My mother still reminds me how much it cost her to repair my broken front tooth when I landed on my face when I was 12. She's 83 and I'm 61!

Pat

ETA: We gave our son a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas this year. Then again, 2 years ago, we gave him a Del-Ton M-4 when he graduated AIT as the Master Blaster. ;) Next year, a cap gun! :)

When I was very little I heard that my paratrooper heroes had been taught a very special way to roll when they fall and sought out books to learn about this at the library. After determining what a PLF was I climbed the backyard fence to get up to the roof of the house & practice into the front yard. That skill has served well over the following half-century or so...

Kids learn agility & other things with boo-boos attached
Nowadays my precocity would've gotten my divorced hard-working Mom up on charges.
:mad:

My mother-in-law (63yrs old) isn't happy with the fact that I don't constantly wash my hands or use hand sanitizer when holding my newborn.....or the fact that I don't stop her from putting things in her mouth....or the dogs and cats from getting near her. She may have a stroke the first time the little squeaker grabs a fork and sees that invisible "Insert Here" sign over a power outlet and I don't move to stop her. I refuse to allow my children to grow up being weak ungrateful ignorant brats. Go ahead, plug the fork in. I bet you'll only do it once.:munchin

Not a bad person at all Sir, that's worth at least a cold IBC after the game in my book :D

We used to be members........
 

When D1 and D2 were smaller we used to be members for about 2 years so we could take advantage of their sports programs.

It ended with the outlandish behavior of some of the parents bellybucking coachs on the field and cussing at the other kids - we're talking 5 and 6 year olds.

After complaints to the Y we found out the biggest offender had a free welfare membership so there was nothing they would do about it. That was it for the Y membership.

I would send my sons out to the ranch where I grew up to spend time with my ffolkes and brother where they could - like we did as kids - run, jump, climb, dig, fall down, swim in creeks, get chased by dogs or rams or bulls, eat fruit and nuts off the trees and vegetables from the fields, and get stung, scraped, bit, poked, cut, step on rusty nails or broken glass while wading in the creek chasing frogs or fish or snakes or turtles or muskrats, ride and take care of livestock and learn how to train and manage working dogs (Australian Shepherds and Border Collies), operate and repair farm implements and vehicles, learn to build buildings and fences and to weld and use an oxy-acetelene torch, learn firearms safety and hunt coyotes and pheasant and bear and deer, go fishing for trout and striped bass and salmon and sturgeon, pan for gold up at the old mine, hear the family stories of growing up passed down through the generations and listen to grandma as she went through her photo albums explaining who was in that picture and why they should know about them, help grandpa raise the American and Scots flags every day on the flagpole next to the repair shop and lower them in the evening, and do whatever else they could dream up as long as it did not break the law.

Here, we had them all in Boy Scouts and sports - the oldest was on the swimming and shooting teams in high school and rowing and volleyball teams in college; middle son did basketball and football in junior high and high school; youngest son did soccer, baseball, and swim team in high school and rugby in college.

They are all healthy and my oldest is raising his two daughters in the same manner. I suspect they will be healthy as well.

And so it goes...

Richard :munchin

Mine, when I don't send cards or call, will leave one message only..."you cost your father and I 8.57$ for your birth (Lackland AFB). The least you could do is call!"

My Wife is one of the over protective soccer moms. She freaks out when she read of a killing or body found near our house or area, House break ins, ETC. Our kids walk home from Middle and High school. She scared daily.. I'm like women you have that cell (iPhone) leash and we have GPS on their phone. Will you shout up.

Drives me crazy. When they were little she wouldn't let them run around the yard bare footed. Me.. go outside without your shoes on kiddos.

We are completely different. I'm all about the Richard school teaching or the In-laws farm.

Haha, i remember jumping ramps like that with my big wheel... only problem is that i was a child of the 90's :rolleyes:

I miss my big wheel. Wish they made an adult size....maybe with a harley twin cam 110 on back?


I also miss being locked out of the house so that my grandmother could watch her soaps in peace during the summer. Used to piss me off...now I have a plan for my kids.....

Big Wheels weren't around until my oldest son was about 5 years old - we just had bicycles - the goat head stickers we'd encounter during the summer when riding across the vacant fields (We never rode through a cultivated field or else! :eek:) meant you either constantly had to patch a punctured tube or, as we discovered, you could replace the tube with a piece of radiator tubing or thick rubber hose of the correct diameter and length and not be bothered with flat tires all the time. ;)

Richard :munchin

I got all tough on crime because my big wheel got stolen. :mad: LOL

While all my friends had Big Wheels all I had was a red pedal car fire truck with working hoses :(

My dad was less then pleased to come home on a summer day and find the hoses stretched out, out of the yard, and up the street (at least for a 100ft or so :)

I have no kids so I have no dog in this fight. All these are just observations and ponderings.

I used to be against helicopter parents 110%. I mentored junior high and high school students who always got picked up by and went to school with their parents. This went on even to college! Was never able to properly teach H2H either due to being stopped every 5min. I'm all for freedom, and letting kids learn from mistakes. HOWEVER....I notice more and more that some mistakes have permanent, irreversible consequences. Especially in this internet age, I can see some value of helicopter parenting at least until the kid is passed those sensitive forming and teenage years. There is no shortage of online predators and the teenager's (esp. gals) drive to be wanted, accepted, and admired compounded by media bombardment for the ideal image, hairdo etc. does not help.

I am interested to hear opinion from those who work as correctional officer, pediatric psychiatric, or PD.

Having two dogs(err kids :p ) in this fight, you raise a good point, however, the tightrope of being involved in your kids life vs. the "yapping, heal biting" dog (which will just push them further away) is a very fine one indeed. Times have definitely changed though: the power of the internet, which allows people whom you would never allow anywhere near your home to communicate with your children in their bedroom, combined with a very liberal justice system which allows these perps to become further emboldened in their actions, have all created a society in which we may need to be more vigilant than in the past.

That said, I believe the point of the OP and his legendary picture, reminds me of a recent laundry detergent commercial which told parent to let their kids get out and get dirty. Bumps and bruises were all part of growing up(and I am not even that old ;) ). An observation: I have several friends growing up who had helicopter parents, and I noticed that they never really learned how to work things out themselves, it was all spoon-fed to them and every time the SHTF, they ran back to their parents. Two are now divorced for that very reason as they never learned how to relate/communicate with their (ex)spouses and work out any issues.


Like QP MtnGoat, my wife is a helicopter mom as well(her mother is too, so that probably has something to do with it), I, on the other hand, am usually not. I'll warn my daughter before she does something potentially painful, but I will give her the option of learning the hard way. I do draw the line at outlets though, having fried myself a few times over the years; and yes, my 14mo son is still trying to get the fork in there :D