Mutt

sad to say but a big part of the problem was created by the women's liberation movement and parents who bail on marriages so easily - kids today mostly grow up in families with one parent or in a family where both mom and dad work, some out of necessity and then the millions of baby boomer yuppies where both mom and dad have careers. Out of guilt parents over compensate and over protect. Part of the reason we as kids felt secure enough to do all sorts of risky creative things after school is because we knew mom was at home and the neighborhood was filled with other moms who actually knew you by name. A kid can walk around his neighborhood today and he might as well be stranded in Manhattan - he's likely not to know anybody well enough to knock at their door and ask for help. I knew if I got in a fist fight that sooner than later some parent was going to come running and tear us apart. That kind of security is what kids need - not the over protective structure of some program or activity you enroll your kids in or suiting him up in plastic armour so go forbid he doesn't break his collarbone. There was this invisible safety net that kids instinctively knew existed and made them brave enough to do things on their own, they didn't wait for somebody to tell them what to do with their free time. Don't you remember as a kid how cool it was when somebody broke their arm or other bone - it was like a war injury, couldn't wait to get out of the emergency room to show the cast off and get people signing it. Every kid broke something - boys anyway.

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