Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for March 09, 2016

I guess she doesn’t believe in free range kids.

That’s how parenting works, Nancy — if you don’t try to do it, you take your chances.

Bad daughter and a helicopter parent to boot.

I’m going to hate to know what Nancy’s own upbringing was like.

See them on the 6:00 NEWS! (and she’ll never leave her kids with her folks again!)

It is a shame, really….when I was a kid, this was perfectly normal. And if you didn’t show up for supper, they stood on the doorstep and yelled your name. Parenting IS different now, but out of necessity.

In the Glasgow tenements, children used to play around the neighbourhood streets, and if they got hungry they’d shout up and their mother would lean out of an upstairs window and toss them a package of sandwiches.

Part of the problem was the authorities spending years drilling “Stranger Danger” into the heads of parents, and children who are now parents themselves. “There are perverts and monsters lurking behind every bush, waiting for an opportunity to steal children. Be on guard every waking moment”It doesn’t remotely resemble reality, but that doesn’t stop people.

I grew up the same way, running around and having fun. I used to ride my bike all over the place. My older sister went way further than I ever dared, though. Today, I know kids around here still run around and have fun, but in the woods. It’s a pretty rural area so it helps.

I see the same thing when I get behind a school bus in traffic, with parents waiting in cars at the end of the driveway for their kids. I tell myself that some of them are taking the kids somewhere else as soon as they get home, but yes, some seem just to drive them back up the driveway.Yes, I walked and biked everywhere in the 1960s and 70s without my parents hovering and worrying. It probably was safer back then, but I don’t know if it was that much safer. But it was definitely safer for my parents to give me that freedom than it would be today.

In some places that’s required by the school/school bus driver/school district—someone has to be there to pick up the child, or the child won’t be dropped off. It’s a liability thing.

Sad how the times have changed one should be free to explore the world around them in order to learn………..

Played outside until one or more of the Moms yelled for dinner (one Mom used a hand bell). Went out again after dinner and went home when the street lights came on. No problems, and there were just as many crazy pervs running around back then, too. The law doesn’t allow for free-range children any longer. Look at the NYC couple arrested multiple times because their kids were playing in a park unsupervised.

Gosh life was good then. Pedophiles existed, but if they were caught they were subject to the justice of getting their asses kicked by the general public, Then, if they survived, they were handed over to the authorities.And on my block any parent on the block had the right/privilege of disciplining any kid. Now if it was a neighboring neighborhood then they had to escort you home and watch you getting your punishment. Oh and you did get punished. “Time out” was only for the parents to get their wind back so they could continue with the flogging. [ ; ) ]

Like all those who grew up in the 50’s and 60’s, we free ranged everywhere and no one worried. My kids did the same. The danger hasn’t gotten worse, just the new instilling fear. If anything has changed drastically, it is everyone is now afraid all the time.

my buddys dad used to tell us to " go ride our bikes on the freeway."

The cops have been called TWICE to come check on my kids after some neighbor saw them outside playing “without adult supervision”. Didn’t matter we could see them through the living room window, we weren’t physically next to them, so the neighbors called the cops. Perhaps this mom is just concerned she’ll get arrested.

At age 12 I had my own paper route with 60 something customers. Ride my bike the 2+ miles to the paper station, then haul the (heavy) thing back across several busy streets to deliver them. Every day after school, and up at 4 AM on Sunday. BUT, the $7.00 a week profit I made was all mine. Those were better times, late ’50s and early ’60s.

Grew up in the 50s and 60s. Rode bikes everywhere. Kicked out of the house after breakfast, and expected back for lunch, then again for dinner. Other than snakes in the Florida woods, we had no real worries.

It wasn’t any safer back then, it is only the media and the police telling us about the worst that could happen. years ago, it was reported in the local news, with code words(they had to hide it from the kids). Now, every incident makes the national news.

When I lived in a Detroit suburb, I would take off with my friends in the morning on my bike with skate board, cycle about 15 miles round trip to the cider mill and a great hill to skate board down (all without helmet or padding)and be back by dinner time. those were the days, now you cant let your kid run down a block to play in the park without supervision or you will have DHS at your door, so much for “progress”.

Are the streetlights on? That was the rule when I was a kid. Mom had no clue where or how far we went and never worried about it. She just enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Definitely different.. but I wonder if the mass hysteria about kids being abducted is not overblown. Will todays children be able to cope without parental guidance. Will todays children be able to make sound judgements or will they expect to be protected for ever?

In the ‘50s I’d take the bus to the end of the line in Chicago, and then walk a bit to the Forest Preserves in order to hire a livery horse for an hour. Only after my two girlfriends were accosted and one raped did the rules change. Her boyfriend went out there with his dad’s gun and tried to find the guys. Never did, never found. Only good part was that her boyfriend stuck by her and she never was made to feel ashamed….

Those grandparents are jerks.

No, I haven’t only just realised that now.xxx

Ahh, “free range” kids! I was one; with a bike (but of course no helmet), too. The term did not exist in my day, but neither did the sense of isolation, the fear, and the litigiousness of today….I salute Grandma and Grandpa, and I condemn Neighbor Nancy.

Up until about 12 my parents were hover parents but by 12 or 13, I was driving the forklift, the tractor and doing farm work. I’d also ride my BMX anywhere within 20 miles of home with my friends…all this pre cell phone days. I had to call home every so often 3 or 4 hours or else my dad would come a looking for me.

Year parenting these days, my ex thinks my 17 year old son can’t walk to the store by himself these days. He loves it when I tell him he can go alone.

Both mom and dad had a whistle that could be heard for what seemed like miles. It would have been foolish to claim that I hadn’t heard it.

if anything my parents worried more about me sitting where they could see me reading a book than my siblings who were off riding their bikes to their friends houses

It’s actually getting more and more to the point that they have no choice but to do just that. Too many reports of even the most basic exercises being deemed too dangerous for kids because they might hurt themselves. The same is true for playing outside, outdoor activities are becoming too dangerous for kids as they might get hurt. It’s getting ridiculous how much safety equipment you have to put on just to ride a bike. And even then it’s not always enough to keep a kid from getting injured so they have to have more.

Curiously, as things become more disposable, kids become more precious.

I’d rather have puns than this. Or — crazy idea — how about Rat, Pig, Goat, and/or the crocs?

And we rode bikes without helmets. How did we survive…?

I think there’s a subliminal message here. I don’t have kids so I better not mention what I think it is.

this strip just reeks of Adult Fear

In my day, half the time your parents never knew where you were. If they needed you, they bellowed your name out the door. You’re full name, if you were in trouble.