Please excuse me for a moment while I climb up on soapbox here:

This whole topic is a particular pet peeve for me and I believe that way too many kids today are totally overprotected...with most GenX and GenY kids having parents that literally "hover" over them. Example; I recently observed a high school senior student whose mother regularly carried his books to class for him (no, he was not disabled and he was on a sports team for the school) and he DID NOT carry anything himself. My son informed us that this kid has had this type of service for several years. This is on top of being driven 1/2 mile to and from school.

Sadly, I've also heard first hand stories about parents taking their 18 & 19 year old kids to job interviews and answering the questions for them. Call me old fashioned or whatever, but this is in my opinion a very telling negative trend for our upcoming adults.

These kids (for the most part) have no concept of where north is or how to read a street map. Before getting out of elementary school, each of my brothers and sisters knew how to find north and had a basic knowledge of map reading which was a result of going on various car trips and being trusted to hold the road map and follow the cars path and be able to answer questions such as "Where will we turn next? Which way will we turn?". These questions soon gave way to time / speed / distance questions to determine ETA's. I was amazed when I got in junior and high school and many of the other kids did not know how to read a map legend.

My brother (a scoutmaster now for about the past 15 years) is also very frustrated with many of the kids that come in and have no clue regarding what we grew up with known as "common sense" or personal responsibility. When some of the parents found out that he was showing kids how to handle a knife they were outraged. Likewise when they found out that hikes in the Everglades did not have air-conditioned bathrooms in the boonies many were shocked that the kids would be told to "go behind the bush and bury it". Sadly this list goes on...

When we did something stupid as kids(i.e. ride on the bicycle handlebars and the bike took a tumble and we got cuts / bruises / scrapes etc., then we fully expected to hear, and were told that it was not a smart thing to do. We took personal ownership of the event, did not go around blaming others or faulty bikes etc. When we were kids, we learned before third grade how to repair bicycle tires and successfully use both glue and hot patches on the tubes. Yes, we knew what spoke wrench was and how to use it. The neighbor's kid's (he was about 15 at the time) bike had a low tire and was not riding it. I asked him about walking it to the gas station and putting air in the tire himself. Total shock and awe. Better to go to the store and buy a complete bike rim, tire and have them install it...

If we teased an animal and got snapped at or bit, then it was a lesson learned permanently and we knew that we were to blame, not the animal. Tell a kid today that the animal will bite for getting teased and it is in one ear and out the other.

Lighting fires and using knives was not a mystery to us, we were shown how and where to do things safely and were trusted with both. Please note, this was while growing up in an urban environment.

The sooner a youngster is started off with good, valid commensense information presented in an appropriate manner and place, the sooner and better they will be prepared and able to handle life's twists and turns that Murphy's Law hits us with.

Ahem, blush...I'll climb down now and a special thanks to those parents / grandparents / aunts and uncles / role models / mentors & scout leaders etc. that take the time to keep showing todays kids how to use good common sense and learn the basics of life that are so rapidly disappearing from todays youth.

Regards, Comanche7