Mollycoddled 'Snowflake children' warns head teacher

[ClaphamGT3]

BoRED S2upid said:

Vaud said:

I personally think 6 is a bit young. 8+ seems reasonable, quite a few kids walk to our primary school on their own.

I agree. I can’t see my allowing little BS2 to walk to school on his own in 2 years time 8 seems a bit safer.

We periodically allow our 8 year-old to walk to school on her own (700 yards, involves crossing one road a few yards away from our house, wife texts School receptionist that she's on her way & gets a text back when she arrives). A significant chunk of the other parents are aghast and a few of them have even asked us to stop it as it is putting ideas into their little darlings' heads

[Moonhawk]

xjay1337 said:

Not so much their parents but I know that peoples lifestyles have changed. Social media etc so people tend to stay at home more.

I think it’s the other way round. Kids are just using the tools at their disposal.

Parents have restricted their freedom of movement - but the kids still crave interaction with their friends - and so turn to social media.

I think the high uptake of social media is a symptom of reduced mobility in kids due to loss of freedom - not neccesarily the cause of it.

[Ari]

I think it's a perfect storm of over indulgent parents (many of whom seem incapable of disciplining their offspring for fear of upsetting them), worries about pedophiles on every street corner (driven in part by sensationalist press) and the rise of broadcast and Internet based gaming and entertainment.

When I was young, children's TV was limited to a couple of hours after school. Even if we wanted (and were allowed) to watch it continuously, there was nothing to watch and little other entertainment so we went out out and met our friends instead. Now there is virtually unlimited resource.

If we wanted to 'game' we went to an amusement arcade and played Tron and Asteroids. Our time 'gaming' was limited by the amount of 10p pieces we had.

[xjay1337]

Moonhawk said:

xjay1337 said:

Not so much their parents but I know that peoples lifestyles have changed. Social media etc so people tend to stay at home more.

I think it’s the other way round. Kids are just using the tools at their disposal.

Parents have restricted their freedom of movement - but the kids still crave interaction with their friends - and so turn to social media.

I think the high uptake of social media is a symptom of reduced mobility in kids due to loss of freedom - not neccesarily the cause of it.

I hadn't considered it in that way.
That may well be true.

I can't speak for everyone - but 10-12 years ago when I was in my late teens my Mum didn't really care too much what I was up to.
When I was younger she was very much "Be home at 7 or at 7:01 I'm calling the police!"