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Safetyism killed playtime

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Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#51

Post by zer00eyz »

miah_ wrote: post #31
vehemenz wrote: post #11

Safetyism is a contributing cause, but children have far fewer siblings than they used to. This means it's harder to go outside semi-supervised, and parents are more protective of their kids because there are fewer of them. Differences in reproductive strategies result in differences of parental care.

I'm a only child, and was a free-range/latch-key kid in the 80's. I'm thankful for my neighborhood friends, they were a excellent safety substitute for my non-existent siblings.

I too am a only child, and was a free-range/latch-key kid in the 80's.

We lived on a somewhat quiet dead end street. The neighbor kids were fun but we got into all sorts of nonsense...

I have a very distinct memory of my parents taking me to go furniture shopping at about the age of 8 or 9. It was a fate worse than death. Do you have any idea how boring furniture is to a small child.

I remember coming home, rounding a curve on our street and seeing the end of it. SO. MANY. FIRETRUCKS.

I missed the roman candle fight, I missed the dry pine going up like a torch. I missed the fire department (small town they all came it was an even) and the police.

Dumb luck kept me out of a lot of trouble in my youth. it. It's no wonder im not dead.

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#52

Post by jmull »

This is the old "things aren't the way they used to be" complaint. Always a crowd-pleaser, but also an inevitable constant and not necessarily bad.

It's also really weak how it throws "safetyism" in there even though it doesn't even try to connect it to playtime.

To me it feels like it's purposely conflating the inevitability of change (along with its attendant discomfort), the physical safety of children, and the invented political wedge concept of "safetyism" for the clicks. Just more dumb crap.

It's also unclear how much "safetyism" is responsible for the changes in play vs some of the million other things that are different from decades ago.

It comes off as a cheap shot to me, and a rather dumb one at that. E.g., adding the pejorative "ism" to added to

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#53

Post by mrtksn »

acuozzo wrote: post #22

I know the article focuses on the UK and what I'm about to state has little to do with the UK, but as a suburban US dad with three children I feel compelled to share that drivers are what keep me from feeling comfortable letting my seven and four year old play outside unsupervised. I've seen so many incidents of (young?) drivers tearing through sleepy suburban streets at highway speeds here in Maryland that I specifi…

The mayor of a municipality in Istanbul proudly announced that they built walls around a small city park to keep kids safe.

And I was the only weirdo who asked why they didn’t put measures in place against speeding drivers instead.

People see completely normal to take their kids to this walled garden that looks like a prison yard with a few trees and a playground.

This hysteria of every stranger must be a criminal and everything is dangerous successfully pushed people into compartments.

Eastern Europe is honestly much more free than all the places I’ve been. To be honest, Eastern Europe does have safety problems but it’s mostly about self harm caused by nihilism, maybe that’s part of the reason why people don’t freak out about everything in first place but when I’m in Eastern Europe I feel significantly less stressed than when I’m in the UK or Turkey.

Maybe an approach somewhere between Eastern European nihilism and Western “everything is extremely important” mentality must be reached.

Put the speed bumpers against the maniacs and let the kids learn how to operate without the safety nets.

Like at the ending of “Demolition Man” movie, maybe some of us need to take stuff a bit more seriously and others relax a bit.

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#54

Post by [deleted] »

balthasar wrote: post #33

"Children are far less free than they used to be. While 71% of Boomers and 80% of Gen X recall playing in the street as children, only 27% of children do today." Freedom is being allowed to get run over in the street!

[deleted]

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#55

Post by kspacewalk2 »

donatj wrote: post #44
fastneutron wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ditto. It’s not the breathless hysteria about child abduction or (conversely) busybody neighbors calling the cops on unaccompanied minors that keep my kids inside. It’s the insane drivers in 4 ton lifted pickups and the town’s refusal to lower the speed limit, or even post “Children Playing” signs that does it.

Lowering the speed limit isn't going to get the guy in the glass packed souped up Honda who blows through the stop sign in front of my house multiple times a day to actually slow down. That's that dudes whole deal. It's just going to give highly attentive people tickets that want to get to work at a reasonable speed like 30.

Speed limit signs are almost useless, especially if not enforced (preferably by speed cameras, preferably without announcing their location with signs).

The correct solution to get that guy to stop is to make the street less deadly by design. It should be narrowed, made more winding and have visual 'clutter' added like trees, flower planters, etc. It should be intensely uncomfortable to speed more than 5-ish mph, and people who choose to do so anyway need to meet a traffic calming measure and be on the phone to their body shop well before they speed up enough to endanger a life.

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#56

Post by clukic »

acuozzo wrote: post #22

I know the article focuses on the UK and what I'm about to state has little to do with the UK, but as a suburban US dad with three children I feel compelled to share that drivers are what keep me from feeling comfortable letting my seven and four year old play outside unsupervised. I've seen so many incidents of (young?) drivers tearing through sleepy suburban streets at highway speeds here in Maryland that I specifi…

I live in Brooklyn in Bed Stuy, and my neighbor who has lived here his entire life told me how he used to play football in the street everyday in the summer when he was a kid. There was always a pick up game, and when I asked he said occasionally a car would need to get past and they would finish the play, and then wave it by.

Today, I don't let my daughter step one foot into that street for fear she'll get swiped by an Ebike or an Uber driver in an Escalade doing 40.

Drivers today have an expectation of complete ownership of the streets, and kids lost one of their few play spaces.

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#57

Post by giantg2 »

fastneutron wrote: post #28
acuozzo wrote: post #22

I know the article focuses on the UK and what I'm about to state has little to do with the UK, but as a suburban US dad with three children I feel compelled to share that drivers are what keep me from feeling comfortable letting my seven and four year old play outside unsupervised. I've seen so many incidents of (young?) drivers tearing through sleepy suburban streets at highway speeds here in Maryland that I specifi…

Ditto. It’s not the breathless hysteria about child abduction or (conversely) busybody neighbors calling the cops on unaccompanied minors that keep my kids inside. It’s the insane drivers in 4 ton lifted pickups and the town’s refusal to lower the speed limit, or even post “Children Playing” signs that does it.

Are "children playing" even effective? Do you think the dangerous problem drivers are actually giving a shit about them? Similar for speed limit signs unless you have strict and regular enforcement. Although at least the prudent drivers would obey those.

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#58

Post by practicemaths »

cpursley wrote: post #21

This is only a phenomenon in the anglo-world. Kids are still allowed to be kids in the rest of the world (where they are much more mature and physiologically healthier than American kids).

I think that's a rather limited experiential take. Rather depends on the neighborhood where you may see kids outside playing freely or not. Regardless:

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032489883/china-kids-video-g...

Wouldn't you agree China is outside of the anglo-world view?

Wouldn't you agree that is limiting how kids can be kids?

Re: Safetyism killed playtime

#60

Post by lgleason »

What's interesting is if you go to countries like Costa Rica, there are still more opportunities for kids to be kids. The US has created a helicopter parenting style along with many other western countries. Kids don't learn important things that playtime gives them and turn out more neurotic later on in life with much lower resilience.
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