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The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

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Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#131

Post by pessimizer »

rayiner wrote: post #9
spicyusername wrote: post #4

I don't know. Maybe this is going away in some places, maybe I just have my own anecdata, but my kids play outside unsupervised all the time, as do all the kids in my neighborhood. I live in just a regular suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of small Metro. Nothing special about it at all. Every time I see one of these articles I always wonder who they're talking about. I always feel like this is just one of those…

This behavior is probably overrepresented in the bougie places reporters live. I dropped my daughter off at the mall to hang out with their friends and one of the moms followed them around the whole time. They're all 13!

From the mall story, you also seem to be living in a "bougie" place. What makes you think that places other than where you live are different?

One would expect that after your first sentence, the second sentence would be a counterexample.

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#132

Post by FloorEgg »

ceayo wrote: post #130
zkmon wrote: post #115

It's not isolated phenomenon.If we look at the larger scale of, say, 100 years, a lot of things are rapidly disappearing. It's actually some sort of extinction that is underway, but you don't feel it on a smaller scale of time. Similar to how Romans wouldn't have been aware of the Fall of Roman empire while it was happening, because it was too slow to notice.

Can you give some examples of things rapidly disappearing?

The average person's ability to acquire food from nature (farm, hunt, gather) and cook it for themselves.

The average person ability to make and fix their own tools. Build and fix their shelter.

Free range childhood.

Average person getting dirt under their fingernails.

Being in sync with sunlight cycle.

Stargazing at night.

These are off the top of my head (I'm not op).

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#133

Post by amingilani »

ceayo wrote: post #130
zkmon wrote: post #115

It's not isolated phenomenon.If we look at the larger scale of, say, 100 years, a lot of things are rapidly disappearing. It's actually some sort of extinction that is underway, but you don't feel it on a smaller scale of time. Similar to how Romans wouldn't have been aware of the Fall of Roman empire while it was happening, because it was too slow to notice.

Can you give some examples of things rapidly disappearing?

I think OP is talking about Shifting Baseline Syndrome[0].

> A shifting baseline (also known as a sliding baseline) is a type of change to how a system is measured, usually against previous reference points (baselines), which themselves may represent significant changes from an even earlier state of the system that fails to be considered or remembered.

[0]: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shifting_baseline.

[1]: Earth.org article that reads nicer: https://earth.org/shifting-baseline-syndrome/

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#134

Post by pessimizer »

garbawarb wrote: post #34
rayiner wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This behavior is probably overrepresented in the bougie places reporters live. I dropped my daughter off at the mall to hang out with their friends and one of the moms followed them around the whole time. They're all 13!

Do journalists live in bougie places? It's not a particularly well-paying job.

Yes. Journalists don't make a living from journalism, they live on family money. That's why working class journalists have disappeared along with working class perspectives.

It was once a job where many if not most of the practitioners didn't have a college degree, now it is the most expensive graduate school program you can do. I think the median price is something like $250K.

If you don't pay writers, you eliminate all of the writers who have to work for a living.

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#135

Post by rao-v »

FloorEgg wrote: post #132
ceayo wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you give some examples of things rapidly disappearing?

The average person's ability to acquire food from nature (farm, hunt, gather) and cook it for themselves. The average person ability to make and fix their own tools. Build and fix their shelter. Free range childhood. Average person getting dirt under their fingernails. Being in sync with sunlight cycle. Stargazing at night. These are off the top of my head (I'm not op).

I don’t think in 1926 more than 50% of global 15-20 year olds could:

“acquire food from nature (farm, hunt, gather) and cook it for themselves.”

Or

“make and fix their own tools. Build and fix their shelter.”

(Culturally, those tasks often specialize by vocation, gender etc.)

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#136

Post by ceayo »

mothballed wrote: post #119
eweise wrote: post #54

When my child was an infant, my wife parked in a parking lot and starting chatting with a friend about 10 yards away. Minutes later a woman came by and starting claiming the child was not safe and was going to call protective services. This freaked both of us out that a stranger could potentially have the power to cause the government to become involved with our family. Fortunately, we didn't let that experience prev…

I had something like that happen I was out of town and forgot most places in America have a way more fascist child snatchers than where I live. The police contacted a national database check, their local child services, and my hometown child services. Thankfully my hometown child services told them to go fuck themselves (the place I live in now thankfully doesn't usually get involved unless there is serious abuse) an…

> fascist child snatchers

lol

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#137

Post by rolodato »

ceayo wrote: post #130
zkmon wrote: post #115

It's not isolated phenomenon.If we look at the larger scale of, say, 100 years, a lot of things are rapidly disappearing. It's actually some sort of extinction that is underway, but you don't feel it on a smaller scale of time. Similar to how Romans wouldn't have been aware of the Fall of Roman empire while it was happening, because it was too slow to notice.

Can you give some examples of things rapidly disappearing?

Being able to see stars in the night sky

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#138

Post by tayo42 »

borski wrote: post #98
tayo42 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of trouble for a 13 year old in Manhattan. Even if it's not dangerous, you can find your own problems easily enough.

You can find your own problems on an abandoned farm too. A kid can always choose to get into trouble, but that’s not what we’re talking about here.

The type of trouble is different. Your not going to get robbed trying to buy drugs on a farm.

Re: The quiet disappearance of the free-range childhood

#139

Post by ip26 »

kannanvijayan wrote: post #37

I have a 10 year old boy and I'm facing these issues right now. I'm also in Canada so culturally adjacent to the US and similar enough with regards to this topic. I don't see child welfare agencies personally as a particular threat when it comes to this topic. Maybe they ARE more likely to get involved in cases of more free range parenting where before they weren't, but it doesn't register as a real worry. The major…

Totally onboard with some managed risk of injury being ok. Very much not onboard with the parents who trust their six year olds to face mortal peril alone and make good choices.
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