Having read the above comments, I am struck by the tunnel vision of current parents. I understand raising children is VERY HARD. I understand that getting little kids to do anything is very hard. But...
How did we, by which I mean people over about the age of 30, survive to adulthood?
I do remember once being asked to hold onto a rope--I forget the occasion--but generally it was "hold hands", or follow instructions. We were clearly able to move around as a herd when I was three, let alone six.
Did something change in how kids behave, and if so, why? Did the world get more dangerous? Did we get less tolerant of mishaps? Are we understaffing our child care to the point where the adults have no choice but to use force-multipliers like ropes?
This always confuses me. Presumably there have been hundreds of generations of humans, each going through the stage when they were four and not following directions and needing to be guided and in loco parentis and all that. And somehow we survived without chain gangs, leashes, always-on helmets, and velcro bodysuits.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2012-08-22 10:43 pm (UTC)How did we, by which I mean people over about the age of 30, survive to adulthood?
I do remember once being asked to hold onto a rope--I forget the occasion--but generally it was "hold hands", or follow instructions. We were clearly able to move around as a herd when I was three, let alone six.
Did something change in how kids behave, and if so, why? Did the world get more dangerous? Did we get less tolerant of mishaps? Are we understaffing our child care to the point where the adults have no choice but to use force-multipliers like ropes?
This always confuses me. Presumably there have been hundreds of generations of humans, each going through the stage when they were four and not following directions and needing to be guided and in loco parentis and all that. And somehow we survived without chain gangs, leashes, always-on helmets, and velcro bodysuits.
Why? How?