A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods • Hacker News Board

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#61

Post by SOLAR_FIELDS » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:20 AM UTC

aerophilic wrote: post #27

As someone that would want this for their kids: Is there am equivalent in the United States? Perhaps through scouts, or another org?

I left this in a sibling comment that we (I’m an Eagle Scout with long history of scouting) used snipe hunting as a somewhat equivalent rite of passage: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snipe_hunt

In my experience it was somewhat less dramatic than described in the article (I wasn’t left alone more than a half hour hike from camp and the few times I did it I never let the “victims” out of sight). It seems like these teens from the article are expected to put in a good few hours hike before getting back to a certain location. It was still a similarly formative and fun experience for me, especially because I got to do it with a couple other kids my age.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#62

Post by teekert » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:24 AM UTC

tdons wrote: post #58

Don't think of this as dropping your kids in say, the High Sierras or Death Valley ;-) This is actually an extremely safe thing, nothing much can go wrong. Some supporting facts: Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi and is densely populated. There's always a dwelling nearby. Consequently it's impossible to get really lost. We also have no natural dangers to speak of, no deadly animals,…

I think it is important to say this indeed. I also did "dropping" as a kid, and later with kids, but the only thing that "spoiled it" was cheaters that find a phone in 1 hour and call a cab.

I haven't heard It being done for a while now, is it still a thing in this time of fear and smartphones?

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#63

Post by teekert » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:26 AM UTC

tiku wrote: post #6

The Dutch woods are not very big and not very far from the cities. You could get lost but you can always hear the highways and there is cell coverage everywhere. And the most scary thing you could come across is a wild boar, there are no dangerous animals. There were 2 or 3 wolf sightings the past 2 years, but they stay away from noise. Anyway I think Dutch kids are balsy enough to scare any wolf away. (Or a human pr…

We did it in gymnastics camp, no cell phones, no compass. But indeed, it is difficult to not run into a road within an hour or so usually.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#64

Post by ddnb » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:27 AM UTC

tdons wrote: post #58

Don't think of this as dropping your kids in say, the High Sierras or Death Valley ;-) This is actually an extremely safe thing, nothing much can go wrong. Some supporting facts: Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi and is densely populated. There's always a dwelling nearby. Consequently it's impossible to get really lost. We also have no natural dangers to speak of, no deadly animals,…

>> (we don't have mountains).

Woah, you forgot about the Vaalserberg?

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#65

Post by fouc » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 6:50 AM UTC

tdons wrote: post #58

Don't think of this as dropping your kids in say, the High Sierras or Death Valley ;-) This is actually an extremely safe thing, nothing much can go wrong. Some supporting facts: Our entire country (The Netherlands) measures roughly 161mi by 93mi and is densely populated. There's always a dwelling nearby. Consequently it's impossible to get really lost. We also have no natural dangers to speak of, no deadly animals,…

There's a small 707 acre park in the middle of a small island in Canada (Gabriola island, next to Nanaimo city), you wouldn't believe the number of people that get lost every year and don't get found till the next day or two.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#66

Post by ragebol » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 7:05 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #55

tiku wrote: post #6

The Dutch woods are not very big and not very far from the cities. You could get lost but you can always hear the highways and there is cell coverage everywhere. And the most scary thing you could come across is a wild boar, there are no dangerous animals. There were 2 or 3 wolf sightings the past 2 years, but they stay away from noise. Anyway I think Dutch kids are balsy enough to scare any wolf away. (Or a human pr…

Back when I was a kid, at the ripe old age of 12, we did this at the Hoge Veluwe, and I can assure you that there were no highways in hearing distance and we didn't have cellphones yet. It was also a pretty good experience, if a little cold.

The Hoge Veluwe might be one of a few, if not the only place in the Netherlands where you d find a road of some sort when you walk straight ahead for a few kilometers. I live near Eindhoven and I can't imagine a place where that wouldn't happen.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#67

Post by gnicholas » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 7:14 AM UTC

This remind me of the Wilderness Survival merit badge in the boy scouts. We had to survive a night in the woods with no gear except a pocket knife and the clothes on our backs.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#68

Post by mobilemidget » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 7:26 AM UTC

solidsnack9000 wrote: post #22

The writer calls it peculiarly Dutch, but then describes it taking place in Belgium, as well.

As a dutch I've only been dropped in Belgium forests.

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#69

Post by jgtrosh » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 7:26 AM UTC

oska wrote: post #31

rauhl wrote: post #8

> ‘It shows you, even in very hard times, to keep walking, to keep going,’ [Stĳn] said. ‘I have never had to do that before.’ I recently read Dinner of Herbs and Going to the Wars, two books by a fellow who was a British commando in the Second World War who was captured by the Italians, escaped and had to make his way across country, living off the land and thanks to the kindness of local peasants. One of the things…

I found the book you mentioned - A Dinner of Herbs by John Verney. Looks good. Somewhat confusingly there is another book called Dinner of Herbs by Carla Grissman which is also a travelogue describing close contact with 'peasants', but this time in Anatolia in the 60s. It also looks good. (There's even another book with the same title, but it's a fiction novel by Catherine Cookson). Edit: I've just found that the tit…

Is that a fancy “i'd rather eat crumbs with bums than steaks with snakes”?

Re: A Peculiarly Dutch Summer Rite: Children Abandoned in the Night Woods

#70

Post by tiku » Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 7:33 AM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #55

tiku wrote: post #6

The Dutch woods are not very big and not very far from the cities. You could get lost but you can always hear the highways and there is cell coverage everywhere. And the most scary thing you could come across is a wild boar, there are no dangerous animals. There were 2 or 3 wolf sightings the past 2 years, but they stay away from noise. Anyway I think Dutch kids are balsy enough to scare any wolf away. (Or a human pr…

Back when I was a kid, at the ripe old age of 12, we did this at the Hoge Veluwe, and I can assure you that there were no highways in hearing distance and we didn't have cellphones yet. It was also a pretty good experience, if a little cold.

I guess it depends on the winds, but it was mainly my point that it's not really far from the main roads..