The Anthropology of Childhood: https://jakeseliger.com/2015/03/05/thoughts-on-the-anthropol... makes a good companion to this essays.
Kids need freedom, too
41–50 of 391 posts
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's between that, the zero tolerance policies that many places have, and the unwalkable suburban residential nightmares we have built. I know for several of my minority friends, they won't let their kids go anywhere alone due to run-ins with law enforcement.
Sadly, most zero-tolerance policies exist because getting sued is simply too expensive for the schools to deal with. Why make a nuanced judgement when you risk getting a lawsuit by trying to be fair?
> Sadly, most zero-tolerance policies exist because getting sued is simply too expensive for the schools to deal with.
No, zero-tolerance policies exist because they are low-effort ways of being seen as addressing issues of political concern (and because minimizing discretion of subordinate staff while avoiding creating an incentive to kick sensitive decisions up the chain is itself desirable to decision-makers); excessive restrictions, like insufficient ones, are sources of lawsuits, if schools were concerned about maximum mitigation of legal risk they would have more carefully tailored policies.
EDIT: It’s worth noting that zero-tolerance policies are sold as necessary for mitigating legal risk, but that's because that’s a more palatable sales pitch than “we want neither to permit subordinates to exercise judgement nor to have to consider details of individual cases ourselves”.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
> We're planning to compromise by letting her do it, but only after we get her her first phone. Might I suggest looking into one of those cell phone watches for kids. They allow you to lock down who they can send and receive calls/messages from and have gps and geofencing so you can keep an eye on them. It basically allows you to give them the advantages of a phone, without having to give them a phone.
The irony in making this suggestion in this thread...
I don't think the intention behind "free range kids" is that they get unrestricted access to technology and everything the internet can serve up to them.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#44I'm having this issue a bit with my wife. I want my 9-yr old daughter to go to the playground a couple blocks away on her own; my wife is reluctant. My argument is that it's statistically very safe, especially in our neighborhood, and that we and her older brothers all did similar things. Her argument is that a girl needs to be more cautious than a boy, and that although she knows it's unlikely anything bad would hap…
My mom used to take the bus into the city when she was 8, spend the day wandering around, and come back on her own time. This was in the 70s with no smartphones. If there was an issue, she could use a pay phone. Her own mother sent her out of the house to get some free time for herself. When I was growing up, I did similar things, taking my 5 year old sister on the public bus with me to get to school when I was 10. I…
In the 90s I walked to school(two busy streets and one market Square with stalls away) on my own at the age of 7, I was expected to leave the house and lock the door behind me on my own(my parents both left to work by that time), make it back at the end of school and let myself in and wait at home for their return.
Nowadays just leaving a 7 year old at home alone would be a crime.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#45Does anyone else feel like the current climate is partly a by-product of the lazy “think of the children!” Rhetoric that so many law enforcement agencies and politicians use to get their legislation and budgets passed? It’s hard to let kids be unsupervised if the only thing you hear from politicians, police and others is that kids are in so much danger we need to pass otherwise ridiculous laws just to protect them.
A whole hell of a lot of people who buy into emotionally appealing rhetoric without thinking critically do not deserve to be shielded from blame. There is no shortage of them among us here.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#46Social trust has been falling for decades, and the blame lies at the feet of nearly all our major institutions: both political parties as well as the permanent bureocracy, corporations, churches, the media and so on. If we want a healthy society, of which independent children are a part, we should work to restore social trust. "We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
>all our major institutions: both political parties as well as the permanent bureocracy, corporations, churches, the media and so on These things have been dysfunctional for decades. What's different now compared to when things were "good"?
The major difference is the vast, vast majority of households were single income. "Working mother" was a non-existent thing. Men went to work, mothers stayed home. So if you let your kids roam the neighborhood in the summer SOMEONE'S mom was there to keep an eye out.
I would say, in general, it also lead to more socializing in neighborhoods because while I would never claim that a stay-at-home mom isn't doing a full-time job, there was far more time for them to hang out during the (potential) afternoon lull. Or when kids were at school during the school-year.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#47The Anthropology of Childhood : https://jakeseliger.com/2015/03/05/thoughts-on-the-anthropol... makes a good companion to this essays.
See also "Free-range Kids"
https://www.freerangekids.com/
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#48A 14 year old article that hints at how long this trend has been going this direction some places https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children... Part of me is glad I grew up on the poorer side for the US, which put me ten years behind a lot of social changes. My same-age peers in middle class households had so much less freedom, I came to learn.
The poors having more freedom on a day to day level is not new. Orwell touched on it in 1940-something when he wrote 1984.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's between that, the zero tolerance policies that many places have, and the unwalkable suburban residential nightmares we have built. I know for several of my minority friends, they won't let their kids go anywhere alone due to run-ins with law enforcement.
Sadly, most zero-tolerance policies exist because getting sued is simply too expensive for the schools to deal with. Why make a nuanced judgement when you risk getting a lawsuit by trying to be fair?
This is an oft repeated talking point, but I’ve never seen any evidence for it.
Re: Kids need freedom, too
#50I went back to my old school for a tour/"try and get Alumni to donate money" event. I was shocked at the changes, especially in the "Elf and Safety" (Health and Safety). Pupils are required to wear body and head padding for Rugby. Junior pupils in primary school cannot do full contact tackles until they are older in high school. I wasn't the most sporty at school, but I appreciated the rough and tumble of rugby, foot…
Well, there's some argument for stats and science here. Padding for Rugby might actually make sense whereas the trend where kids can't go to the park or the grocery store alone is counterproductive. A world where kids playing actually risky sports use safety equipment but also have the independence to go to the park and do pick-up games with friends with no adult supervision, that sounds like the right balance. Not e…
It's not settled science but there's decent evidence that the padding and helmets contribute to the more violent nature of American football (where serious and long term injuries are more common than in rugby).