Sure glad I'm not a kid any more (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Ulmer]

http://www.cbc.ca/cp/Oddities/061018/K101802U.html

When I was a kid we rode bikes without helmets, we climbed trees, we took off for hours of unsupervised fun in the woods, roamed the neighborhood freely, played all kinds of games, chased each other, and basically did what kids should be doing - developing coping skills with the challenges we faced in the real world. We got cut and bruised, which taught us rules of safety. When we did something really bad, we got spanked, sent to our rooms, or punished in a way that taught us right from wrong.

Now, parents drive their kids everywhere, they can't play alone and in Mass can't even play tag! You can't spank a kid for fear of being labelled abusive. Why have kids at all if we feel the need to hermetically seal them away from any possible danger. Why let them go to school where they could learn bad things, meet bad people, get hurt physically or emotionally. Just put them is a padded room and be done with it. Being a kid would suck!

 

[Chu Gai]

We even learned how to lose and win.

 

[RodC]

This made me immediately think of dodgeball, and the fact that my 7 year old son just told me yesterday that he was playing the game at recess. I didn't remember hype of banning the game at the time, but apparently it is still ok at his school. He went on to tell me that when he was playing, one of the "bigger" kids threw the ball and it hit him in the throat. My immediate reaction was to ask him if he caught it, which he did. A more uptight parent may have contacted the school instead, resulting in such a ban.

I, too, miss the simpler days of old.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Oh yeah, can't have the negative emotional impact of coming in second place anymore, that could be crippling. Better to give accolades for mediocre performance rather than inspiring a kid to work hard to achieve their goals. After all, there is no competition in the real world. Whatever happened to "it's how you play the game?"

 

[Michael Warner]

Unfortunately a lot depends on where you live and the type of neighbors you have. My two boys run around every day after school with their pack just like I did when I was their age. They come home for dinner at night filthy and exhausted. In our previous neighborhood no parents would have even considered letting their children out of their sight. I'm afraid that that latter sentiment is the more common one.

 

[Bryan X]

Every generation gets to a point where they lament that things 'just aren't as good as they used to be'. The generation before us said the same thing, but we're still nastalgic for our childhood years. Different isn't necessarily bad. And as Michael said, it can be true in places, but just the same you'll find places where it hasn't changed or has actully gotten better.

 

[Alex-C]

...and every now and then you realize the world is normal just like you suspected. ahhhhhh......thank you.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

what are you talking about? when playing a game, there are no losers. everybody wins!

the pussification of kids can't lead to good things

CJ

 

[L. Anton Dencklau]

You Darn whippersnappers! Get off my lawn!

 

[John Alvarez]

That's one of the reasons we moved away from the city into a tight community on a cul-de-sac. There are a lot of kids that play all day long on our road, we have a baseball field, soccer field, basketball courts pool etc..

 

[Alex-C]

There is no more losing, only winning with less...(pasty fake smile)

When I played Pop Warner football back in the, umm...early 80s, the second team I was on went defeated (the opposite of undefeated), we didnt win one game. Yea, it sucked, but we still had fun running the plays and all that. Well, the last game of the season we played Escondido (we called them Escondildo...heehee, c'mon give me a break, we were 10 yrs old). Well, we ended up winning 6-0 and my point is this, if we felt the way these kids are taught today, that we didnt lose the previous 9 games, then winning that game would not have been so sweet. I mean, it drove us to win that game and we celebrated like raging heathens !
Anyway, even though in PW, its meant to be fun, the idea of improving on your mistakes to the point of succeeding was firmly installed at a very young age (although I didn't really realize it while it was happening...you know, I never thought about it until later in life).

The next year we went 9-1 and after that 10-0. The "failures" of our crappy team made the success of our good teams sooooo much better. Man, that is life ! I'm sorry, but that is one of the fundamental axioms of youth sports, have fun, learn and try to win by doing your best, not try to win and if you lose that is ok because it doesnt matter at all...what the heck is that ?

 

[Jeff Gatie]

"Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"

- My beloved father, John T. Gatie Sr. - (Thanks Dad)



"If it isn't broken or bleeding, I don't want to hear about it. Go back outside!"

- My beloved mother, Lois A. Gatie - who was affectionately known around the neighborhood as "Old Lady Gatie" and was (still is) tough as nails. (Thanks mom )

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I don't buy into the "win or lose" mentality. Not everyone can win, and it shouldn't be THAT important, but making a solid effort is. Learn, and try harder next time. I think the real problem is parents getting to down on their kids for losing or not succeeding - that isn't about rewarding mediocrity, it is the acknowledgement of and encouragement to do your best in whatever you do.

I really wonder what some of the kids being raised these days in overly protected environments will do when faced with real life. We got into trouble and had to get ourselves out of it. If we got hurt doing something stupid, well, don't do it again!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

At least kids are still able to get each other pregnant.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

What do you mean still? When I was young, getting a girl pregnant was a death sentence. That is, my dad would have killed me, buried me in the back yard and told everyone I was at boarding school. Needless to say, I didn't get anyone pregnant. My brother Leo, however, is expected home from Philip's Exeter any day now, having been the only student who took 23 years to graduate (just kidding).

By the way, how exactly do they "get each other pregnant?" I always thought there was a pregnanter and a pregnantee. Seems you found a way to double their output, like earthworms or something.

 

[Eric_L]

They can do THAT but they can't play dodgeball? DAMN! Recess has changed alot in 20 years...

 

[Chris Lockwood]

I didn't think I needed to go into details.

 

[MarkHastings]

LOL - I remember jumping onto the back of my moms station wagon and pretending I was part of the "A-Team" - she was doing a good 20 mph, when I thought I could jump off and run it off - apparently I was wrong. I tore up my clothes and banged myself up really bad...and guess what my mom did? That's right! Yelled at me for being a dumbass!!!

 

[Joe S.]

"Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser"

- My beloved father, John T. Gatie Sr. - (Thanks Dad)

I love it when I can play people that have this attitude (in sports, video games, etc.) The best part is all you need do is match them, they'll always end up beating themselves. Once you are so obsessed with winning that you fear loss, you're gonna lose.

Not to slight your Dad Jeff, I'm sure his philosophy was more robust and inclusive. But that quote is over-hyped, I've never found it to be true in anything but the most shallow forms of competition.

 

[Jeff Gatie]

My dad managed my brother's hockey team (he was not the coach because he knew he'd short shift his own kid, but he knew hockey). My brother's team went 80-1 in the season he was 14. He was the leading scorer for the defense and played more minutes than anyone else on the team. They were undeafeated at the local, state and New England championships. They came in 4th in the national championship to teams that included 4 future 1980 USA Hockey Olympic gold medalists and some kid named Eric Heiden, back when he wore hockey skates. Who knows, maybe if that form of competition was a little less shallow, he might have actually been playing a sport.

Seriously, I think you have confused fear of losing with hating to lose. My dad didn't fear losing (and neither did we), but he certainly was not the type (like today) who pats a kid on the back after an atrocious loss and says "that's OK, you tried" when they did anything but. Praise was saved for performance, but losses were never a reason for scorn, yet if he saw you not trying or being a coward, he let you know about it. He hardly ever had to speak to us about either. Truthfully, he never, ever experienced cowardice from us, which was the greatest sin you could commit in my family.

Also, my dad never forced us into sports or any other endeavor. He was certainly not some guy reliving his youth through his kids (see my remark above about his fear of short shifting his own kid in order to be fair). He just believed that excellence should be strived for and medocrity was unacceptable if you truly loved a hobby or sport. Out of seven, he raised 2 that played hockey in college (Div 1A for my older brother), 1 who played till high school (me), a competetive figure skater and a competitive barrel racer and horse trainer. The other 2 didn't play sports often. Not bad for a guy who never played sports because childhood polio had him in braces for a good part of his youth (which probably forged much of his philosophy). Shallow? Nahhh.