Do kids ever just play anymore?

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  • pjfanatic4
    pjfanatic4 Posts: 127
    blackredyellow wrote:
    I'm sure by the first week everything will go out the window and we'll just try to do the best we can like everyone else does :)

    Sometimes I wish that EVERYONE tried their best at parenting. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not the case.

    Again, I wish you the best.
  • RolandTD20Kdrummer
    RolandTD20Kdrummer Posts: 13,066
    hippiemom wrote:
    Oh man ... giant cardboard boxes were the BEST!!! It was like a holiday on my street when someone bought a new refrigerator. A fort, a castle, a rocket ship ... then when it got too beat up you'd drag it to a hill and roll down the hill inside of it :D

    Oh man does that ever take me back. Just like you said it. I found that garbage day in general always got a little more interesting to go biking around and look for things :D
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  • Uncle Leo
    Uncle Leo Posts: 1,059
    pjfanatic4 wrote:
    Yeah, it can be porn, violent images, who they chat with, who they interact with, etc. Sometimes what comes up cybernetically can be more dangerous than what they are exposed of outside.

    I don't plan to keep my children in a bubble, but I think I will need to be able to explain stuff he may encounter. Hopefully I will be able to nurture an open communication with my sons.

    Actually, I think the internet rivals "behind the bushes" as the top preditory techique for pedaphiles now.
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  • boxwine_in_hell
    boxwine_in_hell Posts: 1,263
    macgyver06 wrote:
    are you referring to porn??

    If they had the internet when I was a kid, I would have set my dick on fire.
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  • RyeGuy
    RyeGuy Posts: 215
    kids in my neck of the woods play all day. Sometimes the noise bothers me if i'm tryin to do school work, but owell
    "Makes much more sense to live in the present tense." Ed Ved

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  • Ms. Haiku
    Ms. Haiku Washington DC Posts: 7,389
    hippiemom wrote:
    Oh man ... giant cardboard boxes were the BEST!!! It was like a holiday on my street when someone bought a new refrigerator. A fort, a castle, a rocket ship ... then when it got too beat up you'd drag it to a hill and roll down the hill inside of it :D
    When I was younger, just give me a calculator and I could play for hours! Especially the kind with the roll of paper. I loved the buttons!
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  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    pjfanatic4 wrote:
    Sometimes I wish that EVERYONE tried their best at parenting. Unfortunately, sometimes that is not the case.
    New parents, I feel, get exhausted and forget what they wanted to do in the parenting area when they thought about it pre-kids. I know that I'm so tired with one toddler, I don't think I could ever have another. But that's because I'm strict, and want my child to grow up right. It takes a lot out of a person to be strict!! Friends of mine that have kids aren't nearly as tired as I am, but their kids are brats, too. They don't put much effort into their parenting.
  • pjfanatic4
    pjfanatic4 Posts: 127
    Jeanwah wrote:
    New parents, I feel, get exhausted and forget what they wanted to do in the parenting area when they thought about it pre-kids. I know that I'm so tired with one toddler, I don't think I could ever have another. But that's because I'm strict, and want my child to grow up right. It takes a lot out of a person to be strict!! Friends of mine that have kids aren't nearly as tired as I am, but their kids are brats, too. They don't put much effort into their parenting.

    Same here. We wonder sometimes how friends of ours let their kids dictate what goes on. Brats, plain and simple.

    We had the same feeling, about going for our second child and not being able to handle it. But we wanted a baby brother/sister. It turned out to be a brother and believe me, the second one is a breeze. Well, not totally, but sometimes I think how we complicated our lives with the first one. The experience helps a great deal with the second one.
  • seagoat2
    seagoat2 Posts: 241
    hippiemom wrote:
    Oh man ... giant cardboard boxes were the BEST!!! It was like a holiday on my street when someone bought a new refrigerator. A fort, a castle, a rocket ship ... then when it got too beat up you'd drag it to a hill and roll down the hill inside of it :D

    Yeah, that was so fun - we'd do all the things you just wrote or cut little windows & doors & decide what "building" it would be, etc.

    I agree w/the original poster - let your kids use thier imaginations instead of sitting on thier ass in the house all day in front of a video game....it also develops a lot of other skills & it's physical activity too.
  • Jeanwah
    Jeanwah Posts: 6,363
    pjfanatic4 wrote:
    We had the same feeling, about going for our second child and not being able to handle it. But we wanted a baby brother/sister. It turned out to be a brother and believe me, the second one is a breeze. Well, not totally, but sometimes I think how we complicated our lives with the first one. The experience helps a great deal with the second one.

    Wow, now that makes me feel better! I've gotten very nervous about having another baby, but I'd really like a sibling for my daughter. I'm wondering it's a bit easier because you knew what to expect?
  • pjfanatic4
    pjfanatic4 Posts: 127
    Jeanwah wrote:
    Wow, now that makes me feel better! I've gotten very nervous about having another baby, but I'd really like a sibling for my daughter. I'm wondering it's a bit easier because you knew what to expect?

    That's right, the second time around is much easier because you've been through it already. There isn't a surprise factor in most things, thus reducing the stress of "what do I do?!?" And then it's cool to find out that the second child is different in his own way and you have to do things slightly different. Plus, the interaction between them, how the oldest (even at 4) "protects" his brother, or stuff like that is worth it.
  • catefrances
    catefrances Posts: 29,003
    blackredyellow wrote:
    Over the weekend, I saw a commercial (I think it was a gov't PSA) with the characters from the Shrek movies urging kids to go out and play for an hour, and gave a website to actually go and find "ideas" on how to play. I was amazed (and frightened) that our society has come to this...

    I am only 32, but I feel like I'm 75 when I start talking like this, but when I was a kid, we played outside (and inside) every chance that we had. I can't imagine not knowing how to play... we just ran around and made up games and had fun.

    It actually scares me that our society is raising basically robots that can't think creatively on their own.

    My wife and I are going to try to start having kids, and we were talking about this last night after seeding the commercial that we have a blast playing with our dog, and we can't wait to be able to play outside with our kids. I just can't imagine growing up in front of the TV or computer 24/7.

    yes. my kids play all the time. when my son goes on his adventures, sometimes i don't see him for hours. he plays with his lego and climbs trees and sheepishly comes home soaked to the skin. we are continually replacing the inner tube on his bike. he has grazes and cuts on his legs and other various body parts and is often covered in dirt. he wanders down the creek and does who knows what. one thing he does is carry a towel up into the very top of the tree in our yard and leaving it there as a marker, so he can see how far he's climbed (about 40 feet would be my guesstimate).
    oh and ive never bought him any type of game system. he has to find and make his own amusement. my children's computer time is limited to an hour a day as well.
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  • idratherbe
    idratherbe Posts: 367
    boxwine_in_hell wrote:
    Ha good one. I have two kids, but I only like my own kids. I hate most other people's kids, man there are a lot of fucked up kids out there.

    Well, my problem with kids is that they are a product of... their parents. :eek: It's elementary! I like kids, but only on a case-by-case basis. Fundamentally because there aren't too many ADULTS I really care for out there, much less their wretched offspring. :p

    Thank goodness there are *some* beacons of light out there in the parenting world, who encourage studying, physical activity, creativity, and teach the practice of kindness and humility. The world certainly needs more of these parents.

    BTW I am a step-parent of a 25 year old, have been since she was 9. So I'm not completely talking out my ass. :D

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  • mammasan
    mammasan Posts: 5,656
    Well I don't know about where everyone else lives but I just came home from taking my kids to the park and it was packed with kids just running around playing. I live right down the street from a park and on any half way decent day the place is crawling with kids of all ages playing football, soccer, wiffle ball, basketball, hide & seek, tag, riding bikes, skateboarding, rollor blading, etc... I'm sure there are kids out there who are glued to the TV or playstation on beautiful days but I'm willing to bet that they are a minority.
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