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Where do the children play?

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Re: Where do the children play?

#231

Post by lotsofpulp »

nerdponx wrote: post #42
fainpul wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think a lot of this simply depends on the distance between home and school (or other places kids need to go to) – so it's the difference between a compact city and sprawling suburbs. Where I live (central Europe), the density of public elementary schools in cities is high, so kids walk there alone. The density of secondary schools is lower, so most kids use bicycles or trams / buses. Interestingly, there are a few…

Having grown up and gone to school exclusively in the USA I always thought it was crazy how many parents preferred to drive their kids to school instead of having them take the bus. By high school I would guess that less than half of kids actually got to school by bus despite them all being part of the bus pickup network.

I drive my kid to the bus in the morning because it allows them to sleep an extra hour (and they are not old enough to bicycle to school yet).

Re: Where do the children play?

#232

Post by mrinterweb »

When some people see a child without parents in arms reach, they assume the worst and report the situation. Many parents live in fear of being perceived as negligent, and for good reason. There are some real horror stories about parents getting in big trouble for situations no one would have batted an eye at in the 80s. Even if a kid has earned trust and the parent knows the kid would be fine, there is still the looming threat of someone reporting negligence.

If children do not learn independence, they will not be prepared and will carry a lot of anxiety when they need to be independent.

Re: Where do the children play?

#233

Post by euvin »

I often wonder why I felt so disengaged from school, sports, and real life friendships back in the 2010s. Today, I think I can attribute most of that (and heavily relate to the article) to the freedom of online spaces and the lack of supervision; primarily, Roblox. As long as I kept good grades, no one really never peered into what I did online. It didn't help that I lived in the suburbs in the LA county all my life, so I felt both a "push and pull" toward online spaces.

Even back then, that era of Roblox felt distinct from the platform it is today. Roblox used to have their own bespoke forum page, and each forum "topic" had its own culture and regular users. Hence, it resulted in a lot of tribal behavior and personal identification with said topic label (some players would even make "bunkers" as places, where regular hangouts would happen.)

As a result, familiar faces (usernames) arose, and that's where I met my first and only consistent friend group lasting from middle school to university. Though I haven't talked to them much since.

I did get my programming interest and grew skills from such a creative platform, but I think I'm still reeling from my stunted social growth as well. As I hear about the current generation of schools, I wonder how much worse off I'd be if I had to grow up during the 2020s.

Re: Where do the children play?

#234

Post by micromacrofoot »

mrinterweb wrote: post #232

When some people see a child without parents in arms reach, they assume the worst and report the situation. Many parents live in fear of being perceived as negligent, and for good reason. There are some real horror stories about parents getting in big trouble for situations no one would have batted an eye at in the 80s. Even if a kid has earned trust and the parent knows the kid would be fine, there is still the loom…

We have indeed traded liberty for safety... I wish I could tell someone that it's none of their business where my 10 year old can walk alone, but someone not too far from me has forcefully been entered into the child services bureaucracy for doing the same thing. Not the pit I want to climb out of. I'd rather hear my child tried to join the circus.

Re: Where do the children play?

#235

Post by giantg2 »

PaulRobinson wrote: post #81
gyomu wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, how old are your kids, that they gallivant around London on their own? Are we talking about teenagers? Because yeah, I agree with you that in that sense cities are better than the often car-centric countryside for teenagers; but for young kids (elementary school and below, which is what the article covers) it's a very different equation.

Not really. I live in Zone 4/5 West London (postcode TW area), and kids as young as I'd say around 9 or 10 are getting themselves to school on buses, trains and tubes every day. Not much different to my day - I was taking myself to school around 7/8 years old living in a small (10k pop.) semi-rural town. After school they're getting themselves home as well, often in groups causing the traditional nuisance in newsagen…

"Despite what the media (and for crying out loud, the US President), says, London is actually a remarkably safe city."

I'm not sure what the media or president is saying, but looking at the data I would not call it "remarkably safe". It sounds like the London violent crime rate is 28 per 1000 while New York and Los Angeles are about 700 per 100,000. I wouldn't let my kids ride public transport all over those cities until they were at least teens (the laws might not allow it anyways).

Re: Where do the children play?

#236

Post by devilbunny »

em-bee wrote: post #169
mlrtime wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>like you are either born smart or you'll never make it. That is a bit dramatic. This topic has been talked about over and over. There is no perfect system. Treat everyone the same and high potential kids suffer. Split them up by ability and you get "unfairness" criticisms.

the unfairness criticism is nonsense. it's just politics. and it doesn't even apply here because the existence of different school types would be unfair as well. splitting kids up by ability is not unfair. forcing them in different schools however is. because switching schools takes a lot of effort and it gets harder the older you get simply because the curriculum diverges to much. so even if i am bored in a lower ti…

All the levels of education at my high school happened in the same buildings. There were people in my graduating class of 86 people that I never said ten words to in six years in the same school. I was never in the same classes and didn’t live near them.

Which is to say that tracking of any kind is going to end up with this, whether they are separate physical schools or separate curricula within one school.

Re: Where do the children play?

#237

Post by eulgro »

wffurr wrote: post #130
casey2 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now if my kid wants to go to their friends house? They have to cross two arterials. These are four lane roads with fast moving traffic, uncontrolled signals, lots of road rage, fast cuts on corners, etc. Well why did you choose to live there if you wanted to raise independent kids. Baffles the mind.

Good luck finding a North American city without roads like that. Our cities are terrible and laid out for cars not people.

Then don't live in North America.

Re: Where do the children play?

#238

Post by prmoustache »

jddj wrote: post #85
djtango wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they? I don't think I've seen anyone younger than 12 unattended on the tube

The DLR at some hours between some stops is practically a school bus. I guess it's possible they're small but not <12yo

Are you calling 12y olds small? That is an age many female already have their periods. My youngest daughter is 12y old and almost 1m70 (5'7").

In some countries and even US states this is already an age you can marry.

Re: Where do the children play?

#239

Post by prmoustache »

mlrtime wrote: post #101
ErigmolCt wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cities feel riskier, but in many ways they offer more room to grow. Kids don't just need nature; they need space to navigate the world on their own terms

I'm going to get criticism because I feel HN is mostly urban based... but I don't think kids need "cities" to grow. They need nature. I picture rural/suburban areas that aren't fully built out with small wooded areas , creeks and playground 5-10 minute walk. They need to get dirty, play in water etc. When I think cities, I think dense urban areas that rarely offer this unless living in a expensive or unique neighborh…

> They need to get dirty, play in water etc.

cities != concrete

There are plenty of well sized parks in many cities. In some case there are even beaches, woods and mountains. Mine has all three.

Re: Where do the children play?

#240

Post by sidewndr46 »

throwawayffffas wrote: post #150
mlrtime wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll give you a hint about statistics... there will always be a #1 killer of children. Today it's car accidents, 100 years ago it was disease. After disease it was other accidents, and 100 years from now it will be something else.

Listen I agree with both you and the poster I replied to. What I am saying is that the risk from cars really did increase. Not that it's the only reason that the change happened.

I don't think you ever saw the cars my grandmother drove when my dad was a kid. It was not a "light truck" or anything of the type. It was a 'car' and it was actually bigger, by quite a large margin.
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