[PLUG-TALK] Arduino vs. Other Kid Toys

[Paul Heinlein]

On Sat, 3 Dec 2011, Rich Shepard wrote:

>   I grew up in midtown Manhattan without back yards (well, they were 
> concrete and filled with junk for the most part), but Cenral Park 
> was a half-block away. I climed rock formations and trees that made 
> my mother nervous; she kept telling me, "If you fall and break your 
> leg, don't come running to me!" But, somehow I survived. There is a 
> herd of pre-teen boys in my immediate neighborhood who climb my 
> neighbor's tree (two of the boys live there), and other big trees on 
> the edge of the neighborhood park. Good for them!

The neighborhood kids can climb in the maple tree in our front yard. I 
let all the other parents know my rule: we won't help you get down, so 
don't climb so high you can't get down by yourself. As a result, at 
least one parent told her kids not to climb the tree -- which is her 
right and responsibility as a parent.

I've stood by the tree a few times as fretful children have yelled for 
help. I restated the rule and supervised their climb down. The kids 
always made it down safely without adult intervention, though on one 
occasion an older child climbed up and help a younger child find a 
good route down. The kids always felt more accomplished -- and often 
bragged about -- doing it themselves rather than getting help.

>   How did so many of us survive to adulthood unmedicated when we did 
> stupid and dangerous things? Why can't today's boys be allowed to do 
> the same stupid and dangerous things without being diagnosed as 
> deficient and medicated?

This article provides a very graphic view of the situation:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html

-- 
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein at madboa.com <> http://www.madboa.com/