Let kids be kids as much as possible.

Link to Reason.com article

Quote :

A whopping 68 percent of Americans think there should be a law that prohibits kids 9 and under from playing at the park unsupervised, despite the fact that most of them no doubt grew up doing just that.

What's more: 43 percent feel the same way about 12-year-olds. They would like to criminalize all pre-teenagers playing outside on their own (and, I guess, arrest their no-good parents).

Those are the results of a Reason/Rupe poll confirming that we have not only lost all confidence in our kids and our communities—we have lost all touch with reality.

My boys played in the woods beside our house all the time.  They made tree forts, took hikes, rode their bikes all over the island, and enjoyed their lives.  Our island was one mile wide and two miles long.

If I lived in the inner city of, say Birmingham, I probably would not have granted permission for them to play out of eyesight of our front porch, but I wouldn't think I would have to be there with them all the time.

Unfortunately, if it is an area not patrolled regularly it is dangerous.

So often I was aware that my kids had no where near the freedoms that I did.  It's a sad reflection of our society today.

Yes, Eric, that's the way I grew up, but my Daughter's did not, sadly.

Still, more laws and criminalizing? Does not seem to be the way to go.

Things are not like they used to be. There are still some places far away from the city you can let your kids roam a bit.

I'm not for arresting parents though. We have to let parents be stupid. We can't possibly have a law for all the stupid things people might do. I'm sure we are trying to though

It's sad that a child can't enjoy life and be safe.

*****SMILE*****

http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/yes/iveseenallgoodpeople.html

  

I agree. It is sad.

We've lost something that was very valuable in this country. Our respect for decency and innocence

Now Everythingbis pushed in your face and pushed on our children for thier own good of course( sarc)

stormwatch89 wrote:

So often I was aware that my kids had no where near the freedoms that I did.  It's a sad reflection of our society today.

Yes, Eric, that's the way I grew up, but my Daughter's did not, sadly.

Still, more laws and criminalizing?  Does not seem to be the way to go.

We have too many damn laws already.  It seems that the Nanny State wants to take away all our freedoms and shoehorn us into the mold of THEIR choosing.  Soon, it will be illegal to THINK dangerous thoughts.

I'm certainly not advocating letting ragamuffins roam the streets with abandon, but whatever happened to choice and common sense?  Our lawmakers want to eliminate all of our freedoms.  Where is the limit?  To repeat a Teo word, are we just supposed to sit passively by like sheeple and let the Nanny State govern our lives?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanny_state

Joanimaroni wrote:

Unfortunately,  if it is an area not patrolled regularly it is dangerous.

Had this discussion with a buddy about all the things we were fortunate enough to do as children growing up as opposed to what now would scare parents to death or get them charged with neglect or abuse...

Absolutely agree

If I let my kids do the things I did as a kid I would go to jail

At 5 I was put on a dirt bike and drove it straight into the brick wash house then I learned to ride that thing good

I would be in a boat by myself in a canal with alligators fishing at 5-6 used to catch gators too

Shit snakes with bb guns and sometimes we shot at each other with bb guns. Wait we we not supposed to do that lOl

And if I recall correctly, when people messed with your kids , you kicked their ass and didn't care if you went to jail. Ok I'm still like that.

You get the point. If not here's my point.

There's a bunch of dumbasses in the world and they need to be taken down not given more rights

This doesn't mean more laws it means less laws, because most of the laws these days defends the crooks

The JUDGES let most of the criminals off with a warning until they are convicted of felonies, then it's normally jail until they are bailed out, then probation until they kill somebody and they are still bailed out before the cop is finished with his shift..

Jake92 wrote:

The JUDGES let most of the criminals off with a warning until they are convicted of felonies, then it's normally jail until they are bailed out, then probation until they kill somebody and they are still bailed out before the cop is finished with his shift..

agreed

but we have a two fold problem in this country and only jail isn't going to solve it

We've allowed our own constitution to be used AGAINST Us.

freedom of speech now includes being able to sell music which is not labled X rated, which back in my child hood days, things were significantly labeled to protect the innocents of children.

and also we have a society that relishes the gangster as a hero

Go figure

I agree to a point, but the judges allow it to happen.. If YOU did something bad as a child and daddy punished you, what did you learn if mommy let you go with no punishment?? You didn't learn not to do it, but you learned mommy won't punish you, so don't let daddy find out what you did..

Jake, I have to disagree with the "lock 'em up and throw away the key" policy.  America already locks more of it's population up than any other country.



If drug laws are changed to where users are treated like addicts instead of criminals, perhaps room will be freed up in prisons to allow for violent criminals to serve more of the "time" given to them.  Properly adopted, government-regulated dispensaries will eliminate the cartels and the street-corner pushers and their insane turf battles on our streets.

As it is currently, we simply don't have enough money to house all criminals for the extent of their prison sentences.  According to Wikipedia:  

Quote :

In 2007, around $74 billion was spent on corrections. The total number of inmates in 2007 in federal, state, and local lockups was 2,419,241.  That comes to around $30,600 per inmate.

Chrissy* wrote:

Absolutely agree

If I let my kids do the things I did as a kid I would go to jail

At 5 I was put on a dirt bike and drove it straight into the brick wash house then I learned to ride that thing good

I would be in a boat by myself in a canal with alligators fishing at 5-6 used to catch gators too

Shit snakes with bb guns and sometimes we shot at each other with bb guns. Wait we we not supposed to do that lOl

And if I recall correctly, when people messed with your kids , you kicked their ass and didn't care if you went to jail. Ok I'm still like that.

You get the point. If not here's my point.

There's a bunch of dumbasses in the world and they need to be taken down not given more rights

This doesn't mean more laws  it means less laws, because most of the laws these days defends the crooks

Didn't that hurt, Chrissy?  Shitting snakes are bad enough... and how did they get there in the first place, but I digress... it must REALLY hurt shitting snakes AND their BB guns... 

And how do snakes fire their BB guns... damn! So many questions...

Eric, I agree with releasing the minor drug offenders, but they are releasing the repeat DUI drivers with 5 or more convictions, including DUI manslaughter, and many with violence or theft convictions while keeping the ones caught for having 1 joint..  

When I was a kid, we made our own apple cider, then froze it to make apple jack..  The next day, we drank it, got drunk and sick, then threw up and found something else to do..  Now, they steal booze, get drunk, throw up and go steal more booze from a bar or liquor store.  Also, when I was a kid, mom and dad spanked our butts if we did something wrong..  Now, many parents teach their kids how to break the laws and get away with it..  We respected police where today, many parents teach their kids to fear the police..

They are getting tough on DUIs everywhere in the US to my knowledge. Even though my job does not require that I drive or operate company vehicles or equipment, it is a condition of my employment that I maintain a valid driver's license, and a lot of employers are doing that these days. They are serious about it, too. They keep tabs on employees and check validity every so often. If you have ever had a DUI anywhere you cannot drive in Canada.

A DUI is a very serious offense in Alaska, I assume because the road conditions are so poor that you could easily kill someone driving stone cold sober.

BUT, in FL there are people with 5 or more DUIs still driving without a drivers license or insurance..

one of my buddys was driving DUI and refused the breath test ..immediately lost his license and as soon as the company ran their monthly background checks he lost his job....