Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 13:06:48 GMT -5
I couldn't unlike then like your post again MPL, lol. To me it seems like she accomplished a lot of my goals for. 'Homeschooling'.., individualized education without a lot of busy work
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jan 27, 2015 13:13:51 GMT -5
The way you describe it, I think you're reading too much into things. Maybe they don't want to order a bunch of cookies that aren't presold and then have to worry about parents trying to return 100 boxes of thin mints that they couldn't unload? I don't see how they can say they are old enough to sell cookies to be delivered at a later date and not old enough to sell cookies that are sitting in a wagon next to you. It's probably better for everyone if you just get the preorders and then you know exactly how many to order. Maybe they think they are doing you a favor by relieving you of having to sit in front of the grocery store selling your excess cookies. Then why not be honest and say "We don't want to invest much time and resources. We don't want sign up to sit outside of some business and sell cookies for 3 hours. We don't want to get stuck with 3,565 cases of Thin Mints." Why say "The girls are too young are too young to do direct sales.." I would prefer the parents to be more direct. Not getting stuck with a bunch of product is something I can say "Smart move to." I can't do that when someone says my kids are too young to do something they are capable of.
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imanangel
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Post by imanangel on Jan 27, 2015 13:22:26 GMT -5
Any ritual that is integral part of an organization is in place so it's members follow it without question. That's my problem with it! The definition of it: ritual- follow, don't ask! doesnt that tell the young ones that is alright to just follow and do what they are told because the one in charge knows better? I can see that in the military, there is necessary but we have to understand that the military is set up as a hierarchical dictatorship not a democracy or anything that allows you to question! OMGosh...I just made the connection. I didn't realize you where MR. OPED. Hahaha...I am sorry, I have been sick and just didn't connect your name.
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Tiny
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Post by Tiny on Jan 27, 2015 13:33:22 GMT -5
IDK, I've seen/heard of parents doing their kids homework/projects well into HS... This is my Aunt. She has been adopting infants up into her 50's. She has 9 kids and 4 still at home, ages 14, 16, 18 and 40 something (severely disabled). She does all their homework. Like all of it. Writes their reports, does their science projects, all the busy stuff. I used to give her hell about it and she'd just tell me her goal is just to get them through high school and it wards off Alzheimers (she's 65). She insisted her kids would do great in college or with whatever they chose to do after high school, but they first needed to pass all this crap. Well, so far she's been right. Of the 5 that have launched only one is struggling, but he has some issues to overcome with being born to a severe drug using mother and having fetal alcohol syndrome. I think there was some permanent damage done to him before he was even born. The other 4 are very successful and motivated despite no homework as teenagers. The 18 year old still at home is amazing. I talked about him before with all the businesses he's started since he was 10 or 11. He bought his own car at 17...like nice, newer car...with cash and always is thinking about how he can turn a buck. Two of her daughters went on to be teachers and both have their masters. One is in the military and doing well there... I'm starting to get sold on the homework being a time consuming waste which is why I send my kids to a school that doesn't assign it. It only goes to 8th grade though. After that it's going to suck. I'm confused. Isn't "homework" suppose to reading the 30 pages of the History Book Chapter (I was in AP history classes so those were very word filled chapters without alot of pictures/illustrations) so when you hear the teacher go over that chapter - you've ALREADY got some seed knowledge? Or are you suppose to be reading the chapter in class? Isn't "homework" the time you spend working on 'projects' or 'papers" assigned for your classes? Or are you suppose to spend those 10 hours of work in Class?? Isn't "homework" when you read the books/plays you will be covering in your English Lit class? Are you really suppose to reading Hamlet or The Great Gatsby IN CLASS?? Maybe that's why short little books are assigned for reading? Cause the kid isn't expected to have read any of it outside class time? Isn't "homework" when you plug away at the problems at the end of the Mathbook chapter OR get some additional practice solving problems (provided by the teacher in the form of a worksheet)? How can learn every thing you need to know AND practice those skills if you only do them for 30 minutes a day IN class? maybe I'm confused as to what 'homework' is?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 13:44:07 GMT -5
This is my Aunt. She has been adopting infants up into her 50's. She has 9 kids and 4 still at home, ages 14, 16, 18 and 40 something (severely disabled). She does all their homework. Like all of it. Writes their reports, does their science projects, all the busy stuff. I used to give her hell about it and she'd just tell me her goal is just to get them through high school and it wards off Alzheimers (she's 65). She insisted her kids would do great in college or with whatever they chose to do after high school, but they first needed to pass all this crap. Well, so far she's been right. Of the 5 that have launched only one is struggling, but he has some issues to overcome with being born to a severe drug using mother and having fetal alcohol syndrome. I think there was some permanent damage done to him before he was even born. The other 4 are very successful and motivated despite no homework as teenagers. The 18 year old still at home is amazing. I talked about him before with all the businesses he's started since he was 10 or 11. He bought his own car at 17...like nice, newer car...with cash and always is thinking about how he can turn a buck. Two of her daughters went on to be teachers and both have their masters. One is in the military and doing well there... I'm starting to get sold on the homework being a time consuming waste which is why I send my kids to a school that doesn't assign it. It only goes to 8th grade though. After that it's going to suck. I'm confused. Isn't "homework" suppose to reading the 30 pages of the History Book Chapter (I was in AP history classes so those were very word filled chapters without alot of pictures/illustrations) so when you hear the teacher go over that chapter - you've ALREADY got some seed knowledge? Or are you suppose to be reading the chapter in class? Isn't "homework" the time you spend working on 'projects' or 'papers" assigned for your classes? Or are you suppose to spend those 10 hours of work in Class?? Isn't "homework" when you read the books/plays you will be covering in your English Lit class? Are you really suppose to reading Hamlet or The Great Gatsby IN CLASS?? Maybe that's why short little books are assigned for reading? Cause the kid isn't expected to have read any of it outside class time? Isn't "homework" when you plug away at the problems at the end of the Mathbook chapter OR get some additional practice solving problems (provided by the teacher in the form of a worksheet)? How can learn every thing you need to know AND practice those skills if you only do them for 30 minutes a day IN class? maybe I'm confused as to what 'homework' is? Just goes to show how unimportant a lot of the assignments really are. I never did my homework. Ever. I didn't do well in high school either, but not because I didn't pass all the tests. Heck, I had an ACT of 31 or something, but failed half my high school classes because of all the zeros on assignments. I had a 3.9 GPA in college and majored in Biology. I guess I managed to assimilate the info anyhow.
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Mardi Gras Audrey
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So well rounded, I'm pointless...
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Post by Mardi Gras Audrey on Jan 27, 2015 13:53:21 GMT -5
My big question here is HOW CAN YOU NOT OFFLOAD THIN MINTS?!?!?! Thin Mints are NEVER the problem... the problem are the lesser known cookies (Lemon delights, chocolate chip, cookie du jour). We did the preorders in the 80s to sell to our neighbors. We would go from door to door taking orders and come back a few weeks later with the cookies. It helped us to learn organization (You had to keep track of the orders and plan the delivery/money collection). The site sales (in front of stores) were a little harder. Some troops didn't do them (there are only so many stores to go around) and it is a little more overwhelming for the smaller girls (vs going to your door). I will say in my neighborhood now we have 1 girl who goes from door to door with the cookies. Her mom and brother come (he wears his scout uniform) and her mom has a stroller with the cookies. I think I am marked by them (I bought like $50 of cookies the first year we were there.   . She doesn't seem to do preorders (if she does, it isn't when I'm home but I'm not home much). I missed her last year... was on the phone talking to someone and DH didn't answer the door . Missed my cookies....
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CarolinaKat
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Post by CarolinaKat on Jan 27, 2015 14:21:45 GMT -5
I'm confused. Isn't "homework" suppose to reading the 30 pages of the History Book Chapter (I was in AP history classes so those were very word filled chapters without alot of pictures/illustrations) so when you hear the teacher go over that chapter - you've ALREADY got some seed knowledge? Or are you suppose to be reading the chapter in class? Isn't "homework" the time you spend working on 'projects' or 'papers" assigned for your classes? Or are you suppose to spend those 10 hours of work in Class?? Isn't "homework" when you read the books/plays you will be covering in your English Lit class? Are you really suppose to reading Hamlet or The Great Gatsby IN CLASS?? Maybe that's why short little books are assigned for reading? Cause the kid isn't expected to have read any of it outside class time? Isn't "homework" when you plug away at the problems at the end of the Mathbook chapter OR get some additional practice solving problems (provided by the teacher in the form of a worksheet)? How can learn every thing you need to know AND practice those skills if you only do them for 30 minutes a day IN class? maybe I'm confused as to what 'homework' is? Just goes to show how unimportant a lot of the assignments really are. I never did my homework. Ever. I didn't do well in high school either, but not because I didn't pass all the tests. Heck, I had an ACT of 31 or something, but failed half my high school classes because of all the zeros on assignments. I had a 3.9 GPA in college and majored in Biology. I guess I managed to assimilate the info anyhow. In 8th grade, i made the decision to stop doing homework in a place other than at school during the school day. I graduated HS valedictorian with the highest GPA anyone in the district had ever achieved. It was literally *perfect* (+ I made some smart decisions on taking weighted classes vs college credit ones, which my engineering school would not have accepted as in-kind credits)
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 14:26:59 GMT -5
That's what I mean. You'll drop a kid off alone with strangers at that age... But not give them the proper training/experience to handle it ? Weird disconnect.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jan 27, 2015 14:27:35 GMT -5
So here's an interesting thing that I've been watching in activities my older two kids are in. The kids are told they are "too young" to do things. DD1 is in girl scouts. Excited to sell cookies. The parents in charge of the cookie sale won't let the girls do direct sales (give folks cookies on the spot). They have to go to people, take orders, and then deliver the orders after the cookies have arrived. The reasoning given is that 7 year olds aren't old enough to direct sales with their parents shadowing. I'm not sure why the parents have picked a course of action that will take far more work. I'm not sure why a 7 yo is not able to pull a wagon a few blocks at a time with a parent walking a few steps behind... I went to a scout meeting last night for a troop DS wants to join. The boys aren't leading/in charge. They sit around and wait for the adult to tell them what to do. Every time I challenge why the boy's aren't taking the lead I'm told, "Oh the boys are just too young to learn to lead or be in charge." They are 11 and 12 by the way. And that's pretty much the essence of scouting..that the troop is boy led, not adult led. I find this fascinating to watch, actually. Particularly with the littlest, she attends a preschool that encourages kids and independence. I not once have said the preschool teacher say "Oh, you are too young to do this or that. You can't do it." I don't hear parents say "No, two year old-3 year old, you are too young to do completely age appropriate things. Sorry." Let's be clear: I'm not suggesting that my kids do inappropriate things. We don't let them. But my kids can function at a basic level without being told what to do every second. They know better that to sit around and wait for us. We don't really take away their independence, unless we need to. We give our kids enough rope to hang themselves. They haven't yet. When they do, we'll know how much they can handle. The trend I'm seeing now is that you say "Oh, sorry sweetie, you just can't handle having the rope at all", regardless if the child can or can't. So when is this shift made? Do you think it's made in kindy? Why do we spend so much time getting kids independent when they are 2 and 3, and then take it all back when they are school aged? And we wonder why a 25 year old today has the maturity and judgement that a 16 year old had 30 years ago. It's parents who are standing in the way of their growth and progress. Back in the olden days, I was running a lawn service at 11 years old. My crew were my brothers. Including my older brother. I was the one who was focused enough to do sales, scheduling, make sure that equiment got serviced, ensured that the job was done properly, etc. By age 16 I was running the kitchen of an 80 seat hotel dining room, handling purchasing, and scheduling and supervising a staff of about 20 people. At 19, I negotiated the lease of 400 mini fridges, so an organization I was a member of could rent them to college students. At 20, I called a banker acquaintance and asked him how much I would need to deposit in his bank to get a loan. By my mid 20's, my employer was letting me spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop, buy hardware, and implement new computer systems. And I'd bought a house. Much of what I did when I was young wasn't all that unusual among my peers. By comparison, a couple of weeks ago one of my nephews had his Mother accompany him to search for an apartment and help him lease or buy a car, in preparation for starting his first job. Can you say helicopter parent?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 14:32:21 GMT -5
<abbr title="Jan 27, 2015 13:27:35 GMT -6" class="time" data-timestamp="1422386855000">Jan 27, 2015 13:27:35 GMT -6</abbr> tskeeter said: And we wonder why a 25 year old today has the maturity and judgement that a 16 year old had 30 years ago. It's parents who are standing in the way of their growth and progress. Back in the olden days, I was running a lawn service at 11 years old. My crew were my brothers. Including my older brother. I was the one who was focused enough to do sales, scheduling, make sure that equiment got serviced, ensured that the job was done properly, etc. By age 16 I was running the kitchen of an 80 seat hotel dining room, handling purchasing, and scheduling and supervising a staff of about 20 people. At 19, I negotiated the lease of 400 mini fridges, so an organization I was a member of could rent them to college students. At 20, I called a banker acquaintance and asked him how much I would need to deposit in his bank to get a loan. By my mid 20's, my employer was letting me spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop, buy hardware, and implement new computer systems. And I'd bought a house. Much of what I did when I was young wasn't all that unusual among my peers. By comparison, a couple of weeks ago one of my nephews had his Mother accompany him to search for an apartment and help him lease or buy a car, in preparation for starting his first job. Can you say helicopter parent? Kids these days don't have time to do all that because they're so bogged down in homework! Some schools are giving 2 hours a night to Kindy students! WTH? It really has gotten insane the past 10 years or so. My cousin whose Mom does all his homework is a lot like you were. If he was sitting home every night outlining chapters and writing book reports he'd never be able to run 3 businesses.
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Abby Normal
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Post by Abby Normal on Jan 27, 2015 15:14:01 GMT -5
I went to a scout meeting last night for a troop DS wants to join. The boys aren't leading/in charge. They sit around and wait for the adult to tell them what to do. Every time I challenge why the boy's aren't taking the lead I'm told, "Oh the boys are just too young to learn to lead or be in charge." They are 11 and 12 by the way. And that's pretty much the essence of scouting..that the troop is boy led, not adult led. I think this depends on the program. Here- up to 5th grade (11) is still a part of the pack. They are webelos and are starting to transition from the pack to the troop. A lot depends on the den leader. Ours started expecting more of the boys, and trying to get more independent on tracking their achievements. But prior to that, it was all done by the leaders. Once in the troop- it really comes down to the scoutmaster setting expectations. Yes, it is supposed to be boy led. But they still need to be taught what to do. There are some in our troop who believe the kids should lead at all costs (and if they fail miserably than so be it) and the others who feel we need to teach them how to lead. In the troop case, the 11 and 12 year olds- wouldn't be leading, but the older scouts in the group should be (with some guidance as needed from the adult leaders). But there are usually multiple troops in the area, so check out for another one that may fit you better.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Jan 27, 2015 15:20:26 GMT -5
The way you describe it, I think you're reading too much into things. Maybe they don't want to order a bunch of cookies that aren't presold and then have to worry about parents trying to return 100 boxes of thin mints that they couldn't unload? I don't see how they can say they are old enough to sell cookies to be delivered at a later date and not old enough to sell cookies that are sitting in a wagon next to you. It's probably better for everyone if you just get the preorders and then you know exactly how many to order. Maybe they think they are doing you a favor by relieving you of having to sit in front of the grocery store selling your excess cookies.Except I've been told that they now require you to round up to the nearest case. They're not shipping the exact amount to you. YOu have 333 boxes of Thin Mints ordered for the entire troop and you're getting 28 cases (assuming 12 boxes of cookies to a case) so you'll end up with 336 boxes of Thin Mints. That's not uncommon...I'd be surprised if they didn't do that.
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Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Jan 27, 2015 15:22:29 GMT -5
The way you describe it, I think you're reading too much into things. Maybe they don't want to order a bunch of cookies that aren't presold and then have to worry about parents trying to return 100 boxes of thin mints that they couldn't unload? I don't see how they can say they are old enough to sell cookies to be delivered at a later date and not old enough to sell cookies that are sitting in a wagon next to you. It's probably better for everyone if you just get the preorders and then you know exactly how many to order. Maybe they think they are doing you a favor by relieving you of having to sit in front of the grocery store selling your excess cookies. Then why not be honest and say "We don't want to invest much time and resources. We don't want sign up to sit outside of some business and sell cookies for 3 hours. We don't want to get stuck with 3,565 cases of Thin Mints." Why say "The girls are too young are too young to do direct sales.." I would prefer the parents to be more direct. Not getting stuck with a bunch of product is something I can say "Smart move to." I can't do that when someone says my kids are too young to do something they are capable of. I don't know, maybe they just blurted out the first thing that came to their minds. I'm kinda wondering if they thought you were suggesting that the kids walk around by themselves and sell the cookies door to door. That's the only situation where that answer they gave would make sense.
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Wisconsin Beth
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jan 27, 2015 15:22:54 GMT -5
<abbr title="Jan 27, 2015 13:27:35 GMT -6" class="time" data-timestamp="1422386855000">Jan 27, 2015 13:27:35 GMT -6</abbr> tskeeter said: And we wonder why a 25 year old today has the maturity and judgement that a 16 year old had 30 years ago. It's parents who are standing in the way of their growth and progress. Back in the olden days, I was running a lawn service at 11 years old. My crew were my brothers. Including my older brother. I was the one who was focused enough to do sales, scheduling, make sure that equiment got serviced, ensured that the job was done properly, etc. By age 16 I was running the kitchen of an 80 seat hotel dining room, handling purchasing, and scheduling and supervising a staff of about 20 people. At 19, I negotiated the lease of 400 mini fridges, so an organization I was a member of could rent them to college students. At 20, I called a banker acquaintance and asked him how much I would need to deposit in his bank to get a loan. By my mid 20's, my employer was letting me spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop, buy hardware, and implement new computer systems. And I'd bought a house. Much of what I did when I was young wasn't all that unusual among my peers. By comparison, a couple of weeks ago one of my nephews had his Mother accompany him to search for an apartment and help him lease or buy a car, in preparation for starting his first job. Can you say helicopter parent? Kids these days don't have time to do all that because they're so bogged down in homework! Some schools are giving 2 hours a night to Kindy students! WTH? It really has gotten insane the past 10 years or so. My cousin whose Mom does all his homework is a lot like you were. If he was sitting home every night outlining chapters and writing book reports he'd never be able to run 3 businesses. Depends on the school. K4 has the occasional assignment of coloring with stickers as a reward. Last year we had a note stating the K5 teachers didn't think homework was appropriate and they weren't sending it home. 1st grade has something every night. It takes my DD about 5-10 minutes to do hers, not counting going over spelling words. That's another 5-10 minutes at bedtime. So 10-20 minutes doesn't bother me.
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NastyWoman
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Post by NastyWoman on Jan 27, 2015 16:15:30 GMT -5
I took our son a few times at the Boy Scouts and came out completely dissapointed and somewhat scared! Was not only the fact that the adults were leading them arround so much that the kids were kinda confused but was also the whole ritual at the beginning and end of their meetings! Down to the last detail including the handkerchief. All of it reminded me of growing up in communism going through the same things. And I mean all of them including the uniforms and rituals so it poped into my head that in "the land of free" we are preparing and instructing a small group of nothing else but future communists! That's the reason my parents did not allow any of us to join the boy/girl scouts. It reminded them (but especially my mom) too much of what they saw happening just across the border (~10miles away) with the Hitler Jugend. No child of theirs was ever going to be brainwashed like that...
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Pants
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Post by Pants on Jan 27, 2015 16:26:01 GMT -5
there are other things I just got used to handling (like cutting food) and somehow my kids are 5 and 6.5 and handing knives over to me at restaurants. And until last summer, it never occurred to me to have them cut their own hot dogs. Or make their own PB&J. I can't tell if I'm the best parent in the world for encouraging independence at an early age or if that's just a cover for my bone laziness... by the time each of my boys was 3, they made their own breakfast and snacks. The only reason I made the lunch and dinner was because I make family meals but they'd help. Part of that is probably just inborn temperament, though. Each of them wanted to do their own thing and loved being able to make things. Heck, at 3 they got such a kick out of it, they'd even make the rest of us breakfast or morning drinks. When the older one was 3, he loved making his daddy coffee and the younger at 3 made tea. Both were good at making egg sandwiches (cook egg in a glass ramekin in the microwave while English muffin is toasting, top with cheese and egg). Yes, they both made a mess and didn't do a great job cleaning it up, but since they were 3 I figured that was part of the deal and OK.
What were they making? How did they reach the counters/microwave? Teach more, obi-wan kenobe. You're my only lazy-person hope.
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Chocolate Lover
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Post by Chocolate Lover on Jan 27, 2015 16:35:42 GMT -5
I can't tell if I'm the best parent in the world for encouraging independence at an early age or if that's just a cover for my bone laziness... by the time each of my boys was 3, they made their own breakfast and snacks. The only reason I made the lunch and dinner was because I make family meals but they'd help. Part of that is probably just inborn temperament, though. Each of them wanted to do their own thing and loved being able to make things. Heck, at 3 they got such a kick out of it, they'd even make the rest of us breakfast or morning drinks. When the older one was 3, he loved making his daddy coffee and the younger at 3 made tea. Both were good at making egg sandwiches (cook egg in a glass ramekin in the microwave while English muffin is toasting, top with cheese and egg). Yes, they both made a mess and didn't do a great job cleaning it up, but since they were 3 I figured that was part of the deal and OK.
What were they making? How did they reach the counters/microwave? Teach more, obi-wan kenobe. You're my only lazy-person hope. My mom would put milk in a small syrup jar in the fridge, leave them bowls where they could reach and let them make their own cereal. I say them because I don't recall doing that myself. I was the oldest so she wasn't worn down and in need of more sleep yet. My sister tells the story of how she started doing laundry (we did everyone's not our own) before she could even reach the bottom of the washing machine tub.
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milee
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Post by milee on Jan 27, 2015 17:55:21 GMT -5
I can't tell if I'm the best parent in the world for encouraging independence at an early age or if that's just a cover for my bone laziness... by the time each of my boys was 3, they made their own breakfast and snacks. The only reason I made the lunch and dinner was because I make family meals but they'd help. Part of that is probably just inborn temperament, though. Each of them wanted to do their own thing and loved being able to make things. Heck, at 3 they got such a kick out of it, they'd even make the rest of us breakfast or morning drinks. When the older one was 3, he loved making his daddy coffee and the younger at 3 made tea. Both were good at making egg sandwiches (cook egg in a glass ramekin in the microwave while English muffin is toasting, top with cheese and egg). Yes, they both made a mess and didn't do a great job cleaning it up, but since they were 3 I figured that was part of the deal and OK.
What were they making? How did they reach the counters/microwave? Teach more, obi-wan kenobe. You're my only lazy-person hope. The Lazy Force is strong within me... you must learn to channel it for yourself. The path to enlightenment is filled with small Rubbermaid stools and meals prepared together. Do not be lured by the Dark Side and cut their food for them!
Seriously, I'm just now starting to be able to get rid of some of the darn stools we had all over the house so the kids could reach stuff. If you have stools in the kitchen, kids can reach anything and they get a kick out of climbing up to do it. Also, channel the Ikea idea of having low drawers with your plates and glasses, instead of in American style high cabinets. I even segregated the food so that kid-friendly foods were in low pull-out drawers so the kids could reach.
To get them into preparing food, it helps if you make things together for a while first. After you've prepared things together a few times, let them make it on their own while you're in the kitchen doing other things. Soon, they'll just do it on their own. Here are some breakfast things my guys liked to make:
PB&J - bread and peanut butter were stored in the low drawer.
Egg Sandwich - crack egg into pyrex bowl (like this - www.walmart.com/ip/Pyrex-8-piece-Storage-Plus-Value-Pack-4-each-1-cup-storage-with-red-plastic-covers/15114589 ) stir with fork. Microwave - you'll need to see how long it takes in yours, but ours is 45 seconds I think. While egg is cooking, toast English muffin in toaster. When muffin is done, top with slice of cheese and the egg from the microwave. The pyrex bowl makes the egg the exact right size for the sandwich, which kids find nifty.
Banana or apple w/ peanut butter - if you have something like this www.amazon.com/OXO-Grips-Apple-Corer-Divider/dp/B00004OCKT some kids can do their own apple. One of mine was strong enough to do that and the other wasn't. The one that wasn't just hacked off pieces of the apple with a small knife.
As for making coffee or tea, probably depends on what equipment you have.
Both my guys were early birds. Cheerful, busy early birds. So it was good that they had some things they could do either by themselves or with a sleep deprived parent.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jan 27, 2015 18:33:32 GMT -5
Maybe the local store has a policy that groups need to be a certain age?
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Post by ՏՇԾԵԵʅՏɧ_LԹՏՏʅҼ on Jan 27, 2015 22:59:31 GMT -5
So, on Saturday I had to call the police non emergency number to get a kid a ride home from our board game night. He was dropped off by a grandparent, and supposed to get picked up by his dad when I closed at 8. Dad never showed. At 8:30 I asked him to use the store phone to call for a ride. He didn't know his mom or dad's number, or his grandparent's number. He also didn't know either address. He wanted me to give him a ride home, but I usually walk/bicycle to work, so didn't have a car, and wouldn't want to be alone in one with an unrelated underage kid anyway. He asked a few other customers, who are pretty much strangers to him, for a ride, and couldn't get one. I wasn't going to leave him out in the cold and lock up, so we waited some more. He started talking about walking home, but wasn't sure how to get there. At 10 I finally called the police, because I needed to get home, and it was the only way I knew he'd get home safe. Kid was 13 years old. Blew my fucking mind. Second time I've had something like this happen, although the other kid was 12, and didn't know his parents number. So yeah, parents infantalize their kids these days. That's so sadly pathetic. A kid at 13 (a TEENAGER!) doesn't even know his own parents' or grandparents' phone number OR the way home? At 12 and 13 a kid is approaching high-school years.
Where was the kid living before being dumped at your store - in a plastic bubble? It sounds like the parents/grandparents were using your store as a daycare for their over-grown infant so they could go off and do whatever they were too busy doing to pick him up.
And the world wonders why young adults entering the workforce have no clue.
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Wisconsin Beth
Distinguished Associate
No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jan 28, 2015 7:56:55 GMT -5
That's what I mean. You'll drop a kid off alone with strangers at that age... But not give them the proper training/experience to handle it ? Weird disconnect. I could maybe see a kid not knowing the phone number these days, just because they get a cell phone young and the phone remembers all the numbers for them. This kid not only didn't have a cellphone with him, but didn't have one period. Not knowing your own address, or even what street you live on at 13 is just crazy to me. I wonder if they'd had just moved? As for the phone numbers - yeah, I do data entry for the DB I'm responsible for. Some people change their phone number every few months. I can see a kid not keeping up with phone numbers in that scenario.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jan 28, 2015 8:18:10 GMT -5
So, on Saturday I had to call the police non emergency number to get a kid a ride home from our board game night. He was dropped off by a grandparent, and supposed to get picked up by his dad when I closed at 8. Dad never showed. At 8:30 I asked him to use the store phone to call for a ride. He didn't know his mom or dad's number, or his grandparent's number. He also didn't know either address. He wanted me to give him a ride home, but I usually walk/bicycle to work, so didn't have a car, and wouldn't want to be alone in one with an unrelated underage kid anyway. He asked a few other customers, who are pretty much strangers to him, for a ride, and couldn't get one. I wasn't going to leave him out in the cold and lock up, so we waited some more. He started talking about walking home, but wasn't sure how to get there. At 10 I finally called the police, because I needed to get home, and it was the only way I knew he'd get home safe. Kid was 13 years old. Blew my fucking mind. Second time I've had something like this happen, although the other kid was 12, and didn't know his parents number. So yeah, parents infantalize their kids these days. This seems odd. I know a lot of 12 year old kids right now. I am not sure this proves that "kids these days." There is something wrong at this kids house. Not "I disagree with how those people raise children" wrong - but something real. If his parents were so overprotective that they didn't teach this kid his address, they wouldn't have left him with Grandparents that would drop him at a random store. Disease, divorce, drugs, and maybe some things that don't start with a "d." Something harsh is going on in that house.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 8:38:52 GMT -5
My kids both know my phone number (although I could totally see a kid that normally has a phone not knowing, there are only a few numbers I have memorized)
The 4 year old is just learning the address. Along with the alphabet and counting to 100 (or whatever it is), they need to be able to recite one parents phone number and their address before Kindy. Not sure if they test them and turn them away, but it's on the checklist.
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Wisconsin Beth
Distinguished Associate
No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
Joined: Dec 20, 2010 11:59:36 GMT -5
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jan 28, 2015 8:42:59 GMT -5
My kids both know my phone number (although I could totally see a kid that normally has a phone not knowing, there are only a few numbers I have memorized) The 4 year old is just learning the address. Along with the alphabet and counting to 100 (or whatever it is), they need to be able to recite one parents phone number and their address before Kindy. Not sure if they test them and turn them away, but it's on the checklist. BAck in the dark ages, my kindy teacher would have us recite something during attendance - phone number, address, license plate - I kid you not, I still remember the plate number from the car my parents had when I was 5. I can't tell you MY current license plate though... I have a vague thought that father's SSN was used too.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 8:53:38 GMT -5
My kids both know my phone number (although I could totally see a kid that normally has a phone not knowing, there are only a few numbers I have memorized) The 4 year old is just learning the address. Along with the alphabet and counting to 100 (or whatever it is), they need to be able to recite one parents phone number and their address before Kindy. Not sure if they test them and turn them away, but it's on the checklist. BAck in the dark ages, my kindy teacher would have us recite something during attendance - phone number, address, license plate - I kid you not, I still remember the plate number from the car my parents had when I was 5. I can't tell you MY current license plate though... I have a vague thought that father's SSN was used too. I wonder if she had the kids learn their parent's credit card numbers too. I have no clue what my plate number is, but my aunt is a freak with plate numbers. She knows everybody's. Mine, her kids, other neighbors. I have zero retention for random things like that.
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swamp
Community Leader
THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
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Post by swamp on Jan 28, 2015 9:06:55 GMT -5
I don't know when we started turning our kids into babies, but it drives me nuts.
I want the kids to walk places when they are in town. People freak right out when I suggest it. Yes, the town has a drug problem, but the crimes are drug dealer on drug dealer.
And I worry about the unregistered sex offenders, not the registered ones.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on Jan 28, 2015 9:27:52 GMT -5
swamp - just so I fully understand - do you want the kids to walk with you, or alone? My 12 year old started taking public transportation @10 years old in the heart of the 6th largest city in the US without an adult. So, I'm not going to say you are wrong.
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swamp
Community Leader
THEY’RE EATING THE DOGS!!!!!!!
Joined: Dec 19, 2010 16:03:22 GMT -5
Posts: 45,622
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Post by swamp on Jan 28, 2015 9:32:28 GMT -5
swamp - just so I fully understand - do you want the kids to walk with you, or alone? My 12 year old started taking public transportation @10 years old in the heart of the 6th largest city in the US without an adult. So, I'm not going to say you are wrong. with each other or with a friend. It started with then were about 6 and 7/8. I wanted them to walk from school to the babysitter, about 1 block, across a not busy street. I posted here. Comments were about 50/50 about letting them do it. My own MIL was freaked right out and arranged for a 6th grader to walk them there.
I live out of town, so I have to drive them places.
I want them to walk from school to my parents house, 6 blocks. From school to the Boys and Girls Club, 4 blocks. From the babysitters to the baseball field, 2 blocks. I let them walk with their cousins (roughly same age) from my parents house to a different elementary school playground, 2 blocks. DH just about had a stroke.
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Wisconsin Beth
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No, we don't walk away. But when we're holding on to something precious, we run.
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Post by Wisconsin Beth on Jan 28, 2015 9:36:14 GMT -5
Well, I'd be fine with them walking that.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 28, 2015 9:38:15 GMT -5
If I lived in town I'd be letting my kids walk places on their own at about age 6. To me, that's old enough to look out for cars, which to me is the main concern. Older son has been walking to his Dad's after school a couple days a week for several years now and that's over a mile. He was biking to summer classes and camps starting at age 8 or 9 and some of them were a couple miles from his Dad's.
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