
...thumbnail...
Kid, those were the days.
/t. stop biting your thumb.
LL - /t. suggested i drop by to visit you.
so here i am.
days of yore eh?
i remember seeing hard day's night and help in the Linda Vista Movie Theater. admission was 50 cents and we (my sister and i) had 25 cents each to spend as we pleased. we always purchased our candy and soda at the nearby liquor store - it was cheaper there. but we ran the risk of losing our stuff- the theater management sometimes searched girls' purses and confisicated food brought from outside.
We bought our candy and soda and popcorn there at the movie theater.
When a woman at work goes to the movei's she sneaks food in the theater and hasn't gotten caught yet.
We'd buy jujubes, and chew a hand full until they were nice and sticky then toss them out into the audience or see if we could get them to stick to the movie screen. That was a hoot!!
Lamby - Scary is a sideshow act in a circus - he being green and with the fire breath and all. ;)
Now if I was pug's parent I would have encouraged him to take candy from strangers too.
But...things have changed for kids...and as Scary rightly points out...for adults too. I think it all depends on where you live...my sister made a point to have a swimming pool and a cul de sac so that as her kids grew up, they'd play right in front of the house or have their friends over to the house.
Not everyone can afford that - its true...but she was very fortunate and so were her kids - they have grown into teenagers and adults with self confidence and a sense of adventure and possibilities!
xx
pinks
Kid, I remember the boys would make spit balls and shoot them at the girls. YUCK!
Pink, it's so hard to raise kids nowadays.
you are so right LL It is so diffrent now. The world is neither safe, nor the homes secure now...
It is so sad!
It is sad, Mona.
I raise kids - right off the ground with my foot.
Still? I thought it was past tense. You're a grandpa.
Life is, to a large extent, what we make it.
I really have no complaints...and 2 great kids that I'm with most of the time. I decided a long time ago that if I couldn't be home with my children- I wouldn't have any.
It's worked for us, but not by accident. It took a lot of planning and being careful. I think that's part of the problem today...people don't think. They let life happen and then deal with the fall out.
There are better ways of living.
Pink said it very well~
Very true. You have to plan on what to do before it happens.
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