Comments on: Is our culture too overprotective of children?

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 02:13:54 +0000

I’m a 17 year old and I would like to put my two sense worth. I have been baby-sitting since I was 13. Nothig bad has ever happen (discountig me tying up my brothers…Just kidding!!!). I recently housed sat and the worst thing that happened there was the messes that the dogs made. I walked a block to to get the mail, and I took every precaution from having my keys in my knuckle to constant vigilance…and surprise! I’m here typing this and I’m just fine! My mother was way over procective over my brothers and I growing up. As long as you are careful, but not to the point of being afraid to live life, then everything should be alright. Kids and teens need space, so let us grow up!!!! If we can survive until adulthood, then that means that ya’ll as parents/guardiens did right raising us.

By: LeeAnn

LeeAnn — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 05:39:01 +0000

This is an issue I have worried about a great deal. There are occasional times when we have had to go out of town and leave the kids at home. I worry because we are not close enough to come home easily. What if something were to go wrong? We have tight rules, but are they being followed? They aren’t supposed to go outside (or at least out of our own back yard) or answer the phone, but what if?! At least it is legal to leave them alone so at least that isn’t a problem.

My husband remembers riding all over town on his bike as a kid, and his mother had no idea where he was. I played in the woods whenever I could, and often alone. My mother knew where I was, but she couldn’t see or hear me. I babysat when I was in my early teens, and I’ve hired 10-year-olds to babysit. Today, I don’t think I’ll ever allow my kids to do the same; what if something happened and the parents accused my children of negligence? That happens too. Frightening.

I think we coddle our children too much, and I think we have allowed fear too large a role in our hearts. We have to let them grow up, and we need to take the responsibility to teach them how to do it. Maybe our generation, the latch-key generation, was left on our own too much and so we are protecting our children as much as we (spoken generally and not specifically) were not.

By: JJ Ross

JJ Ross — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 05:14:07 +0000

Oh dear Aadel, but what if you hadn’t lived to reach age 26 at all?

By: Aadel

Aadel — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 22:39:58 +0000

I grew up on a farm in Nebraska. I started to drive tractors at age 8, and driving a car at around age 12. I don’t remember when my parents didn’t leave me alone with my sister, who was 4 years younger than me. Most the time, my dad was in a field nearby working, but still.
At age 15 I got paid for the farm work and was paying for my car insurance, gas, and most of my clothing.
I also remember riding 4-wheelers in the pasture at about 11 without supervision.
You were used to it because it was expected of you to be responsible. (we weren’t always “good”, but we knew when it was too much)

I don’t think I would be as mature as I am today (26) if I was never trusted to be responsible as a kid.

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By: Crimson Wife

Crimson Wife — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:41:10 +0000

I started babysitting my own brothers when I was 9 and other families’ kids when I was 11. I was working full-time as a nanny during the summer by the time I was 16.

Are kids really that much less responsible today then they were two decades ago?

By: Dana Hanley

Dana Hanley — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:57:41 +0000

I never thought of this before, but at least girls do have that ability to babysit. Boys can’t/don’t really, outside of family.

By: Shawna

Shawna — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:49:44 +0000

My used-to-be 8 yr old has wanted a job desperately for over a year now and cannot understand why he cannot work! Local businesses that would be willing to permit him to come in a sweep their store fronts or sweep the hair after a cut are too afraid to allow it–we are talking a couple of hours a week so that he can feel relevant on his terms… the frustration for him is amazing.

Now when I was 8/9/10 I had no desire to work LOL But I did babysit when called and washed neighbors cars when I wanted some spending money… and nobody worried like they do today; but you also did not have “over” concerned citizens sticking their noses in other people’s business (still having my 1st cup of coffee, sorry for the curtness LOL)