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A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

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541–550 of 552 posts

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Motor-vehicle crashes account for 20%[1] of child and adolescent deaths in the US. Yep, 20% of something that almost never happens. .025% of adolescents die each year, .005% of them due to motor vehicle crashes. Further, the paper suggests most of adolescent vehicle deaths happen as passengers and/or drivers.

Note that this number only includes fatalities. Injuries are typically a couple orders of magnitude more common than fatalities (both for bystanders and occupants) but they are harder to count as they are not tracked as consistently. Besides the lasting damage, in a place like the US they can be financially ruinous for a family. (I would be interested in statistics that break out bystander vs occupant and injuries as…

>Finally, I'm not quite sure what your point is with respect to the overall fatality rate of adolescents.

By saying "20% of adolescent fatalities are to vehicles" you make it seem like a terrifying threat. It's not. Certainly not worth keeping your child from walking outside.

You're involved in groups that teach kids to use power tools safely. As in you let them use power tools despite there still being a risk after taking such a class. Do the same with regards to vehicles. Teach them how to stay safe as a pedestrian, passenger, and driver.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#542
post #529
post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not in the city where you can send people to run errands on foot.

It's still extremely low in terms of the odds. Even right in the middle of whatever hood you fear most your odds of anything happening to you are slim to none.

I'm aware of the odds, it's on the edge of what you should be exposing your children too. It's bad enough that adults don't like them.

You shouldn't send your kids out in thunderstorms and you probably shouldn't send them on errands through US cities.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#543
post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately vocal people on both sides of the spectrum hate that. The people calling CPS hate it because they think parents are being negectful. Certain people hate it because they imagine kids getting indoctrinated into religions they don't like. I have several friends and families that were raised via home schooling or raised their kids homeschooled. All the kids are amazing, none of them had any religion involvm…

I had home schooling myself. My parents took me out after the school wanted to put me in special ed due to my autism. (Of course, they tried Ritalin first.) After being taken out of school, there weren’t any actual problems. My parents let me spend the day programming and biking, and deal with the standardized tests myself. It was one of their best parenting decisions. I don’t have autism. Lately I’m letting my daugh…

I guess you will need to find another avenue for her to socialize with her peers. Maybe extracurricular activities like sports or music or something. Socialization and social kills are super important, especially for introverts who need to "work out" that muscle.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#544
post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are exceptions, though. I wound up being a track and field coach for kids aged 6-9 in the local athletic union. Much to my surprise and delight, the culture from the national association and down is that kids this young will NOT compete in the traditional sense - sure, they may join local games, but the results will not be published in ranked order, and everybody gets a medal. During training, coaches are encou…

Isn't competition with oneself also detrimental at that age? It puts them under the pressure of constant improvement from their previous best. Shouldn't the process be just letting them build a habit/system and enjoy the process rather than focusing on personal records?

-Oh, anything can be bad if overdone.

What balance we've struck is that coaches keep track of their results - say, to the nearest 4 inches in the long jump pit, we've labeled the edge in 4" increments and see how they fare without making a fuss of it.

Then, at the close of the season, we typically note that everybody has made significant progress, and then it's time for 'Listen, Ken, when we first started outdoor season, you jumped here - and now (big stride!) - now you jump HERE.'

I would be most surprised if any kid felt under pressure to improve from their previous best; however, kids, like adults, tend to like both to make progress and to know that others notice, too.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#545
post #511

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What did you eat during those two weeks?

I was left with a full fridge and some frozen stuff, a few pizzas I remember

Wow. Did you warm the frozen pizzas before you ate them?

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#546
post #542
post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's still extremely low in terms of the odds. Even right in the middle of whatever hood you fear most your odds of anything happening to you are slim to none.

I'm aware of the odds, it's on the edge of what you should be exposing your children too. It's bad enough that adults don't like them. You shouldn't send your kids out in thunderstorms and you probably shouldn't send them on errands through US cities.

Adults are not often rational when it comes to real vs percieved risks of crime. Tons of bias there. If you look at the actual odds your kid is probably just as likely to experience some crime living in the suburbs vs an urban area.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#547

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a strong suspicion that "Cindy and Fred" are in fact minorities and this is just plain vanilla southern racism at play. This is the state terrorizing minority communities to remind them who is in charge. That's usually what is going on when you see gross miscarriages of justice like this in the south.

southern racism in maryland?

Fun fact: Maryland was a slave state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_slavery_in_Maryland

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#548

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/25/6561928... https://www.kait8.com/2020/02/21/arkansas-leads-us-meth-use-...

I don't know what you're trying to tell me so I'll have to guess... you're retracting your initial claims after reading the data and anecdotes in those links? Because from those links it sure doesn't look like rural areas are likely to have more than half the people on meth, or that you've managed to find any actual towns where everybody is on meth.

The issue is finding published articles about it. Having family members and friends who live in some of these towns is how I know about it. A friend was a ferry pilot in a Michigan town for about a year and described his normal day through town, and how it was impossible to date anyone, because every time he tried to date someone he found they were addicted to meth. I have family that lives in Alabama, and they haven't met anyone in their town that isn't addicted to meth.

That was years ago. Seems heroin is more of a problem.

The articles I linked mention ~34% of the testing in a state showing positivity for meth, so I'm not sure why you'd be surprised that entire towns in that state may be addicted.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#549
post #47

I don't have any kids, so I don't really feel comfortable telling folks how to raise theirs. But I will tell you my perspective. As someone who grew up in the "be back home in time for supper" 1970s, today's world seems completely foreign. When I started kindergarten, Mom walked me to school on the first day so that I'd know the route. And after that I walked to school on my own until I learned to ride a bike. I rode…

> Recently I drove by that school, and the bike racks were gone. This is the thing: the bike racks are gone because so are the kids walking/biking to school. If you let your kid do it, they'll be the only one. I walked to school in the 80s and there were lots of kids in my neighborhood walking to school at the same time. That's a very different experience. I also lived in a neighborhood that was laid out in the early…

I think it's also a result of car ownership. It wasn't until the 1980s that multi-car households started being really ubiquitous.

I imagine people slowly started driving their kids to school because they could, which led to other people driving their kids to school because walking/biking was unsafe due to all cars on the road.

My childhood in the 90s kinda sucked by comparison because I was in small neighborhood with no kids my age locked in by a busy road that was too unsafe for me too cross on my own.

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