I don't feel like reading the whole article and I agree that kids are way overprotected these days,but the headline makes no sense. Saying that the world was more dangerous 30 years ago could conceivably mean that bubble wrapping everything is actually working therefore it should be continued.

Won't somebody think of the Children???




No Jarts for you!

Two things that kinda stuck out

It is also true that the internet has made child pornography hugely more accessible, though whether it has created significantly more paedophiles is difficult to quantify.

By that thought process, since there's more gay/lesbian porn out there, there might/should be more gays/lesbians?

People forget the dangers posed by playgrounds in the 1970s: the Witch's Hat, for example, a play contraption that would spin children around while they hung on to chains, accounted for several deaths a year.

That sounds fun. Well, not the last part, but still.

I don't know if it's reassuring or scary to hear that the other side of the pond has overprotective nutso parents too.

Turns out the world was a far more dangerous place for kids 30 years ago

The kids in Lebanon today would disagree.

2006-07-19 01:55:21 AM totalsecurity [TotalFark]

Turns out the world was a far more dangerous place for kids 30 years ago
-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.--.
The kids in Lebanon today would disagree.

Nah, in Lebanon the risks are probably about the same. They've been having a civil war off and on there for decades.

i think i'm gonna need a pie chart.

/is not morbid at all

According to todays internet and major news sources I should be dead at least 20 times over. But, here I am typing away; despite the cabernet.

Dear OP- I suppose it never crossed what passes for your mind that the REASON the world is less dangerous now is because Parents take better care of their kids, now did it?

death is an important factor in childrens development...

they need to realize and understand that if there dumb they can die.

worked for me.

/so far

ShepTR:

heh. when I see my mom pouring flax oil on a salad and using this disgusting glop (doesn't melt, not even on a hot baked potato) instead of butter, i try to tell her that life is a universally fatal condition. she won't listen.

in the words of a drunk guy i met at a bar one time:
"people need to stop watching the news. the news is out to get you and make you paranoid. when you are paranoid you buy stuff. it's a capatilist conspiracy."

AladinSane:
Dear OP- I suppose it never crossed what passes for your mind that the REASON the world is less dangerous now is because Parents take better care of their kids, now did it?

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!

some_random_guy: paedophiles ... gay/lesbian

Are there people hired by some secret lobby specifically to make this particular connection in seemingly random places?

Or what?

but teh perverts must be branded and executed or my childrens won't be safe!!! And unless i drive a 4 ton SUV, some maniac in a 4 ton SUV will crush my kids!!!

Author is right, parents are more protective than they used to be. On the other hand, Darwin was right too -- I'm going to be protective, I'll leave it to the other parents to take the author's advice and allow natural selection to cull their kids.

/What kind of an asshat suggests people should be more negligent?

totalsecurity [TotalFark]


Turns out the world was a far more dangerous place for kids 30 years ago

The kids in Lebanon today would disagree.

Go back 30 years-- it was just as dangerous (or MORE) for kids in Cambodia, Viet Nam, or any other nation where things were just as stupid as we see today.

What we need is a fundamental change in human nature, not a focus on today's hateful and destructive acts.

Don't lecture me-I know it ain't gonna happen.

RP

AladinSane

yeah but then again you could also say it's because there's more gay people adopting kids now or because all the kids are too fat to injure themselves

AladinSane

I suppose it never crossed what passes for your mind that the REASON the world is less dangerous now is because Parents take better care of their kids, now did it?

The article relies on factors like new legislation to account for less danger to kiddies.

/now you can get back to your bubbletaping

3rdLostPassword

if we told you it would not be a secret

because all the kids are too fat to injure themselves

Today's kids come with airbags.

/fleshbags?

Go back 30 years-- it was just as dangerous (or MORE) for kids in Cambodia, Viet Nam, or any other nation where things were just as stupid as we see today.

In Soviet Cambodia, children injure YOU!

/seriously, they used child soldiers

Kids have always been at risk of getting killed in any one of the many stupid activities they engage in. It's part of human development, breaking away from the family to expore life as they want to experience it. It was no different a thousand years ago, wander away from the group and get eaten by an animal. Now it's wander away from the rules and get found with a needle in your arm or on the side of the road. The world hasn't become less or more safe in 30 years. Some things have become more lethal, others have become more forgiving. It all balances out. One thing we have to keep in mind though is that the internet especially has given us access to a huge number of warnings, threats and fears from people who aren't qualified to warn us, or people who stand to gain from our ensuing fear. We're not less safe, just more vulnerable to the overflow of information.

That Witches' Hat sounds like fun, actually...
I don't think parents nowadays realize that kids are actually more resilient when they are young -- especially towards the beginning of puberty -- than they are when they grow up. It is a lot easier for a kid to get into shape, stay in shape, and regrow broken bones and recover from "boo-boos" a lot easier than it is for an adult to do the same. Besides, failing that, if you tell your kid NOT and they do it, eventually they get the idea that it's not a good idea and will listen to you a lot more.
Example: touching a stove. Bad idea. Don't do it.
"OW IT BURNS US."
"Betcha won't do that again. By the way, weed is bad."

desolationrow

It was no different a thousand years ago, wander away from the group and get eaten by an animal.

I hope that part's changed...I'm not in a group right now.

/looks over shoulder fearfully

shouldn't skateboarding/extreme sports have something to say about this? hah

/everything floats down here

It's true. You can't take your eyes off your kid, not even for a minute.

AladinSane Dear OP- I suppose it never crossed what passes for your mind that the REASON the world is less dangerous now is because Parents take better care of their kids, now did it?

As far as the paranoia stuff, no... In fact, it says that for the past 30-ish years, the number of child murders has remained fairly constant... hanging around 79 per year in England and Wales, with roughly 11 of those being attributed to strangers.

So, it's not any safer... It's just not any worse.

Cars and stuff are safer... and that a big chunk overall, but essentially the things being done by the ultra-paranoid parents aren't really contributing much to their child's safety.

It's something I've been trying to tell people for years... Your child won't be abducted. You're child won't be murdered in a shallow creek. Statistically, your child stands a better chance of being signed with the Dodgers...

But, the reality won't sell a sweeps piece. So, you get the histrionic baritone promo voice: "Is you child in danger??? Is someone waiting beside the bus-stop? Who's monitoring your child's schedule???"

Watch-or-Die promos used to be my bread and butter. I always felt guilty, but they're fun as hell to write and produce.

goofoffgoose

If that's the buttseck owl, that kids's in deep trouble....

I think the worst thing parents today do to their kids is not letting them be kids! Every moment is structured and scheduled. There doesn't seem to be any time to run off with a bunch of friends and play in the woods, or build a tree-house, or catch crawdads (crayfish, mudbugs, etc.), or any of a hundred different things me and my brother and our friends did as kids.
During the summers the schedule was: 9:30 - eat Captain Crunch, 9:35 - run out the door and jump on bike, 9:35 to 12:00 - ride around with friends acting like kids, 12:00 - lunch, 12:30 to 6:30 - more kid stuff ...
That was pretty much every day. Toss in Little League and going to the pool, and it was the whole summer.

It was a very Leave it to Beaver existence. And I'm not seeing it as a "Golden Age" either. We got hurt. Cuts, broken bones, etc. We lived on a fairly good sized hill so we raced everything that rolled or slid down it. No telling how many square feet of skin we all lost in scrapes from falling or crashes. But that is all part of being a kid, too. It is a part of learning and growing. The bubble-wrapped kids of today aren't getting those lessons. Every scrapped knee is a visit to the emergency room instead of squirt of Bactine and a "Next time, be more careful."
They are going to make lousy adults.

goofoffgoose

That pic cracks me up.

WipeHandsOnPants - /What kind of an asshat suggests people should be more negligent?

The kind that doesn't want histrionic overprotection to stunt development. Contrary to popular cliche, you really can be too careful.

And TFA doesn't even touch on ailments we've created (or greatly increased) by keeping kids away from things that help their biological development.

Thirty years ago, I was 6, and playing in the sandbox, in the dirt, in the creek behind the house, with the cat, etc. No antimicrobial soaps & surfaces, antibacterial this that and the other. Today I'm quite healthy, rarely getting sick.

Today more kids than ever have to worry about peanut allergies, shellfish allergies, asthma, ADD, etc. and many take a raft of medications.

blah, blah, blah, something about supergerms

/get off my lawn
//go play on your own
///with the bugs and dirt and mud
////it's for your own good

Oh, and Executive Monkey, no such luck buddy. I think I read a thread just a couple days ago about bees and insects that can ravage your supple human body and tear your soul apart. Do insects count as animals?
Luckily, I can help! Find out exactly how much longer you have to live with the Death Clock.
So click here, if you really want to know.

Are parents really more protective nowadays than they were 30 years ago? Or are there just more talking-heads giving advice, and to be relevant they have to keep inventing more and more specific advice and more dangers to avoid?

Maybe there are more warnings but are they significantly affecting the behavior of most parents?

Executive Monkey

No, that owl carries off small children to eat. It lives in a remote town known for abnormal animals. Like the rats that can eat 200 pounds of iron ingots in a week.

/how old is THAT fairy tale?

When I think back to childhood I sometimes wonder how I survived physically intact. I grew up in the middle of nowhere and my mom wouldn't bat an eye when I'd wander off for hours across the countryside. Usually I carried a .22 caliber rifle too, and this is when I was eight! Nearly everyday I did something dangerous or stupid, but at least I could have shot a pedophile if I'd come across one. When I think about my kids having the same opportunities it makes my head spin. Why did my parents allow it? Maybe they trusted me, maybe they didn't care. But for better or worse I survived.

Also, what's up with the playground equipment we grew up with? That stuff was dangerously awesome. Our school district was so poor, most of the stuff was made from left over farm implements. Sharp and rusty goodness. If it didn't kill you, it only made you stronger. I fret about my kids getting slivers from the over-engineered play equipment around now. Am I helping in raising a generation of pansies, or just being protective? We'll see, I guess.

Was having this exact conversation with a friend who just had his first child a couple of weeks ago. He was complaining that in 'our day' (damn I feel old .. only 28) everyone walked home from school and no one worried about sickos kidnaping kids.

So I asked him if he'd let his new born girl walk home from school when she gets to that age and he said 'hell no .. cause although theres no more sickos out there now, she'd be the only one walking home.. the only target.. safety in numbers etc'

/not even 2c
//shrug

While we're on the subject, going out and getting exposed to germs actually helps prevent asthma and allergies.

That's right, making sure that everything your kid touches is germ-free and sterile does not help them.

I'm going to die on Friday, August 18, 2073. I have about 2,116,875,000 seconds left to live. Oh well, I'll have had a good run.

Executive Monkey: If that's the buttseck owl, that kids's in deep trouble....

If the buttsecks owl has talons of that magnitude, I don't think I ever want to meet him.

I take pride in the fact that I was raised in a generation that applauds the fact I have a "Lawn Dart Scar"...things now are too easy on our kids...I fear the day the children of my generation run the world...it will be controlled by hissy fits and rock-paper-scissors, and I will be forced to shoot myself and others in the face...
/cake or Death...
//Death...I mean...Cake...
///YOu're lucky we are the Church of England

I think every parent should make their kids use the Deathclock to calculate how much time they have left to live. Then they should just sit there in awkward silence while they both stare vacantly at the Deathclock ticking away. Then the parent should slowly turn to the kid, take hold of his shoulders, look into his eyes, and say "Or maybe a lot sooner."

Then the parent should just stand up and walk away. This will encourage a healthy sense of caution.

These poor kids will never have the glorious, youthful memories of falls from steel playground equipment, the dark red blood on their hands and knees, welling up and mingling with the blue-grey gravel dust, the tears in their eyes....

Ahhh.

It is also important that children's playgrounds are not made too safe.

Somebody alert my elementary school administrators. They replaced the spider and a whole slew of fun equipment when I was in 5th grade. I don't think they got it when the kids got bored with the new equipment because it was too low to jump off of and didn't offer much climbing. It was more fun to just play dodgeball after that, or tag.

\hates 4' plastic slides

3rdLostPassword: Are there people hired by some secret lobby specifically to make this particular connection in seemingly random places?

Or what?

If you're implying that's me: That sentance I quoted in the article kinda jumped out at me. I read it as saying that more readily available child porn might mean more pedophiles. A natural jump in that is more gay/lesbian porn is more gays/lesbians. Or more beastiality porn = more...sick farks. Or more furry related crap means more furries etc etc etc. I'm just following the logic train here. Though in my case it probably derailed a few years ago.
For the record, I am socially liberal, and am for gay marriage.

If not, I'm tired and really need to sleep.