This statement: "It was still safe in those days for an 8-year-old girl to go wandering around in the woods..." may be in keeping with contemporary sentiments, but it's not in keeping with contemporary facts. It's much safer for children to roam about than it used to be, as violent crime is far lower than it once was. The US violent crime rate peaked in the early 90s.
Parents imagining that going outside is so terribly dangerous for their children is part of what has parked them all inside in front of the internet. Where, among other dangers, they encounter trans groomers and pedos.
Maybe if todays kids were allowed to go out and play in the woods more they'd be healthier, both physically and mentally.
I do agree with you. I did not have children, so was more speaking to what I see of child rearing without really knowing myself how safe it is. If I had had children, I would have made it a priority to live where they could roam wild as I got to roam in nature. It was the best part of childhood (and adulthood for that matter.)
Those of us who have kids all make choices, and it's remarkable to me how we make different ones.
I chose to raise my kids in a city, for both opportunity and safety reasons. The biggest single cause of death of children in America is motor vehicle crashes, followed by firearm-related injuries. Because we live in a city, my kids go weeks on end without getting into a car (as do I). And they are never anywhere near firearms.
They can go to school, go get ice cream, and visit friends, on foot, on bikes, or on public transit. That's much safer than living somewhere we would have to put them in cars repeatedly every day. People who live in rural areas have almost three times the rate of death from motor vehicle crashes as do city people (27.61 per 100K vs 10.58 per 100K). My kids can add two years to their life expectancy because they live in a city.
The risks just aren't what most people think they are.
It’s been said so many times, but it still amazes me that all knowledge is immediately discarded when this issue raises its head We KNOW humans don’t mature psychologically until they are 25, we know it from.experience, but it is also now part of established science (though how scientific psychology can ever be is another matter). Regardless, there is solid research backing this, while there is little when it comes to childhood transition - and what is there is pretty alarming already. All we know about childhood development - disregarded in service to middle-aged men.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
I think back to my own decisions even up into my twenties and feel grateful than almost none of them were permanent. I can't imagine making 13 or 16 year old me responsible for things that would impact me decades later.
What a burden that is to place on a child! Which brings me back to the idea that many adults must not have emotionally matured past their own childhood if they think saddling children with the responsibility of life-long medical decisions is a good idea.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
Yes, this. When the basis for medical treatment is "You wanted it. You were really sure!"... it's heartbreaking.
Yes! I just imagine all the things I "really wanted" and felt "sure" about as a teenager and how different I feel now. For some reason, feelings about gender are treated differently than any other feelings and I just do not understand why.
Thank you for sharing these insights from Ginsberg, incredible. My mind went to the same place after I wrote that comment yesterday. Because I can remember exactly that feeling of deep immersion in fantasy, doesn't really seem so long ago. Besides fairy tales, Narnia was also very, very real for me as a child, as Harry Potter was for Eliza. Imagining myself in Narnia soothed my lonely soul and made me feel real and special in a way that nothing else did. I wanted to go to Narnia so badly! Like Eliza, I would never have told anyone that I secretly wondered if I might tumble into Narnia through a "wardrobe" (we didn't have those in my childhood, we had closets, but seemed much the same thing!) Why on earth would I not have imagined that I might be a boy--especially since it wasn't presented by my school, my doctor, and society as a fantastical story from a book, but actually truly possible?
This statement: "It was still safe in those days for an 8-year-old girl to go wandering around in the woods..." may be in keeping with contemporary sentiments, but it's not in keeping with contemporary facts. It's much safer for children to roam about than it used to be, as violent crime is far lower than it once was. The US violent crime rate peaked in the early 90s.
Parents imagining that going outside is so terribly dangerous for their children is part of what has parked them all inside in front of the internet. Where, among other dangers, they encounter trans groomers and pedos.
Maybe if todays kids were allowed to go out and play in the woods more they'd be healthier, both physically and mentally.
I do agree with you. I did not have children, so was more speaking to what I see of child rearing without really knowing myself how safe it is. If I had had children, I would have made it a priority to live where they could roam wild as I got to roam in nature. It was the best part of childhood (and adulthood for that matter.)
Those of us who have kids all make choices, and it's remarkable to me how we make different ones.
I chose to raise my kids in a city, for both opportunity and safety reasons. The biggest single cause of death of children in America is motor vehicle crashes, followed by firearm-related injuries. Because we live in a city, my kids go weeks on end without getting into a car (as do I). And they are never anywhere near firearms.
They can go to school, go get ice cream, and visit friends, on foot, on bikes, or on public transit. That's much safer than living somewhere we would have to put them in cars repeatedly every day. People who live in rural areas have almost three times the rate of death from motor vehicle crashes as do city people (27.61 per 100K vs 10.58 per 100K). My kids can add two years to their life expectancy because they live in a city.
The risks just aren't what most people think they are.
It’s been said so many times, but it still amazes me that all knowledge is immediately discarded when this issue raises its head We KNOW humans don’t mature psychologically until they are 25, we know it from.experience, but it is also now part of established science (though how scientific psychology can ever be is another matter). Regardless, there is solid research backing this, while there is little when it comes to childhood transition - and what is there is pretty alarming already. All we know about childhood development - disregarded in service to middle-aged men.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
I think back to my own decisions even up into my twenties and feel grateful than almost none of them were permanent. I can't imagine making 13 or 16 year old me responsible for things that would impact me decades later.
What a burden that is to place on a child! Which brings me back to the idea that many adults must not have emotionally matured past their own childhood if they think saddling children with the responsibility of life-long medical decisions is a good idea.
This is why I think we should be asking ourselves "are we comfortable saddling children with the responsibility of decisions that might be long-lasting or permanent?"
Yes, this. When the basis for medical treatment is "You wanted it. You were really sure!"... it's heartbreaking.
Yes! I just imagine all the things I "really wanted" and felt "sure" about as a teenager and how different I feel now. For some reason, feelings about gender are treated differently than any other feelings and I just do not understand why.
Thank you for sharing these insights from Ginsberg, incredible. My mind went to the same place after I wrote that comment yesterday. Because I can remember exactly that feeling of deep immersion in fantasy, doesn't really seem so long ago. Besides fairy tales, Narnia was also very, very real for me as a child, as Harry Potter was for Eliza. Imagining myself in Narnia soothed my lonely soul and made me feel real and special in a way that nothing else did. I wanted to go to Narnia so badly! Like Eliza, I would never have told anyone that I secretly wondered if I might tumble into Narnia through a "wardrobe" (we didn't have those in my childhood, we had closets, but seemed much the same thing!) Why on earth would I not have imagined that I might be a boy--especially since it wasn't presented by my school, my doctor, and society as a fantastical story from a book, but actually truly possible?