Hmmmm, here in America, nobody seems to want their kids to grow up. What do you guys think?
Question is in the reply.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 0:01, 9 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

From Facebook - I've left out names except mine, and the paragraph breaks are other peoples responses.
"this guy" is wondering how old a child has to be before you let them use a public restroom without a parent going in with them. I think seven is fine. What do you guys think?15 minutes ago ·

Sue Burns at 3:42pm July 3
Absolutely! At that age, they're starting to get embarrassed about things like that and are starting to want to prove they can do things on their own! (I may not be a parent, but I've babysat many a child over the years!)

Sue Burns at 3:49pm July 3
Oh, and I suggest going in with him to make sure there are no suspicious people in there, and waiting just outside the door until he comes out. Oh, and happy birthday, Ben!

I disagee. Sorry. With all the things that happen to children today I would not let my child go in by himself. I made my brother go into the ladies room until he was 10. He didn't like it but I didn't care. I would rather him be embarrassed then dead.

Or molested.


As long as you can see the door and any alternate exits, he should be ok. Restaurants don't worry me as much as something more public like a mall or park. In those cases, I would peek in first to check for creepers. Men's rooms scare me more than women's though!

Sue Burns at 3:53pm July 3
I kind of see where you're coming from, Sheila, but everything that happens today is just more prominent as opposed to more prevalent......

This was in Target today (the one on 28). One way in and one way out...and a pretty empty store. :)

Sorry, still think that is too young. I won't even let Jay go in the men's room by himself and he is 11......have heard too many awful stories......in Potomac Mills mall with boys that are over ten. If my boys go, the older two go together, sort of have the buddy system. Dylan is dragged with me:)
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 0:03, Reply)

Too much media has caused this
People are now terrified their kids are going to get abducted/molested/whatevered because of too many stories and suchlike on the TV, in the newspaper, on the internet, about kids getting dragged off and molested/killed/etc.

What people seem to forget is that the statistics are stupidly low for these to happen to kids. As a result, parents panic, overprotect their kids, don't let them grow up and gain any independence. At least, what I've gathered from stuff over the years.

Also, boys going to the ladies room at age 11 or so? Does nobody else complain about them being there?
(Ghost Atreides enjoying incontestable health benefits on, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 0:35, Reply)

That was my point
when I said it's more prominent than prevalent
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 0:38, Reply)

It's so dumb
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23935873/

Parents freak and raise a generation of kids who fear everything.
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 1:43, Reply)

This was what I was thinking of:
freerangekids.wordpress.com
( The Light in Chains don't touch the Pope's boner, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 11:12, Reply)

There was a brilliant show here recently
about what today's kids fear. I've had a quick google and can't find a link, but suffice it to say 'pee-do-files' were right up there with 'bigger boys'.

I completely agree with your sentiments here. At twelve years old, daughter is trusted to be mature and sensible when she's out and about, she's allowed to walk from one side of town to the other on her own and I'd happily let her bus it to the nearest big shopping centre on her own.

Very few of her friends have these privileges. Does that make me too liberal, or them too conservative? Time will tell... But in the meantime I'd rather daughter had her freedom and the opportunity to explore.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 7:31, Reply)

I overheard two (I assume fathers) talking the other day
and one said "You can't be too careful about who's out and about near your kids in this day and age".

So kiddy fiddlers are a pretty new invention then it seems.
( sandettie light vessel automatic New Twitter - @bollocksreally, Sat 4 Jul 2009, 12:04, Reply)

Fuck's sake.
Why have kids if you're not going to let them experience a little bit of independence? It's stunting their emotional growth and doing far more damage to them long term. Why have kids at all if all you're going to do is shield them from the potential horrors of the world?

There's a difference between protecting kids and wrapping them in cotton wool. A generation of socially inept, emotionally stunted fucktards, with no concept of how to operate in the real world, that's what you're creating.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Sat 4 Jul 2009, 12:49, Reply)

This is a pet peeve of mine.
I've known many parents who were overprotective to the point of their children being essentially crippled when they go off to university. (I'm thinking in particular of one of my sisters.) I've known people who, on going off on their own for the first time, were unable to cook for themselves or to do laundry and had no idea how to scrub a bathroom.

Not knowing how to cook is like not knowing how to fuck. You have to eat throughout your life.

My own attitude toward child raising is that my duty to them is to act as a guide: I show them how to do the basic things in life, such as cooking, and encourage them to explore on their own. I have taken my kids with me into bars to hear live music (early evening, low-key places with two musicians playing Beatles and the like), I've taken them into some rather sketchy sections of town and shown them what to be aware of and what to watch out for, I've taken them with me into restaurants and to social gatherings where they were surrounded by adults, I've had them hang out with me while my friend Richard and I repaired cars... and when they've wanted to go to the mall on their own, I let them. They had cell phones with them so I could contact them and tell them where to meet me when it was time to go.

My kids are now all quite capable of caring for themselves and are street-wise enough to know how to stay out of trouble. They can cook as well as I can, and all know how to manage money and maintain their cars.

My sister's kids? Well, the older one is a "silent pledge" in a fraternity because his grades aren't good enough to join, he binge drinks at least five nights a week, he bought himself a pistol, he now has a dog that my sister has to take care of during the summers, has accumulated a vast amount of student loan debt and is on the verge of failing out. The younger is a pretty little thing who dresses to show off her assets a LOT and flirts with anything male, and is as deep as the average mud puddle.

And yet my sister insists that she knows better than I do how to raise my children, and has told me in the past what I've been doing wrong with mine...

The proof is in the pudding, eh?
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Sat 4 Jul 2009, 17:47, Reply)