Have we bred a nation of wimp kids?
Discussion
I was in TK Maxx in Harrogate yesterday when a worried looking Mum and Dad rushed passed to the customer service counter to collect their tearful son who had got lost in the shop and had been found by a staff member and a tannoy put out for Mum and Dad. Son was greeted with lots of hugs and reassurance that they hadn't been far away etc. Fair enough had the lad been 3 or 4 years old but he looked to be 13 or 14. No sign he had learning difficulties.
I was astounded that being apart from Mum and Dad for a time produced such an effect in all of them. My neighbours 14 year old recently 'went to the cinema on his own for the first time'. In fact he had been dropped off at the doors and collected at the doors 2 hours later. Several of my fiends teenage kids have never used a bus on their own, walked to school alone or gone into town alone. One set of parents take time off work to take the 14 year old to the dentists and for any medical appointment. Going out alone or to the detist for a check up is hardly lone trekking in the mountains or getting lost in the grand bazaar in Istanbul is it? When I was 9 or 10 I went home every day for lumch when my parents were at work and did my own lunch. I caught the bus everywhere on my own from about 11. My wife used to get the bus at the age of 10 into town and do the local museum and change her library books. At 12 or 13 I used to leave school twoce a week, get the bus to the hospital and get treatment for a back injury, then do the revesre back to school.
Am I being hard, or are we raising wimps for kids?
Some are, 'we' are not. My daughter starts secondary school this year, she's going to one in a village outside our town. She's been taught so she can either cycle or get the bus on her own. As far as I'm concerned by the time they're ready for secondary school they should be independent.
Indeed we are. I have an Uncle who wraps his kids in cotton wool. Everything they do, he has to do. They go to Cubs, so he becomes one of the guys that run it. They play golf, he plays golf. They do kickboxing, he does kickboxing. They're not aloud to play further than their own street. In fairness I think one's 7 but the other's 10 or 11. I was playing football over the park or riding my bike round the village with my mates by that point. Very sad.
phr33k said:
Indeed we are. I have an Uncle who wraps his kids in cotton wool. Everything they do, he has to do. They go to Cubs, so he becomes one of the guys that run it. They play golf, he plays golf. They do kickboxing, he does kickboxing. They're not aloud to play further than their own street. In fairness I think one's 7 but the other's 10 or 11. I was playing football over the park or riding my bike round the village with my mates by that point. Very sad.
Sad? A dad taking an active interest, and participating, in what his kids do is 'sad'?mdotd said:
Brown and Boris said:
Am I being hard, or are we raising wimps for kids?
It's entirely possible to think this, right up to the point where a 12 year old stabs you in the gut with a screwdriver as you walk past them on the street...They COULD get attacked by killer bees, they COULD get abducted by a man with a shell suit fetish, they COULD fall down an open mine shaft.
Try not to read so much of the Daily Mail.
mdotd said:
Brown and Boris said:
Am I being hard, or are we raising wimps for kids?
It's entirely possible to think this, right up to the point where a 12 year old stabs you in the gut with a screwdriver as you walk past them on the street...HTH.
bigandclever said:
phr33k said:
Indeed we are. I have an Uncle who wraps his kids in cotton wool. Everything they do, he has to do. They go to Cubs, so he becomes one of the guys that run it. They play golf, he plays golf. They do kickboxing, he does kickboxing. They're not aloud to play further than their own street. In fairness I think one's 7 but the other's 10 or 11. I was playing football over the park or riding my bike round the village with my mates by that point. Very sad.
Sad? A dad taking an active interest, and participating, in what his kids do is 'sad'?There are definately more middle class wimpy children. Chav kids are almost feral, so the average wimpiness is the same.
Next doors lad is 14, he cant leave the street without permission. My bro who is the same age is completely opposite, he play rugby for school and club, all organised off his own back. When he doesnt play rugby he competes in dh mtb racing which he and his mates take the train to.
Next doors lad is 14, he cant leave the street without permission. My bro who is the same age is completely opposite, he play rugby for school and club, all organised off his own back. When he doesnt play rugby he competes in dh mtb racing which he and his mates take the train to.
As an ex public schoolboy I can confidently say thatpublic schoolboys o the whole are a right bunch of pussies until they've been to Uni, when they get "a bit" better.
I went to state primary school and got the bus from Ladbroke Grove to Kensington every day alone from year 5 onwards.
I went to state primary school and got the bus from Ladbroke Grove to Kensington every day alone from year 5 onwards.
HRG said:
mdotd said:
Brown and Boris said:
Am I being hard, or are we raising wimps for kids?
It's entirely possible to think this, right up to the point where a 12 year old stabs you in the gut with a screwdriver as you walk past them on the street...HTH.
t sticks one of those stubby, 4" screwdrivers into the righthand side of my stomach (he'd intentionally blocked me on the way in, usual jibes etc to which I reply "get tae f...". Luckily as it was only a stubby it didn't do too much damage although I was bleeding (whilst trying not to put weight on my bad leg so I could clobber the fker). If I'd had my hands free I would have done the forehead thing... luckily there were plenty of people there and he didn't get anywhere.Not saying all kids are like that (obviously) but for every soft kid there is an equal number of chavvy s
ts... where are all the inbetweeners? 
Edit to say: this happened up here in the North east of Scotland; not exactly a hotspot for hoodie-based scum, it's just the fact it happened...
Edited by mdotd on Sunday 10th May 11:58
Lil' Joe said:
As an ex public schoolboy I can confidently say thatpublic schoolboys o the whole are a right bunch of pussies until they've been to Uni, when they get "a bit" better.
I went to state primary school and got the bus from Ladbroke Grove to Kensington every day alone from year 5 onwards.
What's a year 5? I'm guessing it isn't 15/16 years old. I went to state primary school and got the bus from Ladbroke Grove to Kensington every day alone from year 5 onwards.
Edited by ShadownINja on Sunday 10th May 11:55
Brown and Boris said:
Harrogate is hardly St Pauls (with apologies to the people of St Pauls).
They COULD get attacked by killer bees, they COULD get abducted by a man with a shell suit fetish, they COULD fall down an open mine shaft.
Try not to read so much of the Daily Mail.
I'll see your Harrogate and raise you Bilton.They COULD get attacked by killer bees, they COULD get abducted by a man with a shell suit fetish, they COULD fall down an open mine shaft.
Try not to read so much of the Daily Mail.
Didn't realise you were local
where did I leave that pitchfork
bigandclever said:
phr33k said:
Indeed we are. I have an Uncle who wraps his kids in cotton wool. Everything they do, he has to do. They go to Cubs, so he becomes one of the guys that run it. They play golf, he plays golf. They do kickboxing, he does kickboxing. They're not aloud to play further than their own street. In fairness I think one's 7 but the other's 10 or 11. I was playing football over the park or riding my bike round the village with my mates by that point. Very sad.
Sad? A dad taking an active interest, and participating, in what his kids do is 'sad'?.. too much fear. Media screams fear until the point where we are paranoid of letting our kids out to the sweetshops... and then complain that they are not independent enough by the time they reach 18.
There is a mid line balance between cotton wool and abandonment, but fear of the "bogeyman" has sent many too far towards cotton wool. Understandable to some point, but ultimately can leave the kids without the resources and coping mechanisms to deal with the crap stuff when it happens.
There is a mid line balance between cotton wool and abandonment, but fear of the "bogeyman" has sent many too far towards cotton wool. Understandable to some point, but ultimately can leave the kids without the resources and coping mechanisms to deal with the crap stuff when it happens.
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