Snow! So what?

What the heck is wrong with people these days? A bit of snow and the country comes to a standstill. Many schools are closed, poor little kids, mustn't let them get cold. Crikey, when I was a lad I used to have to walk 2 miles to and from school, whatever the weather. In fact we'd play in the snow as we made our way to and from school. Too molly-coddled these days.

Winge over, coffee time and remember the good old days.

It's all true star, I had 1 mile walk to School, back home for dinner, back again after dinner and then the walk back home.Snow, rain whatever the weather you went to School. If the heating broke down [as it often did] you kept your coat on. Now they seem to close Schools on the slightest pretext, we never had Teacher Training days either, what do they do on these days?. drink tea and play cards in the staff room?

times change boys, times change as do rules.

OVER HERE, those instances of "mollycoddling", "helicopter parenting","cocooning" and "cotton wool-ed kids" among many segments of the community have also been increasingly observed over the last 25->30 years...

ESPECIALLY in both inner city areas with more people attempting to raise families in flats and apartments (with reduced access to outside areas and play and sport opportunities..) - and conversely also in new "satellite suburbs" with their reduced amenities and transport options, (and fewer opportunities "for kids to be able 'run wild and just be kids"..) - where many parents are then seen to be over-compensating for their guilty feelings by totally spoiling their kids..

AND then these situations can be exacerbated even more by loony new-age parental actions such as : keeping children at home 24-7, driving their teens everywhere (even if it's only a 15-30 min. walk..), and such whacky stunts as "play dates" for preschoolers and fully "chaperoned" picnics and parties even for much older kids !

EVENTUALLY and inevitably producing whole subgroups of individuals who can't even fry water or do their own laundry; incapable of reading maps or changing a car's wheel; and who can't even endure the inconvenience of a little snow or the occasional heatwaves..

IF I were to take some of the more extreme examples of these clueless "metrosexuals" and "urban princesses" out bush into some of those places and conditions that I grew up around ~ for sure many of them would sit down under th closest tree and cry..

Cass wrote:
times change boys, times change as do rules.

AFRAID NOT, Ma'am...

IT'S THE 'truth' that 'springs eternal' in this situation, ['hope' be damned..].

WHEN you look down upon some poor, struggling and misbegotten classic examples of the those mollycoddled and cotton-woolled kids in another decade or two, totally incapable and unprepared for living on their lonesome away from mummy and daddy, you will be able to fondly remember the timeless and universal wisdom of this useful little thread !    

I was a bit concerned when I started this topic, fully expecting the cannons to fire at me, but it seems some of you share the same feelings. Thanks.

I agree with Wolf's remarks and to add to that, what I think will be a future problem will be the inability to socialize, considering children are now being saturated with all sorts of electronic games and tablets, mobile phones and lord knows what else. Even in schools they're sat at computers which do calculations and word processing/spelling for them, instead of learning how to do those things themselves.

BTW, I wonder, how many of you, when out driving, have had watch out for some idiot walking into the road with his/her head stuck in their phones.

What is this world coming to?

ohh yes let make it all like the good old days where kids collected the eggs from the chickens in the morning

Times Change
Electronic communication is important now (I'm mean we are literally having this discussion across the planet thanks to using electronic communication)

I do agree somewhat with the helicopter parenting but at the same time childhood deaths and injuries are lower than they have ever been. even as a 31 year old most people my age broke a bone or something as a kid but most 20 years didn't

At every stage of development in technology, there has been outspoken criticism.  The father of my school chum in Berkeley owned a Ford Dealership.  He was a collector of such sayings and advertisements/signs, etc., reflecting them:

"Get a horse": A jeer yelled out to any stranded motorist who had pulled his motor car over to the side of the road to fix something or other.

"The safety of steel, from pedal to wheel":  Automobile brakes used to be activated by steel cables.  When hydraulic systems came out there was a lot of controversy over the insubstantial quality of mineral oil to exert hydraulic pressure, and many questioned it's ability to exert a force sufficient to stop a vehicle.  To capitalize on this sentiment, Ford Motor Co., one of the last manufacturers to go with hydraulic brakes, came up with this small rhyme.

Hi folks. When I was a lad we played outside, got up to all manner of tricks, sometimes getting bruised and rips in our clothes. We learned about co-operation, camaraderie, (spelling?) tust and fiendship. We learned to socialize and interact with our fellow human beings. But I wonder, what would a child do today if you parcelled him off into a wood or the fields. He's probably stand there, lost, possibly crying, feeling for his mobile phone so he could call mummy.

I may come across as somewhat cynical, but believe me if the current trend continues then I fear for the future of our society. Greedy and over-rich manufacturers and their inventors have a lot to answer for. Every few months they come out with an update which everyone goes out and buys, very often getting in debt, but oh dear, their poor little lad or girl must have one. Yes, obviously I've a computer otherwise I wouldn't be here chatting to you good folk, but because of my age and health I'm restricted in my ability and activities. Unlike the children of today, I'd love to go out in the woods and fields and climb trees and be a bad boy, but no, I sit at my laptop and socialize this way, may it contimue. Thanks for being there. Bye for now.

veya_victaous wrote:.......................

Times Change
Electronic communication is important now (I'm mean we are literally having this discussion across the planet thanks to using electronic communication)

I do agree somewhat with the helicopter parenting but at the same time childhood deaths and injuries are lower than they have ever been. even as a 31 year old most people my age broke a bone or something as a kid  but most 20 years didn't

     "most 20 years old.." these days also don't know how to ride a bike (let alone do the basic maintenance and repairs..)), climb a tree (half of them never having even been close to a tree..), read a map, row a boat, do long divisions or multiple equations without their calculators, change a washer, ride a horse, change a wheel, thread a needle...

THE MAIN problem isn't the existence of electronic wizardry ~ but in it's misuse and misapplications, and it's much too frequent over-use in today's world..
LIKE the premature introduction of calculators, tablets, computers, digital clocks, and GPS sytems to school kids == BEFORE giving them adequate basic levels of competence in arithmetic, spelling and grammar, comprehension, analogue clocks and readouts, reading [and understanding] maps.  
 
AND then there's the chronic over-reliance of too many people on such modern day aids as smartphones, GPS, EPIRBS, (and often unrealistic expectations with "000/999/919" emergency services..).
THESE days there are also increasing reports of unprepared "would be adventurers and explorers" wandering out with their mobile phones but no map or compass - and erroneously believing that S&R teams and police can track their phone calls..      

AND there's also those inherent reliability issues, and potential problems with any and all electronic devices :
power failures,
systematic failures,
broken, dropped or lost gear,
bad weather and network failures,
access to satellites [e.g. GPS receivers need 4 satellites to give accurate positions..],
false readings and magnetic interference...

* SURE,  I do have my computers, radios, mobile phone, smart TV, GPS and certain other "toys"  ~  but I certainly don't rely on any of these.. *

Oh well,  maybe the TV  !      

Well yes, but misues and misapplication are a part of the program. They should be anticipated.

It certainly didn't take people very long to realize this with nuclear weapons.

There is a peculiar element about the electronic media. To use the concepts of Marshall McLuhan, the Internet is a cool medium in the sense that it is involving. McLuhan is one of those whose writings have unexamined shades of meaning, and this is one such area. I think McLuhan intimated, if not suggested that the real meaning of media is in ourselves, psychologically. Remember, the media is the message: how something comes to us it perhaps more important than what comes to us.

If you want to anticipate the latent in the electronic media, this is the way to go.

The reason schools get closed is because the teachers - who mostly drive into school - can't get there due to roads being closed.
Nothing to do with children not being allowed to get cold!

BREEDING those teachers a bit soft nowadays,  aren't they ?  "Back in my day.."

TeACHeRS should learn to do what the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish teachers would do  ~  and learn to ski to work during snowstorms...

OR like the Canadians, Alaskans and Siberians ~ drive a snowmobile..

DOWN here and in NZ, those teachers near the snowy areas usually often live close to their schools.

"There's always more than one way to skin a troll.."    [Who wants to "skin a cat" in this day and age ?]

Lone Wolf wrote:

BREEDING those teachers a bit soft nowadays,  aren't they ?  "Back in my day.."

TeACHeRS should learn to do what the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish teachers would do  ~  and learn to ski to work during snowstorms...

OR like the Canadians, Alaskans and Siberians ~ drive a snowmobile..

DOWN here and in NZ, those teachers near the snowy areas usually often live close to their schools.

"There's always more than one way to skin a troll.."      [Who wants to "skin a cat" in this day and age ?]

Especially with this weather.

Lone Wolf wrote:

BREEDING those teachers a bit soft nowadays,  aren't they ?  "Back in my day.."

TeACHeRS should learn to do what the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish teachers would do  ~  and learn to ski to work during snowstorms...

OR like the Canadians, Alaskans and Siberians ~ drive a snowmobile..

DOWN here and in NZ, those teachers near the snowy areas usually often live close to their schools.

"There's always more than one way to skin a troll.."      [Who wants to "skin a cat" in this day and age ?]

its only natural....

in my day teaching was a "vocation" now its merely a job few have any REAL (as opposed to political "brownie point") dedication to it or for that matter any great "interest" in it unless it suits their "political" "look how good I am" point of view...

same as cops over here.....

darknessss wrote:

Lone Wolf wrote:

BREEDING those teachers a bit soft nowadays,  aren't they ?  "Back in my day.."

TeACHeRS should learn to do what the Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish teachers would do  ~  and learn to ski to work during snowstorms...

OR like the Canadians, Alaskans and Siberians ~ drive a snowmobile..

DOWN here and in NZ, those teachers near the snowy areas usually often live close to their schools.

"There's always more than one way to skin a troll.."      [Who wants to "skin a cat" in this day and age ?]

its only natural....

in my day teaching was a "vocation" now its merely a job few have any REAL (as opposed to political "brownie point") dedication to it or for that matter any great "interest" in it unless it suits their "political"   "look how good I am" point of view...

same as cops over here.....

I doubt people go into teaching for "brownie points". But you are right generally...it is a lost profession. It's something that people today go into because of unemployment elsewhere. As soon as they can get out of it, they seem to run. Who can blame them...it's low paying, and a lot of babysitting.

Hmmm I think teaching is definitely mostly vocational for most people.