Free ranged children

[Tero]

Hermit, I had a dynamo for emergency use. Typically I would only ride little bits with the dynamo on, then other bits on the sidewalk, as it was slow going. Cant see why the dynamo had to be so hard to turn. Half the power would have made you at least visible.

[rachelbean]

That's a great story Hermit, thanks for sharing it

[Hermit]

Hermit, I had a dynamo for emergency use. Typically I would only ride little bits with the dynamo on, then other bits on the sidewalk, as it was slow going. Cant see why the dynamo had to be so hard to turn. Half the power would have made you at least visible.

You misread something there: "The wire connecting the dynamo with the bulb had somehow snapped or chafed apart."

That's a great story Hermit, thanks for sharing it

Thankee.

[JimC]

What used to be nornal, is now illegal. Eventually we will be so dumb...due to no survival of the fittest...that all functions will collapse. There will be nobody to walk us across the street.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/13/living/fe ... ion-again/

There's scientific evidence that not allowing children to roam permanently impairs their ability remember the cues and information associated with navigation. In other words, if kids are not sent out to learn how to find their way home, they are far more likely to be unable to navigate by reference to landmarks and other information that us older folks take for granted.

I saw this in my ex's kids, who were quite sheltered and were literally never allowed to go out and roam the neighborhood because their mother (not entirely unjustifiably) feared for their safety. When they moved in with me, it took a year for her to allow the kids to ride their bikes around the block by themselves, and they twice got lost walking to a park three blocks away.

When I was a kid, I used to roam the ranch, with it's inherent dangers like cliffs and rivers, all day every day in the summer...armed with my .22 semi-automatic Remington Nylon 66 rifle and a pocket full of ammunition to shoot at rocks and prairie dogs. I'm really good at technology-free land navigation. I know how to determine true north using either sun, moon or stars, and can determine north, south, east and west from biological markers and evidence, and I have a very good navigational memory.

It's a real shame that more parents don't "free range" their kids. Their kids will indeed suffer physically for it. Were I those kid's parents, I'd make a complaint against CPS and the police for causing actual, identifiable brain damage by demanding that kids be monitored 24/7.

But that's how the Marxist ass-hats at CPS want things. They want good little proletarians raised up as helpless as possible so that they will be dependent on the government for their very survival.

Apart from the last paragraph ( ) I quite agree. When I was a kid, I was all over the place on my bike, and swimming in the local river with mates. Our boys were maybe a little more restricted (more traffic around than when I was a lad), but we tried to let them roam as much as possible. The network of local bike paths helped with that...

[klr]

When I was five years old, I walked over two miles from our new family home to my grandmother's house, where had been staying while the new home was being completed. I can't remember the exact logic behind my decision, but maybe I was looking for my mother, and I thought she'd be with her mother. So I walked from A to B myself, somehow without getting lost or knocked down. Mind you, there wasn't as much traffic back in the 1970s. To this day, my mother still doesn't want to think about it.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

I did some fucked-up shit when I was a small child (up to the age of 49 or so). Stuff that my parents would have fucking DIED had they known about. But they didn't know. And I lived. And I was never arrested. And they can't prove ANYTHING (I hope). So it's all good.

[klr]

I did some fucked-up shit when I was a small child (up to the age of 49 or so). Stuff that my parents would have fucking DIED had they known about. But they didn't know. And I lived. And I was never arrested. And they can't prove ANYTHING (I hope). So it's all good.

A child at 49? That qualifies you as a Hobbit. Or even an Elf.

[Tero]

Hermit, I had a dynamo for emergency use. Typically I would only ride little bits with the dynamo on, then other bits on the sidewalk, as it was slow going. Cant see why the dynamo had to be so hard to turn. Half the power would have made you at least visible.

You misread something there: "The wire connecting the dynamo with the bulb had somehow snapped or chafed apart."

Yes I read the wire part. But what I was saying I did not like riding with the dynamo because of the extra work. Even a mile with a dynamo seemed like a great effort, compared to daylight riding. I would try to get close to home before dark, not as far as you were.

[pErvinalia]

Great story, Hermit!

I was a free-range kid. Raised by my dad after my mum died when I was 2, I think he was more than happy to let me roam all day without seeing me. Such a different world now.

[Hermit]

Hermit, I had a dynamo for emergency use. Typically I would only ride little bits with the dynamo on, then other bits on the sidewalk, as it was slow going. Cant see why the dynamo had to be so hard to turn. Half the power would have made you at least visible.

You misread something there: "The wire connecting the dynamo with the bulb had somehow snapped or chafed apart."

Yes I read the wire part. But what I was saying I did not like riding with the dynamo because of the extra work. Even a mile with a dynamo seemed like a great effort, compared to daylight riding. I would try to get close to home before dark, not as far as you were.

Oh, sorry. It was me who misread then.

The extra effort required to get somewhere with the dynamo engaged was noticeable, but barely so.

Perceptions about child safety have certainly changed. I was accompanied to kindergarten on my first day there. That was to show me the way. After that I walked to it and back home on my own. Same thing with primary school. That was not unusual. By the time I got near them, there were many other children walking towards them in ones, twos and threes, some of them after having gone part of the way by tram or bus. There were no queues of cars with parents dropping us off or picking us up. I did get bowled over on my way to kindergarten by a big black motorbike one morning. At that age children are not so good at estimating speeds and distances. The only thing that happened was that I was told to be more careful when crossing the road.

Same with going to friends' places. Walking there was routine. When I was old enough I made those excursions by tricycle, then scooter and finally by pushbike.

[JimC]

Hermit wrote:

The extra effort required to get somewhere with the dynamo engaged was noticeable, but barely so.

Either you were much fitter than me (quite possible) or my dynamo was high in friction and inefficient, because my childhood memories are that riding with the dynamo on was much harder than without.

Kids on bikes these days don't know how lucky they are, with rechargeable batteries and very efficient LED lights!

[Brian Peacock]

I was cuffed round the ear by a policeman for riding my bike without hands on the bars - a skill in which I was highly proficient. That'd never happen these days. Neither would the head of house get away with giving your buns a squeeze before administering the cane - they don't do corporal punishment in schools any more.

[Brian Peacock]

I guess I'm supposed to add that "It didn't do me any harm", but I'm not quite sure about that in either case.

[rachelbean]

That's the thing though. I don't buy into "the good ol' days". Kids (in modern western countries) are safer than ever, but people are still more afraid than ever. Crime goes down and fear continues to rise.

[pErvinalia]

Yep. Don't get me started.


I nearly got started there.