Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
Fred Goodwin, CMA
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
http://tinyurl.com/a935h
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
Posted 7/12/2005 12:01 AM
Updated 7/12/2005 3:12 AM
BELLBROOK, Ohio - Being a kid isn't what it used to be.
Dakota Howell, 9, went fishing in this town of 7,000 the other day with
his mom, dad and little brother. "It's fun," he says, happily reeling
in sunfish from Spring Lake during a fishing derby sponsored by
Wal-Mart.
But, to be honest, he'd rather be doing something else: playing video
games. "That was my first choice," he confides. "But mom says they rot
your brain."
Misty Pollock, his mother, smiles. "When I was a kid, we wanted to be
outdoors," she says. "Today, you have to push kids outside."
The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single
generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood - days of pick-up
baseball games, treehouses and "be home for dinner" - has all but
vanished.
Today, childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing
video games and working the Internet. When children do go outside, it
tends to be for scheduled events - soccer camp or a fishing derby -
held under the watch of adults. In a typical week, 27% of kids ages 9
to 13 play organized baseball, but only 6% play on their own, a survey
by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade,
with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike
riding, swimming and touch football, according to separate studies by
the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American
Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.
A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day
than to ride a bike, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family
Foundation and the CDC. Dakota Howell says his favorite video game
-Tony Hawk's Pro Skater- is more fun than actual skateboarding.
The change can be seen in children's bodies. In the 1960s, 4% of kids
were obese. Today, 16% are overweight, according to the CDC. It can be
seen in their brains. Studies indicate that children who spend lots of
time outdoors have longer attention spans than kids who watch lots of
television and play video games, says Frances Kuo, director of the
Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign.
"New research indicates that our intuition is right: Kids are spending
way too much time with media and not enough time outside," Kuo says.
The lure of television and video games isn't the only thing keeping
kids indoors. Parents are more afraid of letting kids roam in a world
of heavy traffic and reports of pedophiles and missing children. A 41%
decline in the birth rate since 1960 means smaller packs of kids roam
neighborhoods. Air-conditioning means kids don't need the local pool or
swimming hole to cool off.
"Boundaries for kids used to be measured by blocks or miles. Now, the
boundary for most kids is the front yard. A lot of kids are under house
arrest," says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, a book
about how children have lost touch with nature.
He says many parents fear the outdoors, whether it's letting a kid
climb a tree or hike alone in the woods. "Parents think their kids are
safer in front of the Xbox in the next room."
Home alone
Consider Jared Timmons and Cole Hillsamer, a pair of athletic
11-year-old friends from Beaver Creek, Ohio. The boys live in
neighborhoods separated by a busy street neither is allowed to cross in
their 38,000-resident town outside of Dayton.
During the school year, both boys got home about 2 p.m. and spent a
couple hours alone. Cole flopped on his bed, watched MTV or the Dukes
ofHazzard. Jared sat 2 miles away instant messaging friends and
sometimes stepping outside to shoot baskets by himself.
The buddies were outdoors together at this month's fishing derby.
Cole's mother, Janet Begley, drove them to the event and sat in a beach
chair behind the boys reading Hidden Prey, a murder mystery.
She says she would never let her son play in the woods without an
adult. She won't even let him go alone to the park down the street.
"Parks are where pedophiles go," she says.
The mother pauses for a moment to recall her tomboy childhood. She rode
her bike all over town. She played outdoors freely - climbing trees,
playing tag and kick the can. "Life for kids isn't what it used to be,"
she says.
Annabel North, 9, a bubbly Catholic school student, is fishing a few
feet away. Last night, she had a sleepover at a friend's house and had
a grand time trying to make grape jelly from juice and milk. She stayed
up whispering until midnight discussing whether the Loch Ness monster
is real.
But much of her time, she says, is spent by herself. "When I'm happy, I
go outdoors. When I'm sad, I watch TV," she says.
Some days, Annabel says, she watches television from the moment she
wakes up until the moment she goes to bed.
Is that boring? "No, it's not boring at all!" she exclaims, surprised
by the silly question. "It's great. I don't miss anything."
Multimedia lives of children
In the 1960s, television broadcast 27 hours of children's programming a
week, much of it shown simultaneously on Saturday morning. Today, there
are 14 television networks aimed at children, and the most popular show
with children, American Idol, isn't on any of them.
Children ages 8 to 10 spend an average of 6 hours a day watching
television, playing video games and using computers, according to the
Kaiser study. And that's during the school year. No study has been done
on vacation habits, but TV ratings show kids watch more during the
summer.
Childhood's outdoor pastimes are declining fast and the rate has
accelerated in the past decade, especially the past five years,
according to the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) annual
survey of physical activity.
Since 1995, the portion of children ages 7 to 11 who swim, fish or play
touch football has declined by about a third. Canoeing and water skiing
are down by similar amounts.
The relationship between kids and their bikes is especially telling.
In 1995, 68% of children ages 7 to 11 rode a bike at least six times a
year. Last year, only 47% did.
The sales of children's bikes fell from 12.4 million in 2000 to 9.8
million in 2004, a 21% decline, according to Bicycle Industry and
Retailer News,an industry magazine.
"Bikes used to be empowering for children," says Marc Sani, publisher
of the magazine. "My parents didn't care where I went as long as I was
home for supper. Now, parents are afraid to let kids out of their
sight."
Many kids have substituted skateboards and scooters to get around. But
skateboards and scooters travel short distances and their use peaked in
2001 and 2002 respectively, according to the NSGA survey.
Children today tend to get outdoor exercise by appointment.
Soccer participation has been unchanged in the past decade - about
28% of kids age 7 to 11 play the sport. Soccer leagues and soccer camps
are in full bloom this summer, although non-organized soccer games are
uncommon.
Organized outdoor activities have kept kids moving. They are declining
but much more slowly that unstructured outdoor play.
Little League participation has fallen to 2.1 million children, down
14% from its peak in 1997. But overall baseball playing - pick-up
games, catch, pickle - has declined nearly twice as fast, the NSGA
surveys show.
"As a kid, I'd throw my glove on a bike and pedal 2 or 3 miles to the
ball field for a pick-up game," says Little League spokesman Chris
Downs, 33, in Williamsport, Pa. "That doesn't appeal to kids as much
today. They have many other choices - and not just video games."
In generations past, children's play tended to be open-ended, following
whatever game or adventure a child's imagination could generate.
Children and parents now prefer structured entertainment, whether it's
a video game or a day at the pool.
Spring Valley Pool in Granville, Ohio, closed this year after 70 years.
"Kids expect entertainment at a pool, not just pleasure or friendship,"
says Chip Gordon, whose family owned the pool. "Our 12-foot high dive
couldn't compete with the jazzy stuff kids expect."
Kids specialize
Mike Morris, 20, a pole-vaulter at DePauw University in Greencastle,
Ind., says the introduction of Nintendo 64 in 1996 was a seminal event
in his generation's childhood. It introduced 3-D graphics, the joystick
and the ability to play "shoot 'em up" games that allowed competing
against friends. Almost overnight, play in his neighborhood shifted
from outdoors to indoors. Some kids never really came back out, he
says. Even those who did had their habits changed.
Morris often works out three hours a day at the gym, then returns to
his dorm to play the Halo combat game against 20 fellow students
sitting in their own dorm rooms nearby.
"My college memories are more likely to be a great move I put on to
kill someone in Halo than a great move in pick-up basketball," he says.
"It's kind of sad in a way."
Tracey Martin, 40, head of parks and recreation in Greenville, Ohio,
says his athletic 14-year-old son spends a typical summer week playing
basketball all day at basketball camp and playing soccer at night. But
when his son is home, the boy spends his free time using computer chat
rooms and playing cards over the Internet. "The funny thing is, I never
see him play cards with his friends," his father says.
Many parents express dismay over the lives their children lead, but
they aren't sure what to do.
Darrell Mueller, 54, runs the parks and recreation programs in North
Platte, Neb. His childhood was spent outdoors playing ball, riding his
bike and building forts. Even today, he hates being inside.
His children are the opposite. They prefer being driven to school,
which is just two houses away.
His 11-year-old daughter, Ivy, spends hours instant messaging her
friend across the street. He asks why she doesn't just go over and play
with her friend. "This is more fun," his daughter explains.
Mueller's 16-year-old son, Taylor, spends nearly every waking hour in
his room, playing the Warcraft fantasy game on the Internet with people
from around the world.
"I call him the caveman because he never leaves his room," Mueller
says. "He comes out now and then for dinner, but he can't eat with us.
He has to get back to his game."
His son recently burst out of his room excited. His guild, or team, had
earned a top ranking in Warcraft. The father didn't know what to say:
Should he congratulate his son on his success or worry about what it
meant?
Mueller pulls his son out of his room three times a week - twice for
a summer basketball league and on Sunday to mow the grass at the boy's
grandfather's house. "In my day, we tried to get out of the house any
way we could," Mueller says. "Now, you can't get kids outdoors."
In Bellbrook, the fishing derby ends at noon.
Dakota Howell and his brother John, 7, are ready to head home from
Spring Lake. Dakota declares he wants to be an archaeologist because he
loves getting his fingers dirty. John, carrying fishing rods, looks
like a child in a Norman Rockwell painting. He has a big smile on his
face.
"Now," he says, "we're going home to play video games."
Bill
> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
> http://tinyurl.com/a935h
>
> By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
> Posted 7/12/2005 12:01 AM
> Updated 7/12/2005 3:12 AM
>
> BELLBROOK, Ohio - Being a kid isn't what it used to be.
>
> Dakota Howell, 9, went fishing in this town of 7,000 the other day with
> his mom, dad and little brother. "It's fun," he says, happily reeling
> in sunfish from Spring Lake during a fishing derby sponsored by
> Wal-Mart.
>
> But, to be honest, he'd rather be doing something else: playing video
> games. "That was my first choice," he confides. "But mom says they rot
> your brain."
More like the lack of activity rots the body of a child who should be
outside running, jumping, climbing trees, or whatever other physical
activity kids used to do before video games.
>
> Misty Pollock, his mother, smiles. "When I was a kid, we wanted to be
> outdoors," she says. "Today, you have to push kids outside."
>
> The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single
> generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood - days of pick-up
> baseball games, treehouses and "be home for dinner" - has all but
> vanished.
Solution here is a problem. You could forgo cable television and only
buy video games that are educational (and very rare), then give them
their own Internet connection (dial up) while you hide your own high
speed connected computer from them.
>
> Today, childhood is spent mostly indoors, watching television, playing
> video games and working the Internet. When children do go outside, it
> tends to be for scheduled events - soccer camp or a fishing derby -
> held under the watch of adults. In a typical week, 27% of kids ages 9
> to 13 play organized baseball, but only 6% play on their own, a survey
> by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.
That is a drastic change from my childhood in the 50's, where the after
school and weekend activities almost always involved going to the park
for a softball game. It was be there or be square and all the kids in
the neighborhood were usually there so the parents knew where to find them.
>
> The shift to an indoor childhood has accelerated in the past decade,
> with huge declines in spontaneous outdoor activities such as bike
> riding, swimming and touch football, according to separate studies by
> the National Sporting Goods Association, a trade group, and American
> Sports Data, a research firm. Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.
>
> A child is six times more likely to play a video game on a typical day
> than to ride a bike, according to surveys by the Kaiser Family
> Foundation and the CDC. Dakota Howell says his favorite video game
> -Tony Hawk's Pro Skater- is more fun than actual skateboarding.
Now that is pushing the limit, when a video game is more fun than the
real thing. A friend of mine, also in his 50's, likes to play a
motorcycle racing game, but given a good day, both he and I will turn
off the computer and get out the real motorcycles.
>
> The change can be seen in children's bodies. In the 1960s, 4% of kids
> were obese.
In the 50's and early 60's I flat out can't remember any fat kids, and
even the token 'fat' red headed kid was barely overweight, certainly not
'Obese'.
Today, 16% are overweight, according to the CDC. It can be
> seen in their brains. Studies indicate that children who spend lots of
> time outdoors have longer attention spans than kids who watch lots of
> television and play video games, says Frances Kuo, director of the
> Human-Environment Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at
> Urbana-Champaign.
I may have to disagree with that number. In my neighborhood about 50% of
the kids are noticeably overweight, some just with pot bellys, but still
overweight for an active kid.
>
> "New research indicates that our intuition is right: Kids are spending
> way too much time with media and not enough time outside," Kuo says.
>
> The lure of television and video games isn't the only thing keeping
> kids indoors. Parents are more afraid of letting kids roam in a world
> of heavy traffic and reports of pedophiles and missing children. A 41%
> decline in the birth rate since 1960 means smaller packs of kids roam
> neighborhoods. Air-conditioning means kids don't need the local pool or
> swimming hole to cool off.
Part of that may be over reporting of pedophiles by the news and over
prosecution of some adults who merely want to give a child a hug. We
have a local pool but at $2.00 a kid the parents often don't want to
give up the money.
>
> "Boundaries for kids used to be measured by blocks or miles. Now, the
> boundary for most kids is the front yard. A lot of kids are under house
> arrest," says Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, a book
> about how children have lost touch with nature.
That is pretty much the case where I live since there seems to be a
registered sex offender every other block, and kids with souped up 4
cylinder cars speeding in residential zones.
>
> He says many parents fear the outdoors, whether it's letting a kid
> climb a tree or hike alone in the woods. "Parents think their kids are
> safer in front of the Xbox in the next room."
That is sadly true. I had to take my grandchildren out and teach them
how to climb trees like normal kids since the only climbable tree was
too far (2 blocks). The only time they get to go farther is when
grandpa, me, takes them on long walks to hunt lizards or something, or
when I can round up enough bikes to take them on a ride. None of the
parents will do this with their own kids so I have become the default
grandfather, something I never expected to happen. I take the kids out
on Saturday or Sunday while the parents sit and watch television,
usually with a beer in hand.
Something is definitely wrong with our society.
>
> Home alone
>
> Consider Jared Timmons and Cole Hillsamer, a pair of athletic
> 11-year-old friends from Beaver Creek, Ohio. The boys live in
> neighborhoods separated by a busy street neither is allowed to cross in
> their 38,000-resident town outside of Dayton.
>
> During the school year, both boys got home about 2 p.m. and spent a
> couple hours alone. Cole flopped on his bed, watched MTV or the Dukes
> ofHazzard. Jared sat 2 miles away instant messaging friends and
> sometimes stepping outside to shoot baskets by himself.
>
> The buddies were outdoors together at this month's fishing derby.
> Cole's mother, Janet Begley, drove them to the event and sat in a beach
> chair behind the boys reading Hidden Prey, a murder mystery.
>
> She says she would never let her son play in the woods without an
> adult. She won't even let him go alone to the park down the street.
> "Parks are where pedophiles go," she says.
There aren't that many true pedophiles but the news would have you think
there is one behind every bush. Besides that if you let 2 or 3 11 year
old boys go together, chances are very good they could beat the tar out
of a would be attacker, even if they had to pick up rocks or sticks to
do it.
>
> The mother pauses for a moment to recall her tomboy childhood. She rode
> her bike all over town. She played outdoors freely - climbing trees,
> playing tag and kick the can. "Life for kids isn't what it used to be,"
> she says.
>
> Annabel North, 9, a bubbly Catholic school student, is fishing a few
> feet away. Last night, she had a sleepover at a friend's house and had
> a grand time trying to make grape jelly from juice and milk. She stayed
> up whispering until midnight discussing whether the Loch Ness monster
> is real.
You speak too much of fishing, which while an outdoor activity, is not
really exercise. It is more of a relaxing sport where you wait for a
fish to disturb you.
>
> But much of her time, she says, is spent by herself. "When I'm happy, I
> go outdoors. When I'm sad, I watch TV," she says.
>
> Some days, Annabel says, she watches television from the moment she
> wakes up until the moment she goes to bed.
>
> Is that boring? "No, it's not boring at all!" she exclaims, surprised
> by the silly question. "It's great. I don't miss anything."
OK, that is not healthy at all. She misses everything in the real world.
>
> Multimedia lives of children
>
> In the 1960s, television broadcast 27 hours of children's programming a
> week, much of it shown simultaneously on Saturday morning. Today, there
> are 14 television networks aimed at children, and the most popular show
> with children, American Idol, isn't on any of them.
I remember that, more from the 50's when Saturday morning was cartoon
morning, then in the afternoon I went to the movie theater with some
friends to watch the Saturday afternoon kids cartoon matinée.
>
> Children ages 8 to 10 spend an average of 6 hours a day watching
> television, playing video games and using computers, according to the
> Kaiser study. And that's during the school year. No study has been done
> on vacation habits, but TV ratings show kids watch more during the
> summer.
What happened to homework?
>
> Childhood's outdoor pastimes are declining fast and the rate has
> accelerated in the past decade, especially the past five years,
> according to the National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA) annual
> survey of physical activity.
A lot of that can be blamed on real estate developers who will build
1000 houses and no park. In the 50's there were parks every half mile or
so but now the only parks seem to be the ones that were already there.
I live about a half mile from a 1,500 house real estate development and
after 3 years the 'Proposed' park is barely started, the 'Proposed'
school is still a vacant field, and to add insult to injury they cut
down 3 old growth 100 year old trees just to put 3 more houses in.
>
> Since 1995, the portion of children ages 7 to 11 who swim, fish or play
> touch football has declined by about a third. Canoeing and water skiing
> are down by similar amounts.
>
> The relationship between kids and their bikes is especially telling.
>
> In 1995, 68% of children ages 7 to 11 rode a bike at least six times a
> year. Last year, only 47% did.
In 1960 I could not ride my bike without meeting a friend on a bike and
it seemed like kids were out everywhere. Now I look outside and wonder
where all the kids went.
>
> The sales of children's bikes fell from 12.4 million in 2000 to 9.8
> million in 2004, a 21% decline, according to Bicycle Industry and
> Retailer News,an industry magazine.
>
> "Bikes used to be empowering for children," says Marc Sani, publisher
> of the magazine. "My parents didn't care where I went as long as I was
> home for supper. Now, parents are afraid to let kids out of their
> sight."
>
> Many kids have substituted skateboards and scooters to get around. But
> skateboards and scooters travel short distances and their use peaked in
> 2001 and 2002 respectively, according to the NSGA survey.
>
> Children today tend to get outdoor exercise by appointment.
>
> Soccer participation has been unchanged in the past decade - about
> 28% of kids age 7 to 11 play the sport. Soccer leagues and soccer camps
> are in full bloom this summer, although non-organized soccer games are
> uncommon.
>
> Organized outdoor activities have kept kids moving. They are declining
> but much more slowly that unstructured outdoor play.
>
> Little League participation has fallen to 2.1 million children, down
> 14% from its peak in 1997. But overall baseball playing - pick-up
> games, catch, pickle - has declined nearly twice as fast, the NSGA
> surveys show.
Much of that decline is probably because the parents themselves don't
want to be stuck with transportation duty on a regular basis. One child
is enough to ferry around, and if you have 3 or more it can be a real
drain, both financially and on your time as bus driver.
>
> "As a kid, I'd throw my glove on a bike and pedal 2 or 3 miles to the
> ball field for a pick-up game," says Little League spokesman Chris
> Downs, 33, in Williamsport, Pa. "That doesn't appeal to kids as much
> today. They have many other choices - and not just video games."
>
> In generations past, children's play tended to be open-ended, following
> whatever game or adventure a child's imagination could generate.
> Children and parents now prefer structured entertainment, whether it's
> a video game or a day at the pool.
>
> Spring Valley Pool in Granville, Ohio, closed this year after 70 years.
> "Kids expect entertainment at a pool, not just pleasure or friendship,"
> says Chip Gordon, whose family owned the pool. "Our 12-foot high dive
> couldn't compete with the jazzy stuff kids expect."
That must be some really spoiled kids. Around here they are glad to go
to the pool and get wet and meet friends they might not otherwise see.
>
> Kids specialize
>
> Mike Morris, 20, a pole-vaulter at DePauw University in Greencastle,
> Ind., says the introduction of Nintendo 64 in 1996 was a seminal event
> in his generation's childhood. It introduced 3-D graphics, the joystick
> and the ability to play "shoot 'em up" games that allowed competing
> against friends. Almost overnight, play in his neighborhood shifted
> from outdoors to indoors. Some kids never really came back out, he
> says. Even those who did had their habits changed.
>
> Morris often works out three hours a day at the gym, then returns to
> his dorm to play the Halo combat game against 20 fellow students
> sitting in their own dorm rooms nearby.
>
> "My college memories are more likely to be a great move I put on to
> kill someone in Halo than a great move in pick-up basketball," he says.
> "It's kind of sad in a way."
That would be a really sorry situation if in later years that is all he
had to brag about.
>
> Tracey Martin, 40, head of parks and recreation in Greenville, Ohio,
> says his athletic 14-year-old son spends a typical summer week playing
> basketball all day at basketball camp and playing soccer at night. But
> when his son is home, the boy spends his free time using computer chat
> rooms and playing cards over the Internet. "The funny thing is, I never
> see him play cards with his friends," his father says.
>
> Many parents express dismay over the lives their children lead, but
> they aren't sure what to do.
>
> Darrell Mueller, 54, runs the parks and recreation programs in North
> Platte, Neb. His childhood was spent outdoors playing ball, riding his
> bike and building forts. Even today, he hates being inside.
Building forts was a big deal for me in the 50's. My claim to fame there
is that the very first McDonald's golden arches was built right where my
fort was in Des Plaines Illinois.
>
> His children are the opposite. They prefer being driven to school,
> which is just two houses away.
That is a case where they would get tossed out the front door and told
not to be seen again until they walked back from school. Never, no way,
would I fire up the car, even if there was 3 feet of snow on the ground.
>
> His 11-year-old daughter, Ivy, spends hours instant messaging her
> friend across the street. He asks why she doesn't just go over and play
> with her friend. "This is more fun," his daughter explains.
Texting has gotten way out of hand. My daughter will text her mother
from her bedroom rather than get out of bed or away from her computer
and walk 2 rooms to talk to her mother.
>
> Mueller's 16-year-old son, Taylor, spends nearly every waking hour in
> his room, playing the Warcraft fantasy game on the Internet with people
> from around the world.
>
> "I call him the caveman because he never leaves his room," Mueller
> says. "He comes out now and then for dinner, but he can't eat with us.
> He has to get back to his game."
>
> His son recently burst out of his room excited. His guild, or team, had
> earned a top ranking in Warcraft. The father didn't know what to say:
> Should he congratulate his son on his success or worry about what it
> meant?
>
> Mueller pulls his son out of his room three times a week - twice for
> a summer basketball league and on Sunday to mow the grass at the boy's
> grandfather's house. "In my day, we tried to get out of the house any
> way we could," Mueller says. "Now, you can't get kids outdoors."
The obvious solution would be to disconnect his Internet and tell him
that if he earns enough money to pay for it he can have it back. That
way he would have to get a paper route (Do they still exist?), mow
lawns, or something to make money from the neighbors and not dad's wallet.
>
> In Bellbrook, the fishing derby ends at noon.
>
> Dakota Howell and his brother John, 7, are ready to head home from
> Spring Lake. Dakota declares he wants to be an archaeologist because he
> loves getting his fingers dirty. John, carrying fishing rods, looks
> like a child in a Norman Rockwell painting. He has a big smile on his
> face.
>
> "Now," he says, "we're going home to play video games."
Sad ending to a day started out well, but again, fishing?
>
Bill Baka, similarly concerned parent / grandparent.
Will the next poster please clip this down?
peg...@gmail.com
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>
> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
> http://tinyurl.com/a935h
Thanks for posting that, Fred. But it was ***very*** depressing. Make
no wonder so many kids seem so screwed up today. I hate to imagine
what things will be like in 30 years when I'm old and feeble and
dependent upon others.
Does anyone else think that it's time we started feeding pedophiles to
the sharks? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment to the
sharks?
Jeff
Bill
victims in our childhoods? Could I be branded a pedophile because
someone else's kid (girl) runs up and gives me a hug? I used to have my
own posse of girls 7 to 14 that I took for rides when I took my own
grandchildren out. Even though the bicycling was slow it was good times
for the kids and for me to see all those smiling faces all trying to
talk at the same time. Now that most of them have moved when I do see
them, like at my grandson's 8th grade graduation, they tell me they miss
the 'good old days' and that they spend a lot more time indoors without
an adult to take them out and watch over them. What got the most
attention at the graduation was the fact that I had about ten young
girls run up and hug on me, and I could see some adults looking like "He
can't possibly have that many all blond grandchildren.". Still, it was a
symbiotic thing since I got them out and they got me out more often.
It drove my wife nuts to have the girls come to the door and ask if
Grandpa could come out and play, but I always made time to do something
with them where I might be able to teach them about things, even like
how to walk an be aware of traffic. I'm 57 but the kids won't let me act
my age and get old.
Bill Baka
Dane Buson
> Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
>> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>>
>> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
>> http://tinyurl.com/a935h
> ...snip...
>
> Thanks for posting that, Fred. But it was ***very*** depressing. Make
> no wonder so many kids seem so screwed up today. I hate to imagine
> what things will be like in 30 years when I'm old and feeble and
> dependent upon others.
Ehh, I don't think kids are that much different than they used to be. I
do know they are a lot fatter. I don't think the video games are bad
per se [2], rather I think that the lack of physical activities is bad.
> Does anyone else think that it's time we started feeding pedophiles to
> the sharks? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment to the
> sharks?
It would be far easier and more honest to start feeding Local News
people to the sharks IMO. It's not that children are at more danger
than they used to be, it's that it's sensationalized so *very* much
more. [1] People need to turn off the glass teat and go take a walk
outside and meet their neighbors.
I suppose that's one of the advantages of living in a neighborhood that
is not terribly afluent. I do actually see my neighbors out and about
walking and often packs of children playing.
[1] Yes I do have small children.
[2] And certainly better than broadcast TV. Not that that's saying
much.
--
Dane Buson - sig...@unixbigots.org
"I'm anti-life, and I vote!"
Bill
Big snip.
>
> It would be far easier and more honest to start feeding Local News
> people to the sharks IMO. It's not that children are at more danger
> than they used to be, it's that it's sensationalized so *very* much
> more. [1] People need to turn off the glass teat and go take a walk
> outside and meet their neighbors.
You are very correct in that assessment. Where I live, a less affluent
area, most of the parents spend their time in front of the television
and never out with their kids.
>
> I suppose that's one of the advantages of living in a neighborhood that
> is not terribly affluent. I do actually see my neighbors out and about
> walking and often packs of children playing.
In your case, that is a good thing. I became the default grandparent /
parent for outdoor activities when the local kids saw me, a real
grandparent get my bike out and they wanted to ride with me. Some of the
parents thanked me profusely for getting their kids out for a semi
organized session with me as guide and protector. Other parents gave me
that 'child molester' look, and were hard to get to know even as one on
one adults.
>
> [1] Yes I do have small children.
> [2] And certainly better than broadcast TV. Not that that's saying
> much.
>
I have cable, and with nearly 100 channels there is still nothing worth
watching most of the time. Who in their right mind would sit through a
reality show week after week, or watch things like the apprentice or
American Idol, or ....., you get the picture. I wind up reading a lot in
the evenings, either real books or on line e-books.
Bill Baka
Don Wiss
>Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>
>http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
>The fundamental nature of American childhood has changed in a single
>generation. The unstructured outdoor childhood - days of pick-up
>baseball games, treehouses and "be home for dinner" - has all but
>vanished.
So true. The above is what I did when I was growing up.
>Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.
Yes. When I was in elementary school we either rode our bikes to school, or
we spent 10 minutes walking. And we went home for lunch. Now my parents
tell me there are buses! And the large bike shed at the school is gone.
I blame the parents for the buses.
Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).
Don Wiss
>Building forts was a big deal for me in the 50's. My claim to fame there
>is that the very first McDonald's golden arches was built right where my
>fort was in Des Plaines Illinois.
I still like my friend's mother's claim to fame. It was her desk at the
Democratic National Committee that the Watergate burglar tried to hide
under.
recycled-one
"Don Wiss" <donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote in message
news:lgdja2dhjkchmhm9d...@4ax.com...
> Yes. When I was in elementary school we either rode our bikes to school,
> or
> we spent 10 minutes walking. And we went home for lunch. Now my parents
> tell me there are buses! And the large bike shed at the school is gone.
I was pleased to notice that while passing a local public school the
rather considerable expanse of bike rack was full and even the chainlink
fence was doing double duty as additional lock space.
dragonlady
Don Wiss <donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote:
I wish it were that simple.
You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
I would have been happy to have my kids walk to school, or take their
bikes. However, we seldom lived where it was possible.
It also becomes almost a spiraling thing: as fewer kids walk to school,
they pull the crossing guards in, so there are only safe corners RIGHT
next to the school. And as fewer people walk, there is less pressure
for sidewalks to be built and maintained, so fewer people walk, so....
Now, I can't claim to have walked to school -- but I grew up in the
country, where everyone rode yellow school buses because we lived WAY to
far away to ride or walk. (I was 10 miles from my elementary school,
for example.) But I had assumed that one advantage of living in an
urban area would be that my kids could walk to school, and have friends
close enough to go outside to play and find them. However, there were
few kids hanging out outside after school, so to keep them occupied I
had to have them in more organized activities -- which meant there were
still fewer kids hanging out at the local park.
It is frustrating -- while I'd have loved for my kids to have hung out
and played pick up games at the local park, since there weren't other
kids doing that, I had to arrange for more structured things, or have
them just in the house.
Neither the problem nor the solution is simple.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care
Don Wiss
> Don Wiss wrote:
>
>> On 3 Jul 2006, "Fred Goodwin, CMA" <fgoo...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>> >http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
>> >Bike riding alone is down 31% since 1995.
>>
>> Yes. When I was in elementary school we either rode our bikes to school, or
>> we spent 10 minutes walking. And we went home for lunch. Now my parents
>> tell me there are buses! And the large bike shed at the school is gone.
>>
>> I blame the parents for the buses.
>
>I wish it were that simple.
>
>You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
>sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
>not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
But the neighborhood I grew up in was all developed many decades ago. Only
a few houses have been added, where people had a little extra property and
chopped off part of their lot. While it is true that only the busy roads
have sidewalks, there are almost no cars on the other roads. Nothing has
changed between the way it was when I grew up and now. The amount of
traffic has not increased that much.
One change is I expect lunch is now served at school and the kids no longer
go home for lunch.
And while the people there were wealthy before, they are *very* wealthy
now. So they expect things like buses.
n5hsr
Send them out to the Renaissance Faire sometime.
I may be mistaken but didn't pedophiles get taken care of by parents? We
almost had one 30 years ago in a little rural town. He flashed my sister,
who was all of 8 at the time and her friend who was 9. Well, they came
running home from the park (a whole block and a half.) and my brother, who
was 14 at the time, took off after him, then Mom started calling all the
neighbors and most of the men took off after him. I wasn't there, I found
out about the incident when I got home from work. There were a lot of
farmers around that area, so a lot of the men were home.
The old Schwinn Racer I rode from 1969-1980 may not have been fancy or
lightweight but it did its duty and my sister still has it. We had
scooters and pedal cars, too. Get rid of these battery powered things, make
the kids use their legs and their mind. Does anyone make a pedal-powered
car, or was our '64 1/2 Mustang the last one?
And quit trying to make everything totally safe for the kids. We can't put
padding on every tree in the country. Teach them that they:
1. Had better respect authority.
2. Actions have consequences.
Let them learn this early before they get to be 16 and start driving and
still think they're immortal.
Charles of Schaumburg
n5hsr
news:1151964243.8...@m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com...
Nah, feed them to the piranahs. And the lawyers that are trying to
protect them.
Charles of Schaumburg
Veloise
...
> You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
> sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
> not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
This urban planner rides a bike.
Keep in mind that many of these new communities -- the ones lacking
sidewalks and SRTS --are in rural areas and townships, built by
developers who aren't going to pay for sidewalks. And the people moving
there are leaving established cities --with vital downtowns, commercial
districts, and sidewalks -- because of paranoia like the "pedophiles in
parks" comment.
It would be unethical of a planner to specify sidewalks in a
subdivision with 1-acre lots and long frontages. Who's gonna pay for
it? And if two blocks is "too far" to walk to go climb a tree, who's
gonna walk on them?
HTH
--Karen D.
from my front porch that overlooks a sidewalk, a mile from downtown
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Will
Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
<huge snip>
Well Fred if it makes you feel better, my boys cycle to school. They
come home for lunch and they cycle everywhere they want to go, which is
a lot of places. There is no TV, no gameboy. There is high speed
internet for homework assignments. We're not Luddites. The boys are not
fat and they are not unhappy. Getting a kid on a bicycle for 40 miles a
week is a big deal. It is well worth the effort. But it means you have
to choose where to live. It means the suburbs are out. And it means you
have to pay more. Bike friendly towns and cities are not cheap.
dragonlady
"Veloise" <krdu...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> dragonlady wrote:
> ...
> > You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
> > sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
> > not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
> ...
>
> This urban planner rides a bike.
>
> Keep in mind that many of these new communities -- the ones lacking
> sidewalks and SRTS --are in rural areas and townships, built by
> developers who aren't going to pay for sidewalks. And the people moving
> there are leaving established cities --with vital downtowns, commercial
> districts, and sidewalks -- because of paranoia like the "pedophiles in
> parks" comment.
>
> It would be unethical of a planner to specify sidewalks in a
> subdivision with 1-acre lots and long frontages. Who's gonna pay for
> it? And if two blocks is "too far" to walk to go climb a tree, who's
> gonna walk on them?
>
Hmmm -- I perhaps should have been more sensitive in how I phrased that:
I know there are very good urban planners who work to build communities
that are accessible. And I also understand that urban planners must
work within the reality they are handed, not the one they might always
prefer.
Perhaps I should have specified that the blame isn't just on the
parents, but on communities that have been built to NOT be
bike/pedestrian friendly -- by whomever, for whatever reason.
Marlene Blanshay
> Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
>
>> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>>
>> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
>> http://tinyurl.com/a935h
>>
>> By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
>> Posted 7/12/2005 12:01 AM
interesting... with all the stories about 'internet predators' and 'we
have to protect our kids...' i think gee, maybe if they actually went
outside and played and rode their bikes and did stuff like we did, we
wouldn't be so obsessed with what's on the internet!
The thing about tv is that, in the summer, there just wasn't much on tv
to keep you indoors all day, but the internet and videogames are
different. I know I'd never get my kids videogames (if I had kids).
Better to spend the money on a bike. You can see the difference- the
kids who ride bikes look nice and healthy; the videogame kids look pasty
and tubby.
It's not as bad in canada but we aren't far behind in the childhood
obesity race. There are classes for obese kids, gym courses for obese
kids... that didn't exist when I was a kid! Whenever i see the kids on
their bmx bikes and dirt jumping i think, at least they aren't sitting
indoors and eating cheesies and playing Xbox games.
peg...@gmail.com
Veloise wrote:
> dragonlady wrote:
> ...
> > You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
> > sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
> > not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
> ...
>
> This urban planner rides a bike.
>
> Keep in mind that many of these new communities -- the ones lacking
> sidewalks and SRTS --are in rural areas and townships, built by
> developers who aren't going to pay for sidewalks. And the people moving
> there are leaving established cities --with vital downtowns, commercial
> districts, and sidewalks -- because of paranoia like the "pedophiles in
> parks" comment.
>
> It would be unethical of a planner to specify sidewalks in a
> subdivision with 1-acre lots and long frontages. Who's gonna pay for
> it? And if two blocks is "too far" to walk to go climb a tree, who's
> gonna walk on them?
Interesting. Here in Canada, sidewalks are typically mandated by the
municipality. In many cases, the municipality will build the sidewalks
and bill the developer, all before any houses are complete.
I lived in Plano TX, just north of Dallas, for several years. Very
affluent area, just booming with new development. Saw very few 1-acre
lots, so I have to believe that large frontage is a minor issue at
best.
Bottom line is that if you don't have sidewalks, no one can use them.
Having lived, and travelled extensively, in the US, I conclude that
walking must be a federal crime. Cycling is probably moreso.
n5hsr
news:1151982953....@m73g2000cwd.googlegroups.com...
Have you ever been to Windsor, Ontario? We were surprised the first time
we went. It was almost like walking into the Eisenhower era US. The
stockboys at the A&P wore ties. The register clerks wore dresses. There
were SIDEWALKS everywhere. And of course, the obigatory Tim Hortons on
every other corner. . . .
Charles of Schaumburg
frkr...@gmail.com
recycled-one wrote:
>
> I was pleased to notice that while passing a local public school the
> rather considerable expanse of bike rack was full and even the chainlink
> fence was doing double duty as additional lock space.
Where is this? It sounds wonderful - and sadly, very unusual.
- Frank Krygowski
frkr...@gmail.com
Veloise wrote:
>
>
> Keep in mind that many of these new communities -- the ones lacking
> sidewalks and SRTS --are in rural areas and townships, built by
>
> It would be unethical of a planner to specify sidewalks in a
> subdivision with 1-acre lots and long frontages. Who's gonna pay for
> it? And if two blocks is "too far" to walk to go climb a tree, who's
> gonna walk on them?
I don't understand that attitude at all, unless it was sarcasm that
flew unnoticed over my head.
ISTM that developers will pay anything they have to pay. A few hundred
bucks to pave a sidewalk when they pave the drive is peanuts, a
negligible portion of a six-figure house price. And of course, they'll
pass that cost on to the purchaser, who will never notice it. The
houses would problaby sell a bit quicker, since real estate agents
could point to the sidwalk as a "feature." There is no downside I can
understand.
Given that, I'd think it unethical for a planner to _not_ promote
sidewalks. Granted, it might have to happen by lobbying for changes to
zoning laws, but it still should be done. In fact, the zoning
regulations should specify that cul-de-sac neighborhoods have sidewalk
access to connect to each other, and to traffic generators like
schools, stores, parks & libraries.
I think we've spent far too long building a world for the convenience
of motorists. ISTM that planners should be at the forefront of
changing that.
- Frank Krygowski
recycled-one
<frkr...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1152024146.0...@b68g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
John McCrae Public School, Guelph Ontario.
I was walking downtown to pick up my bike from the LBS. From appearances
there couldn't be more than a few hundred students and there had to be over
half that number of bikes.
Wayne Pein
with 20 ft of pavement and 1/2 acre fully wooded lots is a great
example. Sidewalks would add much superfluous impervious surface, reduce
shade, and remove pedestrians from a natural traffic calming position to
one where sight lines are reduced at driveways.
Wayne
Ludmila Borgschatz-Thudpucker, MD
"Wayne Pein" <wp...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:sEvqg.9643$so3....@southeast.rr.com...
Yeah, if you look hard enough there's something wrong with damn near
everything.
Alun L. Palmer
@newssvr27.news.prodigy.net:
I don't think there are as many paedophiles as we think. The database shows
a lot of child sex offenders in our town, but when we looked at the streets
where our friends live, we found one family (with two young daughters) who
had an offender two doors down - yikes! On further investigation he didn't
really live there, which is good for them, but he was playing the system by
giving his parents' address, which is bad from the perspective of his real
neighbours. Apparently that's common.
However, it also eventually came to light that he was just someone who had
had an underage girlfriend when he was young himself. This is the reason
that we have an overestimate. Apparently there are large numbers of those
on the register, and whatever you may think of them they are neither
dangerous nor padeophiles. This not only inflates the numbers, but it makes
it harder to figure out where the real paedophiles live, which is what we
all really want to know for our children's safety.
And there are also some real paedophiles out there. Another family we know
in our town had their boys stalked by a paedophile. He wasn't a neighbour
in fact, and he never got close to them, but he was watching them, and
possibly taking pictures. Until the police started watching him. I guess
they don't have the resources to watch him all the time.
The real reason that it is dangerous to let our kids roam is that there is
almost nobody else out there on the street. If the streets were thronged
with kids and adults walking and cycling, since the vast majority of people
are harmless, it would be fairly safe. This is because the bad guys would
have to worry a lot more about being seen and caught. If we built sidewalks
everywhere, we would also have to build the crossings that make it safe(r)
to cross the street. If we don't build the sidewalks and crossings, nothing
can change. It's about something far more important than economics -
quality of life.
Inviato da X-Privat.Org - Registrazione gratuita http://www.x-privat.org/join.php
Ludmila Borgschatz-Thudpucker, MD
"Veloise" <krdu...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:1151977842.3...@h44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> dragonlady wrote:
> ...
>> You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
>> sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
>> not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
> ...
>
> This urban planner rides a bike.
So did this one:
Dane Buson
> <peg...@gmail.com> wrote in message
>> Does anyone else think that it's time we started feeding pedophiles to
>> the sharks? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment to the
>> sharks?
>
> protect them.
Ah, and of course no one ever gets falsely accused. Noone ever has
their vindictive, soon to be ex-wife, throw an accusation of these sorts
of things in the ring. That's right, lets just march them up to the
gallows. Huzzah for Lady Justice!
--
Dane Buson - sig...@unixbigots.org
"Communism is like one big phone company." -Lenny Bruce
frkr...@gmail.com
I'll grant there are places that don't need them. My little
neighborhood doesn't have them, and we get by - but I think there would
be more walkers if we had sidewalks, and that would be a good thing in
many ways.
The default seems to be "no sidewalks" these days, and in many places
it definitely harms things. One case in point: within half a mile of
me is a bridge where the four-lane-plus-center-turn-lane, 30,000+
car/day arterial crosses the interstate. West of that bridge is a
major, major shopping area. East of that bridge is a large population
of houses. But the arterial has no sidewalks for most of that half
mile, and the bridge has NO provision for peds. In fact, the only
rails are the low type, reminisent of the ones that Canadian cyclists
was knocked over and killed. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of
residents close enough to walk (or bike) to those stores, but there are
probably less than a dozen who regularly do.
On the balance, I think the mimimal environmental detriment of a few
percent more impervious surface is more than offset by the
discouragement of non-motorized transportation.
Oh, and it is possible to have permeable pavement, I believe.
- Frank Krygowski
n5hsr
news:nsnqn3-...@zuvembi.homelinux.org...
I know two guys that were falsely accused so far. I think Pedophelia is the
new murder.
Charles of Schaumburg
Bill
I think you may have me beat, but to have the first friggin McJunk built
over my bulldozed fort was really an insult. I held a grudge for about 4
years before trying one of their hamburgers. Now I may eat one every
other year.
Bill Baka
Bill
> dragonlady wrote:
> ...
>> You also have to blame urban planners: in many areas, there are no
>> sidewalks, no safe way to walk to school -- and certainly the roads are
>> not being built safely for bicycles to share the road with cars.
> ...
>
> This urban planner rides a bike.
OK, YOU ride a bike, and the urban / suburban planners here have to put
in sidewalks but they sure as hell did not build the park yet and
haven't started a school so the local grade school and 7-8 grade are
about 200% overcrowded. The developer should have been held responsible
for making sure the school happened, or at least the park. We have maybe
500 new kids in the 400 or so houses that have been sold and no park in
sight, so they stay inside and play video games.
I think the county board of directors should all be kicked out for
letting this happen in the first place since it was them who approved
the initial 1,500 house development.
Bill Baka
Bill
hiking home from school. A guy picked me up and after a few blocks made
a very lewd 'queer' fruitcake suggestion to me to go off with him and do
XXX activities. I just said "Pull the car over Faggot, or I'll grab the
wheel and you can buy a tree and the cops will have your sorry ass.".
That was my second year in California, and back then gay was the good
old time the Flintstones were having, hence he was a queer, fruitcake,
faggot, by the terms of the day. Unfortunately I didn't think enough of
the incident to take down his license and report him since I wanted to
haul ass over to my girlfriend's house.
Now I wish I had since who knows what else this guy may have done.?.
I forced a pullover but some 12 year old may not have been so lucky.
Now I feel guilty, 42 years later.
Bill Baka
Bill
girls) ran up and hugged me and on more than one occasion dog piled on
top of me. Some of the neighbors, not the parents (they knew me) were
trying to spread rumors of me being a pedophile for taking the kids out
on walks to the park and further, and also group rides to some of their
favorite spots. One such spot was their school playground since it was
so much better than the local park. For me it was just quality outside
time with my granddaughter and friends, their parents were glad I wore
off some of the kids energy before bedtime, and the snoop neighbors were
starting rumors.
Would I do it again? Yes. If anyone ever accused me of anything I would
have 10 very pissed off kids as witnesses along with all their parents.
That said, I still make sure to take at least one of my own with me,
just for legal safety issues.
Getting to be a strange country, more so because of over reporting.
Bill Baka
Bill
> Bill wrote:
>> Fred Goodwin, CMA wrote:
>>
>>> Childhood pastimes are increasingly moving indoors
>>>
>>> http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-11-pastimes-childhood_x.htm
>>> http://tinyurl.com/a935h
>>>
>>> By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
>>> Posted 7/12/2005 12:01 AM
>
> interesting... with all the stories about 'internet predators' and 'we
> have to protect our kids...' i think gee, maybe if they actually went
> outside and played and rode their bikes and did stuff like we did, we
> wouldn't be so obsessed with what's on the internet!
Hell, my grandkids are smart enough to detect an Internet predator in a
hurry. They just plaster the perp with a bunch of 12-14 year old type
slang and if the answers don't come back with the right slang they know
something is up. My daughter has met some people in chat rooms but she
knows enough to google them and look up their name and address in the
phone book. If she goes to meet someone it is at a public place and she
has 2 or 3 friends with her. Disclaimer: This daughter (youngest) is 27
and still happily single, plus being an accomplished kick boxer.
>
> The thing about tv is that, in the summer, there just wasn't much on tv
> to keep you indoors all day, but the internet and videogames are
> different. I know I'd never get my kids videogames (if I had kids).
> Better to spend the money on a bike. You can see the difference- the
> kids who ride bikes look nice and healthy; the videogame kids look pasty
> and tubby.
Television sucks right now, even for me. It has been in the mid 90's to
upper 100's the last few weeks so afternoon riding is pretty much
limited to 3 water bottles worth of sweat. If I ride in the 100 degree
stuff I get so much sweat in my eyes I can't see. I took my
granddaughter out on Sunday, 90 degree day, and we went though all 3 of
my water bottles plus 3 more in an ice chest in the back rack (Phred
mode), then got down to sucking on the ice cubes. We were out riding for
about 4.5 hours, about 2:30 to 7:00, not that many miles, but very hot.
She finally admitted she was fried when we got back but was always the
junior trooper while we were out there. If not for me she would have
been inside playing a video game.
>
> It's not as bad in canada but we aren't far behind in the childhood
> obesity race. There are classes for obese kids, gym courses for obese
> kids... that didn't exist when I was a kid! Whenever i see the kids on
> their bmx bikes and dirt jumping i think, at least they aren't sitting
> indoors and eating cheesies and playing Xbox games.
Gawd, that is pathetic. When I went to high school in Illinois there was
no remedial gym, you just had to keep up with the other kids. The best
part of that school system was that there were regular, remedial, and
advanced classes in all the academic stuff. I got into advanced in all
but one of my classes, partly because even those were just average to
me, but just as much because I discovered all the girls (the good ones)
were in the advanced. That was a great bicycle motivator because I could
ride over to a girl's house for a study session, <grin>. Sometimes it
turned into a bicycle riding date rather than study, and I do remember
that once you got out of the main part of town bicycle lanes did not
exist. Arlington Heights, 1962.
I went back there in 1993 and couldn't even find the school thanks to
the complete overcrowding and non-existent road planning. What used to
be a quiet upscale 'burb had become absorbed into the huge traffic jam
that is now Chicago. I would not blame kids these days for staying
inside in what was 40 years ago a nice place for kids.
Same town but 3 times as many people and probably 5 times as many cars.
Progress????
Bill Baka
Elisa Francesca Roselli
>>Does anyone else think that it's time we started feeding pedophiles to
>>the sharks? Or would that be cruel and unusual punishment to the
>>sharks?
>
>
> It would be far easier and more honest to start feeding Local News
> people to the sharks IMO. It's not that children are at more danger
> than they used to be, it's that it's sensationalized so *very* much
> more. [1]
In any case statistics suggest that pedophiles are practically never the
man in the park with the trenchcoat. Sexual abuse takes place _within_
the family more than 80% of the time, and elsewise comes from priests,
schoolteachers, coaches etc. who have access to kids. So not sending
kids to play out of doors is a ridiculous response to a non-existent threat.
EFR
Ile de France
Dane Buson
Yup, I actually got into a discussion with Bob Hunt on the newsgroup a
couple years ago about it. My post (with some statistics) is here:
http://tinyurl.com/euvjr (google groups)
--
Dane Buson - sig...@unixbigots.org
Charlie was a chemist,
But Charlie is no more.
For what he thought was H2O,
Was H2SO4.