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-   -   OT - Fireworks? (http://www.catbanter.com/showthread.php?t=105447)

CatNipped[_5_] July 2nd 11 11:21 PM

OT - Fireworks?
 
New Year's Eve.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, Created by "Yowie", maintained by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.net/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net


"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
...


CatNipped wrote:
We don't open our curtains after dark, so my cats have never seen
fireworks, but they don't appear to be bothered by the noises (thank
goodness since our idiot neighbors spend thousands of dollars in
fireworks at least twice a year).

"TWICE a year"?? July 4th and what else? Cinco de Mayo? Guy Fawkes Day?




[email protected] July 2nd 11 11:40 PM

OT - Fireworks?
 
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:

Lesley wrote:


On Jul 2, 11:01 am, hopitus wrote:


You did forget "Special K".


That must be American over here "Special K" is a diet breakfast
cereal!


Here, too! (Where does it mean something else?)


It's a drug name in the US as well. I believe it's ketamine, but I might
be wrong. Ketamine is a heavy-duty animal trank, often used for anasthesia
during surgery.

I'm wondering what "Charlie" is, if it's not what American soldiers
called the North Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam war.

And *what* are Catherine Wheels and Roman Candle?? It sounds like
someone's building a torture dungeon.

Joyce

--
Cats' hearing apparatus is built to allow the human voice to easily
go in one ear and out the other. -- Stephen Baker

Yowie July 2nd 11 11:41 PM

OT - Fireworks?
 
On 3/07/2011 3:32 AM, CatNipped wrote:
LOL! Your post sent me back to a childhood of playgrounds set in concrete.
Bones had to be sticking out of skin before anyone was sissy enough to go
home crying to mom when we fell off the top of the monkey bars or "tightrope
walking" on the top of the extra tall swing set - not to mention trying to
get the swing to go completely around in a circle and more often than not
banging into the steel posts instead. Then there was the ever popular
child's game of "Lawn Darts" where children stood on opposite sides of the
lawn and threw very large steel spikes at the target at one child's feet -
can't tell you how many times I had to pull a dart out of my leg.

There were public pools that kids could attend alone at any age, dive off
the high dive 25 - 30 feet above the deep end of the pool, and drown if the
lone "lifeguard" happened to be flirting with a pretty girl at the time.

Not to mention being basically kicked out of the front door with a backpack
of sandwiches at first light and not allowed to come back (even had we
wanted) until after dark. I lived next to a large copse of wild woods with
many wild animals, such as nutria (think rats on steroids - they could take
on a large dog and win). there were streams to cross on a fallen log, trees
to climb to serious heights, ropes strung across the trees to swing on like
Tarzan or make a rope bridge. To build tree houses we had to "borrow" from
our garages machetes, axes, hammers, ten-penny nails. saws, etc. - all of
which we were never taught how to safely use - we either figured it out or
lost a piece of finger. Any less serious injury was treated with spit and a
mud pack (it's amazing how few infections we had - I guess we built
immunities pretty quickly).

I sometimes think that we were still practicing "evolution in action" in
those times. Anyone smart enough to live through a childhood like that had
the privilege to grow up to marry and contribute to the gene pool.

I walk past the playgrounds of today, with their moss and wood chip ground
cover - nothing high, nothing steel, everything a very light plastic, no
monkey bars, no see-saws and more often than not totally deserted (how could
kids possibly have fun on those unthrilling, vanilla "toys"). And children
have to be accompanied by parents, they're not allowed to venture anywhere
on their own now-a-days (even if they should desire a few minutes away from
their Nintendos and WIIs). It's all pretty sad really. And I'm sure it's
why so *MANY* of our children in the US are seriously overweight and having
*HEART ATTACKS* in their *TEENS*!!! That was unheard of when I was young.
There was maybe one poor child in the whole school whose single mother
coddled into overweight and that poor child was teased and hounded to misery
(there weren't any awareness programs about the damage this did). I can
say, righteously, that I was not a teaser - having lost my dad at age 4 and
being brighter than my peers caused me enough teasing and grief from my
peers that I could empathize all too well.


Most of that is due to the culture of suing if a child gets hurt. If
local councils choose to put in play areas for children, they have to be
as safe as possible and have signs all around saying that children have
to be supervised at all times and that any use is solely at the user's
risk.

Combined with the general culture that sees 'outside' as a big scary
place and that 'unsupervised' children are 'neglected', and you have an
indoor culture. According to current wisdom over here, children should
not be left unsupervised for any length of time until they are at least
12. I was walking to and from school which was just under a mile each
way by the time I was 7. Sometimes I walked with friends, but often I
walked alone. I knew how to cross a road, and not to talk to strangers
/unless it was an emergency/. I knew how to dial emergency on a public
phone, and knew my next door neighbour's phone number (we didn't have a
phone) if something happened and needed to contact my parents. I fell
over and grazed verious bits of me more times than I could coung, got
sunburnt, got beat up by a boy I liked once, and was even approached by
a stranger once (I don't know if he was dangerous or just 'not right in
the head' - I ran home). I went to the shops for Mum to pick up milk and
bread and like you had the kicked-out-in-the-morning, be-home-by-dusk
curfew. WOuldn't, and couldn't, happen now though - that would be
considered neglect.

Yowie

CatNipped[_5_] July 2nd 11 11:47 PM

OT - Fireworks?
 
I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a place of such history -
any longer than a couple of centuries' worth.

--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, Created by "Yowie", maintained by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.net/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net


"Lesley" wrote in message
...
On Jul 2, 11:01 am, hopitus wrote:
K". You and I would get along fine in RL. I
understand East Ender.



I had one laugh yesterday sort of...I'd stopped in the "Bells" and 2
American ladies came in first of all they weren't too happy as they
thought Bow Church was the one that you had to be born within hearing
of to be considered Cockney- it's actually St Mary Le Bow in the city
so I directed them then they started asking us all if were cockney
what did it mean to be cockney? Aaron said he was born in Bow but we
didn't all use rhythming slang and as I walked past for a laugh I said
"Aaron! Go up the Apples!" so the next thing I;ve got these 2 ladies
assuming I am an authetic cockney and no amount of explaning that I
was born in Romford worked then they said there's no history around
here...

I took them outside.... the "Bells" is about 200 feet from the first
act of violence by a suffragette just standing out there I can see
that and am near the site of a convent mentioned in Chaucer's
"Canterbury Tales"- the infamous red handed Gladstone statue is in
sight but the real story is on the other side of the road and the
memorial plaque is there. Cross the road and the turning on your left
is Fairfield Road where they used to have fair but it was stopped for
licentious behavour (possibly to the modern Mayfair) and about half
way down now relabelled "Bow Quarter" is the old Bryant and Mays'
match factory where the famous match girls strike took place ....I
could have shown them the meeting place of the first London Co-
Operative food store but it;s currently under scaffolding

In the end they almost wanted to come back and hire me as a tour
guide.... but after all the things I told them when I mentioned the
Minnie Lansbury clock they asked "Is she related to Angela
Lansbury" (Sort of Minnie was her grandfathers first wife when the
clock needed work done she put £5K or so into the fund) and shot off
to take photos

Lesley

Slave of the Fabulous Furball



CatNipped[_5_] July 2nd 11 11:50 PM

OT - Fireworks?
 
"Yowie" wrote in message
...
On 3/07/2011 3:32 AM, CatNipped wrote:
LOL! Your post sent me back to a childhood of playgrounds set in
concrete.
Bones had to be sticking out of skin before anyone was sissy enough to go
home crying to mom when we fell off the top of the monkey bars or
"tightrope
walking" on the top of the extra tall swing set - not to mention trying
to
get the swing to go completely around in a circle and more often than not
banging into the steel posts instead. Then there was the ever popular
child's game of "Lawn Darts" where children stood on opposite sides of
the
lawn and threw very large steel spikes at the target at one child's
feet -
can't tell you how many times I had to pull a dart out of my leg.

There were public pools that kids could attend alone at any age, dive off
the high dive 25 - 30 feet above the deep end of the pool, and drown if
the
lone "lifeguard" happened to be flirting with a pretty girl at the time.

Not to mention being basically kicked out of the front door with a
backpack
of sandwiches at first light and not allowed to come back (even had we
wanted) until after dark. I lived next to a large copse of wild woods
with
many wild animals, such as nutria (think rats on steroids - they could
take
on a large dog and win). there were streams to cross on a fallen log,
trees
to climb to serious heights, ropes strung across the trees to swing on
like
Tarzan or make a rope bridge. To build tree houses we had to "borrow"
from
our garages machetes, axes, hammers, ten-penny nails. saws, etc. - all of
which we were never taught how to safely use - we either figured it out
or
lost a piece of finger. Any less serious injury was treated with spit
and a
mud pack (it's amazing how few infections we had - I guess we built
immunities pretty quickly).

I sometimes think that we were still practicing "evolution in action" in
those times. Anyone smart enough to live through a childhood like that
had
the privilege to grow up to marry and contribute to the gene pool.

I walk past the playgrounds of today, with their moss and wood chip
ground
cover - nothing high, nothing steel, everything a very light plastic, no
monkey bars, no see-saws and more often than not totally deserted (how
could
kids possibly have fun on those unthrilling, vanilla "toys"). And
children
have to be accompanied by parents, they're not allowed to venture
anywhere
on their own now-a-days (even if they should desire a few minutes away
from
their Nintendos and WIIs). It's all pretty sad really. And I'm sure
it's
why so *MANY* of our children in the US are seriously overweight and
having
*HEART ATTACKS* in their *TEENS*!!! That was unheard of when I was
young.
There was maybe one poor child in the whole school whose single mother
coddled into overweight and that poor child was teased and hounded to
misery
(there weren't any awareness programs about the damage this did). I can
say, righteously, that I was not a teaser - having lost my dad at age 4
and
being brighter than my peers caused me enough teasing and grief from my
peers that I could empathize all too well.


Most of that is due to the culture of suing if a child gets hurt. If local
councils choose to put in play areas for children, they have to be as safe
as possible and have signs all around saying that children have to be
supervised at all times and that any use is solely at the user's risk.

Combined with the general culture that sees 'outside' as a big scary place
and that 'unsupervised' children are 'neglected', and you have an indoor
culture. According to current wisdom over here, children should not be
left unsupervised for any length of time until they are at least 12. I was
walking to and from school which was just under a mile each way by the
time I was 7. Sometimes I walked with friends, but often I walked alone. I
knew how to cross a road, and not to talk to strangers /unless it was an
emergency/. I knew how to dial emergency on a public phone, and knew my
next door neighbour's phone number (we didn't have a phone) if something
happened and needed to contact my parents. I fell over and grazed verious
bits of me more times than I could coung, got sunburnt, got beat up by a
boy I liked once, and was even approached by a stranger once (I don't know
if he was dangerous or just 'not right in the head' - I ran home). I went
to the shops for Mum to pick up milk and bread and like you had the
kicked-out-in-the-morning, be-home-by-dusk curfew. WOuldn't, and couldn't,
happen now though - that would be considered neglect.

Yowie


And I think we're the worse for it, unfortunately. Our future doesn't look
too bright when you consider how unprepared most children of our culture
will be to face it. But I guess every generation has said that about the
next.


--
Hugs,

CatNipped
See all our masters at: http://www.PossiblePlaces.com/CatNipped

See the RPCA FAQ site, Created by "Yowie", maintained by Mark Edwards, at:
http://www.professional-geek.net/rpcablog/

Email: L(dot)T(dot)Crews(at)comcast(dot)net




Adrian[_2_] July 3rd 11 12:17 AM

OT - Fireworks?
 
"CatNipped" wrote:
I can't imagine what it must be like to live in a place of such
history -
any longer than a couple of centuries' worth.


There are several houses in the village I live in which were built
before 1492.
--
Adrian

[email protected] July 3rd 11 12:20 AM

OT - Fireworks?
 
Yowie wrote:

On 3/07/2011 3:32 AM, CatNipped wrote:
LOL! Your post sent me back to a childhood of playgrounds set in concrete.
Bones had to be sticking out of skin before anyone was sissy enough to go
home crying to mom when we fell off the top of the monkey bars or "tightrope
walking" on the top of the extra tall swing set - not to mention trying to
get the swing to go completely around in a circle and more often than not
banging into the steel posts instead. Then there was the ever popular
child's game of "Lawn Darts" where children stood on opposite sides of the
lawn and threw very large steel spikes at the target at one child's feet -
can't tell you how many times I had to pull a dart out of my leg.

There were public pools that kids could attend alone at any age, dive off
the high dive 25 - 30 feet above the deep end of the pool, and drown if the
lone "lifeguard" happened to be flirting with a pretty girl at the time.

Not to mention being basically kicked out of the front door with a backpack
of sandwiches at first light and not allowed to come back (even had we
wanted) until after dark. I lived next to a large copse of wild woods with
many wild animals, such as nutria (think rats on steroids - they could take
on a large dog and win). there were streams to cross on a fallen log, trees
to climb to serious heights, ropes strung across the trees to swing on like
Tarzan or make a rope bridge. To build tree houses we had to "borrow" from
our garages machetes, axes, hammers, ten-penny nails. saws, etc. - all of
which we were never taught how to safely use - we either figured it out or
lost a piece of finger. Any less serious injury was treated with spit and a
mud pack (it's amazing how few infections we had - I guess we built
immunities pretty quickly).

I sometimes think that we were still practicing "evolution in action" in
those times. Anyone smart enough to live through a childhood like that had
the privilege to grow up to marry and contribute to the gene pool.

I walk past the playgrounds of today, with their moss and wood chip ground
cover - nothing high, nothing steel, everything a very light plastic, no
monkey bars, no see-saws and more often than not totally deserted (how could
kids possibly have fun on those unthrilling, vanilla "toys"). And children
have to be accompanied by parents, they're not allowed to venture anywhere
on their own now-a-days (even if they should desire a few minutes away from
their Nintendos and WIIs). It's all pretty sad really. And I'm sure it's
why so *MANY* of our children in the US are seriously overweight and having
*HEART ATTACKS* in their *TEENS*!!! That was unheard of when I was young.
There was maybe one poor child in the whole school whose single mother
coddled into overweight and that poor child was teased and hounded to misery
(there weren't any awareness programs about the damage this did). I can
say, righteously, that I was not a teaser - having lost my dad at age 4 and
being brighter than my peers caused me enough teasing and grief from my
peers that I could empathize all too well.


Most of that is due to the culture of suing if a child gets hurt. If
local councils choose to put in play areas for children, they have to be
as safe as possible and have signs all around saying that children have
to be supervised at all times and that any use is solely at the user's
risk.


Combined with the general culture that sees 'outside' as a big scary
place and that 'unsupervised' children are 'neglected', and you have an
indoor culture. According to current wisdom over here, children should
not be left unsupervised for any length of time until they are at least
12. I was walking to and from school which was just under a mile each
way by the time I was 7. Sometimes I walked with friends, but often I
walked alone. I knew how to cross a road, and not to talk to strangers
/unless it was an emergency/. I knew how to dial emergency on a public
phone, and knew my next door neighbour's phone number (we didn't have a
phone) if something happened and needed to contact my parents. I fell
over and grazed verious bits of me more times than I could coung, got
sunburnt, got beat up by a boy I liked once, and was even approached by
a stranger once (I don't know if he was dangerous or just 'not right in
the head' - I ran home). I went to the shops for Mum to pick up milk and
bread and like you had the kicked-out-in-the-morning, be-home-by-dusk
curfew. WOuldn't, and couldn't, happen now though - that would be
considered neglect.


Well, these are kind of opposite extremes. I agree that kids are way,
way overprotected these days, and I don't think it's just the fear of
a lawsuit. It's a culture of fear - the boogeyman is around every
corner.

I started noticing this back in the 80s when I became friends with a
woman who had a son from a previous marriage. He was like 14 years old
and she wouldn't let him ride public transportation to school. WTF??
I took buses when I was much younger than that. She said, "You grew
up in a small town, so it was safer. We live in a city." Well, I was
going into Boston without parents, via public transit, when I was his
age. Her response: "The world is a lot more dangerous now."

I don't agree. Some things have gotten worse, but I don't think the
everyday lives of most kids have gotten so much more dangerous. Parents
are afraid of kidnappings - but most kidnappings are done by the "other
parent" (who lost custody) after a divorce, etc. There aren't a lot more
random strangers looking for kids to grab off the street and molest,
no matter how many TV shows tell us there are.

And don't get me started on the fear of germs! We're making children
much sicker by keeping them in such sterile environments. And of course,
we're breeding super-bacteria that *will* be scary and dangerous, and
unstoppable, because of all the disinfectants and antibiotics we use.

On the other hand, Catnipped's description of her childhood environment
seems kind of extreme in the other direction. I don't think there's
anything sissy-ish about going home when you're injured, even if all
your bones are still inside your skin. And I also think it's really
weird for parents to kick their kids out for the day and not allow them
in until dinner. After I finished my chores, I came and went pretty much
as I pleased when I was a kid, and often times I would be gone for the
whole day - I'd get home for dinner, and nobody grilled me about where
I had been. But if I'd wanted to come in earlier, I could have. It was
my house, too.

I had the same attitude about Smudge. I knew that her life would probably
be shorter if she were allowed outside, but since she had such a strong
drive to go out, I felt that a longer and safer life indoors would also
have been an unbearable life. You can't protect them from everything. And
in the end, Smudge died of something that would have happened even if she'd
spent every day of her life cooped up in my apartment.

Joyce

--
What business is it of the state how consenting adults choose to pair
off, share expenses and eventually stop having sex with each other?
-- Bill Maher

MLB[_3_] July 3rd 11 12:22 AM

OT - Fireworks?
 
On 07/02/2011 01:20 PM, hopitus wrote:
On Jul 2, 12:49 pm, wrote:
On 07/01/2011 04:25 PM, Joy wrote:





wrote in message
...
All sales on fireworks have been banned this year in and around Houston.
The chance of more wild fires and the danger to homes is too great to risk
even a "sparkler" to ignite the draught ravaged foliage. That's perfectly
understandable to me - why take the chance of some dumb@44 setting the
city on fire.


However, they're still planning a "Freedom Celebration" in Houston and
some surrounding cities. Huh? Are their fireworks somehow different from
privately owned fireworks? Are the parks and other places they're planned
somehow spared from the draught? There is still a big "debate" about this
going on, but as of right now, the celebrations are going to go ahead as
planned.


What do you think? Should city-run fireworks be banned also, or allowed?


--
Hugs,


CatNipped


That's been the case in Southern California for years. Most cities ban
personal fireworks, but have fireworks shows. There is much less danger of
a well orchestrated fireworks show causing a fire than there is when
individuals shoot them off in the streets or their backyards. I've never
heard of a fire caused by a fireworks show. I have heard of many house
fires and bush fires started by use of illegal fireworks.


Joy


One thing the "powers that be" don't even consider is "air pollution.
For that reason (and many others) I am against it. MLB


You have perfect right to "against it" and air pollution is a reality
but I know where
you are and you know my whereabouts as well....and LOL I guess SLC is
not
smelling the stinking smoke from the wildfires here (not around
MileHigh) and
in AZ....it blows all the way up here when the wind is right (SSW). My
bad to
consider a liittle cloud of gunpowder smoke a drop in the bucket of
pollution
around here. Having zilch to do with anything practical.....some of my
happiest
memories are riding home from a 4th extravaganza with singed hair,
blackened
beyond laundering clothes, and smelling of mortar charges and
gunpowder we
were forced to ride in the truck bed all the way home (Pismo Beach
boardwalk,
1983).




Dear Hop: It is not the individual fireworks I am against -- it is all
of them all over the world making a mess of what (long ago( used to be
fresh air. It is a drop in the bucket, I know, but that bucket is
already full.

hopitus[_2_] July 3rd 11 12:41 AM

OT - Fireworks?
 
On Jul 2, 4:18*pm, wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote:
* Lesley wrote:

* In the end they almost wanted to come back and hire me as a tour
* guide.... but after all the things I told them when I mentioned the
* Minnie Lansbury clock they asked "Is she related to Angela
* Lansbury" (Sort of Minnie was her grandfathers first wife when the
* clock needed work done she put 5K or so into the fund) and shot off
* to take photos

* ....And then we wonder why American tourists have a bad reputation in
* Europe! *At least, in the UK they are justified in expecting the natives
* to speak English. (One of the prime complaints against us in other
* countries.)

I don't understand. What did she say that was objectionable? I mean,
she was on the right track, wasn't she? Minnie *did* have a connection
with Angela, if not by blood, then by marriage, so how was this an
example of being an obnoxious tourist?

Joyce

You are right; she did NOT say anything objectionable. What I believe
Lesley
was LOL pointing out was not a big deal of Merkin tourists being
"obnoxious"
but simply pointing out that as tourists out of USA , they have the
attention
span of a gnat when someone *they ask* on the street (a stranger, if
you will)
tries to inform them of the answer to their historical
question......they run off
to shoot photos of the local sights . Kinda airhead behavior but not
obnoxious,
just thoughtless.
Feel free to disagree with my interpretation.

Joy July 3rd 11 12:54 AM

OT - Fireworks?
 
wrote in message
...
Yowie wrote:

On 3/07/2011 3:32 AM, CatNipped wrote:
LOL! Your post sent me back to a childhood of playgrounds set in
concrete.
Bones had to be sticking out of skin before anyone was sissy enough to
go
home crying to mom when we fell off the top of the monkey bars or
"tightrope
walking" on the top of the extra tall swing set - not to mention trying
to
get the swing to go completely around in a circle and more often than
not
banging into the steel posts instead. Then there was the ever popular
child's game of "Lawn Darts" where children stood on opposite sides of
the
lawn and threw very large steel spikes at the target at one child's
feet -
can't tell you how many times I had to pull a dart out of my leg.

There were public pools that kids could attend alone at any age, dive
off
the high dive 25 - 30 feet above the deep end of the pool, and drown if
the
lone "lifeguard" happened to be flirting with a pretty girl at the
time.

Not to mention being basically kicked out of the front door with a
backpack
of sandwiches at first light and not allowed to come back (even had we
wanted) until after dark. I lived next to a large copse of wild woods
with
many wild animals, such as nutria (think rats on steroids - they could
take
on a large dog and win). there were streams to cross on a fallen log,
trees
to climb to serious heights, ropes strung across the trees to swing on
like
Tarzan or make a rope bridge. To build tree houses we had to "borrow"
from
our garages machetes, axes, hammers, ten-penny nails. saws, etc. - all
of
which we were never taught how to safely use - we either figured it out
or
lost a piece of finger. Any less serious injury was treated with spit
and a
mud pack (it's amazing how few infections we had - I guess we built
immunities pretty quickly).

I sometimes think that we were still practicing "evolution in action"
in
those times. Anyone smart enough to live through a childhood like that
had
the privilege to grow up to marry and contribute to the gene pool.

I walk past the playgrounds of today, with their moss and wood chip
ground
cover - nothing high, nothing steel, everything a very light plastic,
no
monkey bars, no see-saws and more often than not totally deserted (how
could
kids possibly have fun on those unthrilling, vanilla "toys"). And
children
have to be accompanied by parents, they're not allowed to venture
anywhere
on their own now-a-days (even if they should desire a few minutes away
from
their Nintendos and WIIs). It's all pretty sad really. And I'm sure
it's
why so *MANY* of our children in the US are seriously overweight and
having
*HEART ATTACKS* in their *TEENS*!!! That was unheard of when I was
young.
There was maybe one poor child in the whole school whose single mother
coddled into overweight and that poor child was teased and hounded to
misery
(there weren't any awareness programs about the damage this did). I
can
say, righteously, that I was not a teaser - having lost my dad at age 4
and
being brighter than my peers caused me enough teasing and grief from my
peers that I could empathize all too well.


Most of that is due to the culture of suing if a child gets hurt. If
local councils choose to put in play areas for children, they have to be
as safe as possible and have signs all around saying that children have
to be supervised at all times and that any use is solely at the user's
risk.


Combined with the general culture that sees 'outside' as a big scary
place and that 'unsupervised' children are 'neglected', and you have an
indoor culture. According to current wisdom over here, children should
not be left unsupervised for any length of time until they are at least
12. I was walking to and from school which was just under a mile each
way by the time I was 7. Sometimes I walked with friends, but often I
walked alone. I knew how to cross a road, and not to talk to strangers
/unless it was an emergency/. I knew how to dial emergency on a public
phone, and knew my next door neighbour's phone number (we didn't have a
phone) if something happened and needed to contact my parents. I fell
over and grazed verious bits of me more times than I could coung, got
sunburnt, got beat up by a boy I liked once, and was even approached by
a stranger once (I don't know if he was dangerous or just 'not right in
the head' - I ran home). I went to the shops for Mum to pick up milk and
bread and like you had the kicked-out-in-the-morning, be-home-by-dusk
curfew. WOuldn't, and couldn't, happen now though - that would be
considered neglect.


Well, these are kind of opposite extremes. I agree that kids are way,
way overprotected these days, and I don't think it's just the fear of
a lawsuit. It's a culture of fear - the boogeyman is around every
corner.

I started noticing this back in the 80s when I became friends with a
woman who had a son from a previous marriage. He was like 14 years old
and she wouldn't let him ride public transportation to school. WTF??
I took buses when I was much younger than that. She said, "You grew
up in a small town, so it was safer. We live in a city." Well, I was
going into Boston without parents, via public transit, when I was his
age. Her response: "The world is a lot more dangerous now."

I don't agree. Some things have gotten worse, but I don't think the
everyday lives of most kids have gotten so much more dangerous. Parents
are afraid of kidnappings - but most kidnappings are done by the "other
parent" (who lost custody) after a divorce, etc. There aren't a lot more
random strangers looking for kids to grab off the street and molest,
no matter how many TV shows tell us there are.

And don't get me started on the fear of germs! We're making children
much sicker by keeping them in such sterile environments. And of course,
we're breeding super-bacteria that *will* be scary and dangerous, and
unstoppable, because of all the disinfectants and antibiotics we use.

On the other hand, Catnipped's description of her childhood environment
seems kind of extreme in the other direction. I don't think there's
anything sissy-ish about going home when you're injured, even if all
your bones are still inside your skin. And I also think it's really
weird for parents to kick their kids out for the day and not allow them
in until dinner. After I finished my chores, I came and went pretty much
as I pleased when I was a kid, and often times I would be gone for the
whole day - I'd get home for dinner, and nobody grilled me about where
I had been. But if I'd wanted to come in earlier, I could have. It was
my house, too.

I had the same attitude about Smudge. I knew that her life would probably
be shorter if she were allowed outside, but since she had such a strong
drive to go out, I felt that a longer and safer life indoors would also
have been an unbearable life. You can't protect them from everything. And
in the end, Smudge died of something that would have happened even if
she'd
spent every day of her life cooped up in my apartment.

Joyce

--
What business is it of the state how consenting adults choose to pair
off, share expenses and eventually stop having sex with each other?
-- Bill Maher


I think most parents (and cat slaves) did (and do) what seems best. My
parents knew where I was all the time. I was hurt twice. I broke my right
arm when I was 6 and sprained both arms when I was 8. Both times I was in
my own back yard when it happened, and I went straight to my mother, who
took me to the doctor.

I knew where my kids were all the time, too. My son and many of the
neighborhood kids often played in the large tree in my front yard. I made
one rule - no bicycles or other implements under the tree. Luckily, none
of them ever fell out of the tree.

My two current cats are indoor only, because they were three years old when
I got them, and had always been indoors. All my previous cats were
indoor/outdoor. At one time, I did try keeping two of them inside, but they
were so miserable I decided to let them be free.

Joy




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