JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 I love the ranking of Finland on that list, BTW. My eldest sister lived there for a year in the late 80's, and at the time it was common practice for mothers to leave their babies out on the sidewalk in their strollers/buggies while they shopped (while the weather was nice). They were apparently horrified when my sister told them that virtually no one in the US would ever consider leaving their babies outside in a buggy for fear that they'd be kidnapped or harmed in some way, or that passer's by would become alarmed for the baby's safety and contact the police immediately. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 I love the ranking of Finland on that list, BTW. My eldest sister lived there for a year in the late 80's, and at the time it was common practice for mothers to leave their babies out on the sidewalk in their strollers/buggies while they shopped (while the weather was nice). They were apparently horrified when my sister told them that virtually no one in the SU would ever consider leaving their babies outside in a buggy for fear that they'd be kidnapped or harmed in some way, or that passer's by would become alarmed for the baby's safety and contact the police immediately. Yes, well US citizens feel safer walking at night http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_per_of_saf_wal_in_dar-crime-perception-safety-walking-dark  Decidely imperfect, but the best I could find Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The weird thing is, when I think of all the people I've known who've gotten mugged in this country, they are all the type of person who walks around in fear with a look of 'Please don't mug me' on their face. This would happen to them anywhere, I reckon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 I hardly think that the average US citizen needs to be living in fear either  Maybe you could send a note to all the mom's and dad's out there and let their kids walk to school and generally screw around outside getting some exercise instead of managing their time with 'activities'. That and maybe let them ride the bus to school or ride their bikes. I've had my fill of almost getting t-boned by hurried parents who feel they ALL have to drive little Bratleigh and Snotleigh to school.  I've wondered about this phenomena myself. I walked or rode a bike to school from about 3rd grade on, and rode my bike to my friends' houses from about 1st grade on, sans helmet - and my folks were hardly cavalier about this stuff. I was probably more at risk then than kids are today on a number of fronts, but other than the "don't talk with strangers" rule I pretty much had free range in the neighborhood and the surrounding woods. We also spent a bunch of time fishing in the local creek or tubing down it, building forts, making fires, etc - all delightfully free of parental supervision.  In one article that I read, the article suggested that the tendency of today's parents to overprotect their kids had less to do with the real risks that the kids face than the parents trying to compensate for their own shortcomings. E.g. "Maybe I hardly ever spend any time with you, your mother/father is no longer in the house, and I pretty much let the TV raise you when I am around, but...at least I've saved you from the one-in-a-few-dozen million chance that you'll be abducted by a stranger by implanting the kid-cam and the GPS unit." It'll be interesting to see how this affects the kids when they become adults. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 (edited) I read some study about this. If you overmanage their lives, they tend to show a lack of creativity and lack the will to DO something without someone telling them to (of course, that may sound like your average teenager, regardless of the era). Not exactly the American working man ideal ... Edited July 20, 2006 by foraker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The overmanaged types didn't seem to fare that well in general once the leash came off in college. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dan_forester Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The overmanaged types didn't seem to fare that well in general once the leash came off in college. Â I'll say. Â Glad I got most of my hard living out of the way before I turned 18. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpinfox Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Â I usually call my mom to ask what knot I should use before each rappel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattp Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The overmanaged types didn't seem to fare that well in general once the leash came off in college. Â I would expect that to be the case, but do you have any statistics or case study anslysis of any kind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cj001f Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The overmanaged types didn't seem to fare that well in general once the leash came off in college. But the do end up making nice little cogs in the corporate machine.... Â Curious how much parental angst is due to increased transparency - now you can map the registered sex offenders in your area online, get updates of crime, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Frieh Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006   Wait a sec... Dwayner is ranked higher than me?!?!?! I want to see your data   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 The overmanaged types didn't seem to fare that well in general once the leash came off in college. Â I would expect that to be the case, but do you have any statistics or case study anslysis of any kind? Â Nope. I heard that our salutatorian - from a very strict, controlling home - lasted all of six months into her full-ride gig at SU before dropping out and hitting the pole for a living, but I believe that this was an exageration. Â Mostly just an observation on my part that most of the people who took to partying and/or ho-ing as a lifestyle seemed to have come from environments where they didn't have much control over their lives or choices. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles both seem to be pretty disastrous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Mostly just an observation on my part that most of the people who took to partying and/or ho-ing as a lifestyle seemed to have come from environments where they didn't have much control over their lives or choices. Authoritarian and permissive parenting styles both seem to be pretty disastrous. Â Sounds like we'd better ban gay marriages and flag burning before things get out of hand!.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Maybe if all of the married gay guys donate their genetic patrimony to all of the unmarried career gals in the blue states this problem will go away.... Â http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4170483 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foraker Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 I would desperately LOVE to hear anyone in DC publically suggest that. Oh, the collective aneurysm that would cause.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayB Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 Seems like it would work out well for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006   Wait a sec... Dwayner is ranked higher than me?!?!?! I want to see your data  Obviously a Fibonacci is emerging here, so just wait for the pattern to fill out a bit more and you will rank high once again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RuMR Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 man...how did i get included in that list of wanks???? WTF Â Oh, and the pink trend line isn't showing up on my screen for myself...must be a plotting error Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olyclimber Posted July 20, 2006 Share Posted July 20, 2006 w00t w00t   This country r0xx0rs! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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