When I was a kid, no one wore a helmet or a seatbelt
Are ultra-safe playgrounds making kids neurotic?
Children who are not exposed to risks can’t learn to cope with them. The world is not coated in Nerf and bubblewrap. And kids should know that.
16 Responses to “When I was a kid, no one wore a helmet or a seatbelt”
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July 20th, 2011 at 10:24 am
The idea is to limit the risks the children will take as adults therefore in theory making them easier to control… They grow up to be perpetual children who need a “nanny” to take care of them because they never had any childhood experiences. I have seen it creeping into communities all across the US..
July 20th, 2011 at 10:41 am
Back when I was a grad student, I got paid for running freshman Chem labs. My favorite was the one in which students melted a glass tube to make a small test tube, then used it for a melting point determination of a compound.
The instructions were to melt the end of your glass tube, then put it on the desk and WAIT 5 MINUTES BEFORE PROCEEDING to allow the glass to cool. Also included was DO NOT TOUCH THE CLOSED END OF THE TEST TUBE BECAUSE IT WILL BURN YOU. About half the classes had one student whose finger would immediately get blistered after I would say that bit about not touching.
My roomie at the time had a saying. “Don’t tell kids not to stick beans up their nose.” Apparently there was a big brother involved, but still!
July 20th, 2011 at 10:44 am
Around here the HUGE bullshit is Lead Paint. New England has VERY few new homes. Our home was built in the 20s, Where I grew up was built in the 50s (and is considered “Newer”) Wife’s home was built in the 40s etc. There are houses in my neighborhood built in the 1700s
Its not like We’re all dropping dead up here, while Down South and Out West where newer construction is common are doing just fine.
Another thing is smoking mothers. Everybody in my Parent’s generation smoked, most expectant Moms of that generation smoked. I know its not GOOD for you, but seriously, if its such a death ray, WHY ARE YOU HERE?
July 20th, 2011 at 11:17 am
My father taught highschool chemistry decades back. He used to roll liquid mercury around in his fingers. 35+ years later he’s still alive and kicking.
July 20th, 2011 at 11:47 am
Yeah, we used to play with mercury, also.
My dad used to make some projectile flinging contraption called a Carbide Cannon, which used to launch a Folgers can rather impressively and for which, at this point, there are probably extensive BATFE regs and multiple Federal statutes.
We used to also run behind mosquito jeeps which were spewing DDT into the are to kill mosquitos.
And we rode in the back of pick-up trucks and rode sleds that were being towed by pick-up trucks.
We rode mini-bikes and shot guns and would sip Sloe Gin and 7 Up at parties when we were tending bar for our parents.
We played dodge ball and smear the queer (not even knowing what it meant).
In other words, we had fun.
We didn’t have bureaucracies trying to regulate what came naturally to us.
July 20th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
Heh, I remember we were all puzzled every time the teachers made us stop playing smear the queer at recess.
This is something I’ve thought about from time to time. I think the biggest disservice it does is to remove consequences from actions, so the judgement involved in risk taking never develops. Then they wind up dying in stupid ways as young adults, because of course, they’re invincible.
Calcium carbide in water generates acetylene. It was used a lot for lamps on helmets for miners and cavers. I have a bit to play with đŸ™‚ That’s how the cannon works, anyway.
July 20th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
My dad was a big believer in letting kids do dumb shit that hurts (as long as it would not cause serious or permanent injury), because they remembered that better than just telling them.
For instance, he always believed that if you let kids fall down and skin their knees now and then, they learned to watch their step, which may save their lives one day.
July 20th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
When was the last time you had a kid show you their boo-boos and make it past the third one?
Was there any point of time as a kid that you had less than three boo-boos to show someone?
July 20th, 2011 at 1:12 pm
Weer’d, there’s a reason federal authorities have had to act as if lead paint were a corporate conspiracy. The housing project in Chicago which became the basis for decades of lead-eating data was fully specified and paid for by the federal government. They’re the guilty party. That moving finger has never stopped writing.
July 20th, 2011 at 1:27 pm
Heh – my wife commented to me the other day that our son had a few bruises on his leg. She didn’t quite understand my comment of “Good for him!” until I said that if he didn’t get some bumps and bruises, he wasn’t really playing.
July 20th, 2011 at 1:52 pm
The biggest problem: Fear of lawsuits and greedy tort lawyers. When I think back to my youth, it’s a wonder my brother and I survived. No car seats, no seat belts, monkey bars, rope swings, fireworks, always carrying a pocket knife, lead paint, garden pesticides, etc. and ad nauseum.
July 20th, 2011 at 3:08 pm
And remember: During BB gun wars, no more than three pumps and no aiming at people’s faces!
(Us prudent kids wore long sleeves and safety goggles all the same and were therefore puzzled when a friend’s mom discovered out shenanigans and promptly freaked right the fuck out. “But we were wearing safety goggles!“, like that made it okay or something…)
July 20th, 2011 at 3:17 pm
When I was a kid, we swam in a murky neighborhood pool with dead bodies at the bottom all the time. Now, one dead body and they shut the whole pool down for the summer.
July 20th, 2011 at 4:03 pm
John Smith got it. The point is to make us neurotic. Only a neurotic people can tolerate our creeping government.
July 20th, 2011 at 9:16 pm
“The biggest problem: Fear of lawsuits and greedy tort lawyers.”
Very good point.
When I was a kid, a swing set and a trampoline were toys.
Now they are causes of action.
I had coffee with an old rodeo cowboy this morning and his skin and body told a story of many years of fights, bulls, falls and injuries, but also of a life fully lived.
July 25th, 2011 at 2:52 pm
Yeah, Tam. I remember BB gun fights — including going home and popping one out from above my collarbone like a zit (didn’t know it was lodged in the skin until I looked in the mirror and saw the coppery shine). We didn’t bother with goggles, but, hey! I was wearing glasses, so safe, right? {grin}
Good times.