Cotton Wool Kids

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

 

Anyone gonna admit to watching 'why don't you'?..........or did we all have swallows & amazons type childhoods.......

lol got to say I watch them all in the summer holidays got turfed out though after either Heidi or Robinson Crusoe .

 

 

.... Little House on the Prairie for me It's rerunning on TV now - happiness is lol

[Blackbriar 8,568]

I grew up in the 70's in a big city. We played out all day - even in the snow. Nobody ever knew where we were. We had some fun .... also, I knew kids that got molested, and kids that got abducted. We just didn't have the same constant, global coverage but it sure happened. I had a close brush more than once with pervs trying to get their hands on me and my friends. Big cities tho, higher odds of it happening.

 

My kids are growing up in a single parent, low income household. I work but I haven't got much in the way of pennies to rub together lol I have a small tv, the kids have a smaller tv and one second hand Xbox. I admit I'm ... cautious, about letting them play out and with whom. That being said, I took the time from a young age to scare the sh!t out of them about strangers - adults AND other kids - how to be street smart, what to do about people and cars approaching them etc. I'd rather them be suspicious and safe than end up stuffed into a fridge (and that did happen to a relative of mine).

 

So mine play out. Their shins are covered in bruises and they have splinters in their hands. They climb trees, they make dens. They swim in rivers. They walk for miles. They're all Scouts. My daughter lost a fight with a tree and came home with a UFC-style black eye. She wore it like a badge ... but I keep my eye on them. They wear watches, they have to check in. They have boundaries about how far they can go. But the most important part about all of this is: I parent then. I teach them, I watch them, I trust them ... and I let them go a little bit more as time goes by so they can learn about life. Come home late, go past the boundaries, you pay the price and lose your privileges. Earn my trust, you get more freedom.

 

I despair at some kids, can't walk a mile without bleating about sore legs. Live in fear of getting their clothes and hands dirty. They'd chose a video game over building a den. Makes me sad. Also makes me a feel a bit smug that I'm doing a pretty decent job with mine lol

See, that sounds like a sensible, rounded up - bringing to me !

 

I can't bear seeing kids in £90 trainers, fiddling with £200 phones and so on. what are they learning ? That if you whine loud enough, the world is handed to you on a plate, no effort required !

You sound like my kind of girl LG - you're a credit to parenting.........................

[lurcherman 887 12,762]

Well my boy does boxing on a tuesday football on thursday comes for walks with the dogs climbs trees camps out in garden swimming on a friday and loves to come out with my cousin and his hawks he loves the dogs and has been lamping a few times but also loves to play minecraft and fifa 14 he was out in garden picking up rocks.looking for snakes lol with my 3 year old daughter not all bad lads lol

[lurcherman 887 12,762]

 

.

[The one 8,405]

Its happening more and more and although a lot of it can be blamed on the society we live it not it all . while walking the dogs threw the woods i said we should bring your cousin and tire him out for your aunty the reply hes lazy and wont walk

[MIK 4,756]

This little lad went back to school yesterday after spending all of his summer holidays salmon fishing

 

(has become very good with the spinning rod and lost his first grilse the other week ) ,shooting ,playing football,swimming in the river , mink hunting ,climbing trees ,on his bike ,out on his quad,making gang huts , in tractors and combines ,cleaning kennels and feeding dogs ,mooching about with a terrier and his catty, lampin rabbits till the early hours even got up 1 morning at 4 to go stalking and has made a very good job of training a pointer pup the basics .....and I feel it will nake him a better person when hes older when you see what other lads his age get up to glued to a computer game all day

Edited August 14, 2014 by MIK

[Born Hunter 17,656]

MIK, that lad of yours has no idea how fortunate he is to be brought up with all that as normal everyday life. It'll put him years ahead of the plebs in terms of sense and experience.

[lurcherman 887 12,762]

Poor plebs

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

 

I grew up in the 70's in a big city. We played out all day - even in the snow. Nobody ever knew where we were. We had some fun .... also, I knew kids that got molested, and kids that got abducted. We just didn't have the same constant, global coverage but it sure happened. I had a close brush more than once with pervs trying to get their hands on me and my friends. Big cities tho, higher odds of it happening.

 

My kids are growing up in a single parent, low income household. I work but I haven't got much in the way of pennies to rub together lol I have a small tv, the kids have a smaller tv and one second hand Xbox. I admit I'm ... cautious, about letting them play out and with whom. That being said, I took the time from a young age to scare the sh!t out of them about strangers - adults AND other kids - how to be street smart, what to do about people and cars approaching them etc. I'd rather them be suspicious and safe than end up stuffed into a fridge (and that did happen to a relative of mine).

 

So mine play out. Their shins are covered in bruises and they have splinters in their hands. They climb trees, they make dens. They swim in rivers. They walk for miles. They're all Scouts. My daughter lost a fight with a tree and came home with a UFC-style black eye. She wore it like a badge ... but I keep my eye on them. They wear watches, they have to check in. They have boundaries about how far they can go. But the most important part about all of this is: I parent then. I teach them, I watch them, I trust them ... and I let them go a little bit more as time goes by so they can learn about life. Come home late, go past the boundaries, you pay the price and lose your privileges. Earn my trust, you get more freedom.

 

I despair at some kids, can't walk a mile without bleating about sore legs. Live in fear of getting their clothes and hands dirty. They'd chose a video game over building a den. Makes me sad. Also makes me a feel a bit smug that I'm doing a pretty decent job with mine lol

See, that sounds like a sensible, rounded up - bringing to me !

 

I can't bear seeing kids in £90 trainers, fiddling with £200 phones and so on. what are they learning ? That if you whine loud enough, the world is handed to you on a plate, no effort required !

You sound like my kind of girl LG - you're a credit to parenting.........................

 

 

Snap! Kids who come from a limited financial background are swanning around with high-horse, entitled attitudes these days. Call me old fashioned but a watch and some wellies are pretty much all mine need for playing out. We just spent ages in the rain, walking the dogs. Came home, handed them all a pack of smarties and told them to bog off out till they get hungry

 

This is how kids should grow up - makes them appreciate life a whole lot more than a smart phone. It takes more effort than turning on the tv or spending money on gadgets, and sometimes it's downright exhausting. But it'll be worth it

 

 

 

 

Health and safety out the window - no helmet and I managed not to kill her

 

 

I've been coming on this forum for years, and it's been instrumental in my attitude about being out in the countryside, enjoying what we've got

[Accip74 7,112]

What about a bit of graft?............anyone have kids who work these days?

 

I spent every summer holiday from the age of 12 to 16 working..........earning £50 a week as a 12 year old, I found I could just go out buy the stuff I wanted, rather than just bugging my parents........

I think that prepared me more for the real world than any of the camps I built (although thats still important)

 

Just asking because my mates own a building firm & have got through literally dozens of young lads over a few years.........they just won't graft........one even left a hand written letter, apologising, but the work was making him feel physically sick! Lol

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

Mine are still too young to work - so they work in the house. Pocket money isn't free. Do the cleaning, earn a few quid. Do nothing, go to the shop and look through the window wishing you'd earned your pocket money

 

I worked from the age of 13 - 2-3 nights a week after school and weekends. Builds character lol

[MIK 4,756]

Graft heres him at 4 year old earning his pocket money ...although at 7 now hes a bit big to fit up the chimney to sweep it .

[marshman 7,756]

Right, I had to get up at 10 o'clock in the morning half an hour before I went to bed,drink a cup of sulphuric acid go to work down mill and pay mill owner for permission to go to work. And when we got home our father and mother would kill us and dance around singing hallelujah ! Lol youngster don't know they've got it so easy ?

[Accip74 7,112]

Right, I had to get up at 10 o'clock in the morning half an hour before I went to bed,drink a cup of sulphuric acid go to work down mill and pay mill owner for permission to go to work. And when we got home our father and mother would kill us and dance around singing hallelujah ! Lol youngster don't know they've got it so easy

You had a bed???

[marshman 7,756]

 

Right, I had to get up at 10 o'clock in the morning half an hour before I went to bed,drink a cup of sulphuric acid go to work down mill and pay mill owner for permission to go to work. And when we got home our father and mother would kill us and dance around singing hallelujah ! Lol youngster don't know they've got it so easy

You had a bed???

Bed, you were lucky if you had a bed. We used to live in one room all hudled together , all twenty six of us ?