Parenting - Ant-snowflake

[midtown 3346]

My son is 13 and my daughter is 10.   I needed two items so I made them go into the grocery store with my credit card, buy the items at self check out and come back out.    My ex completely against this.  Freaked out by being kidnapped.   Let me also add it's a Walmart Neighborhood market at 1pm on a Thursday.   Not a mega grocery store.   If there were 15 people in the place I'd be shocked.  This is the same woman that took my then  8 and 5 yr old to San Pedro Sula Honduras where her dad lives.   Which at the time was the most dangerous city in the world.     

I say the actual risk is perceived vs real and teaching kids independence in the helicopter, snowplow parenting world is best for them.   How do surly aholes handle this?

Edited August 15, 2019 by midtown

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

need pics of the ex to know who's right

[Viking 301]

The helicopter parenting in this country just gets worse and worse. We've done the same thing with our kids (10yo and 7yo) multiple times.

[Iceman 2717]

when I was that age we would have been riding our bikes all day and all over the place.

 

Never been divorced, but hyper-cunt can kick rocks.  I don't see an issue with it at all.

 

Give them a time to be home and go from there.

[Reagan1k 3024]

Didn’t matter what you did- you could have put them in an abrams tank with you and driven though the store and your ex would be pissed about something like the exhaust fumes. 

Raise your kids to be independent acting and thinking in the best way YOU know how when you have them.

[Hate 20114]

My son is a free range kid. He just turned 11 and we’ve given him money to ride his bike to the grocery store for us. It’s about a 10 minute ride and he can go through some back trails to get there, but I’ve always felt it’s better for him to be on his own and out with his friends to figure stuff out.

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

Multiple reports around us and various Wal-Mart parking lots where kidnappings have been attempted.  "Lookers" wandering the store and following to cars, a few incidents where verbal and physical approach has happened.  With the absolute fucking sickness that is in this world (sex trafficking), I'm going to go ahead and play on the safe side when I'm in a very busy area.  Local Dollar General?  Have at it.

[Deej 76831]

Nobody wants your kids. 

[Quagmire 2147]

I see no problem with it , the internet has made everyone paranoid about everything. Trust your gut, can’t read the news each day without hearing about someone dying in a car wreck but nobody says maybe we should drive less.


I honestly believe part of the reason you see these young kids shooting up places is due to overly helicopter parenting. Kids have no independence and don’t know how to deal with things themselves

[Chico_SA 521]

34 minutes ago, ernest_t_bass said:

Multiple reports around us and various Wal-Mart parking lots where kidnappings have been attempted.  "Lookers" wandering the store and following to cars, a few incidents where verbal and physical approach has happened.  With the absolute fucking sickness that is in this world (sex trafficking), I'm going to go ahead and play on the safe side when I'm in a very busy area.  Local Dollar General?  Have at it.

Got to get off that NextDoor...

[Quagmire 2147]

Got to get off that NextDoor...

Lol was thinking that too, most were probably busy body moms freaking out about the guy that just happened to park next to them.

[immortal13 4059]

The other day my stepson went up to the hotel front desk clerk and asked if she had any red bull or beer. /csb

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

Sheeit, I'm trying to force my 7 year old to go use the bathroom at the playground by himself.  I finally got it so at least I don't have to stay in the stall with him. 

I think 13 is fine.   10 probably not, but I guess you trust the 13 to take care of the 10.   

[fattyflattie 4639]

I do everything I can to anti helicopter, don’t know if it will work tho. Fucking soft generation.  

I do need to vet some of the stories I’ve been hearing lately on this side of town.  Next door/Facebook/rumor mill has had 2 stories floating on west side of Houston in last few weeks. One at Walmart with a 12-13yo, another at La Centerra with a 13-14.  Both girls, both supposedly “sick, out of it” when recovered (somehow drugged). La Centera story was pretty detailed - the Wal-Mart one was kind of flaky sounding.  Who knows. 

[RDCanecutter 26453]

When my son was 11, I parked him inside a video arcade in Papantla Mexico with 50 pesos, so I could enjoy my noon beers in the plaza in peace. I mean, I could see the arcade front door, right there. I'm sure any kidnappers would have used that front door, and not whatever hidden back ways there were out of that maze of buildings.

When I went to get him, he was speaking a hell of a lot of Spanish, teamed up with local kids shooting zombies. He didn't know any Spanish when I dropped him off.

[TexMex Horn 68]

Not sure what side this falls on, but I just sent my 20 yr old son to Spain by himself for the Summer. Didn't know anyone except an "internship" company that he would be working with. No Spanish. Never traveled far by himself before. Long story shorter, he came back. I really liked the peace & quiet. Oh, well, maybe he learned something

[UTPhil2006 3807]

So did someone yell at you or the ex yell at you?

[midtown 3346]

1 hour ago, UTPhil2006 said:

So did someone yell at you or the ex yell at you?

She didn't yell at me.  She happened to text me while I was sitting in the truck and asked where the kids were.   We actually co-parent really well and generally agree on parenting.

[Nivek 16945]

I recently was able to see the product of helicopter parenting. My 17 yr old niece is a bit helpless and sleeps as much as my 2 yr old. It doesn’t help that she was sheltered in a private Super Christian school nor that her family helped minimize education to the point where she asked me ‘if anyone uses this in the real world’ when we were talking about math. My education was in geology/geophysics.

I need my kids to explore more. I just wish my neighborhood street wasn’t used as a drag strip/school zone bypass.

[Jerry Callo 8704]

I heard this lady on a podcast - Free Range Kids.  Have your wife read some of the articles.

[gyroprotagonist 2594]

On 8/16/2019 at 1:19 PM, midtown said:

She didn't yell at me.  She happened to text me while I was sitting in the truck and asked where the kids were.   We actually co-parent really well and generally agree on parenting.

So you were sitting in the truck in the parking lot of the store and just sent them in?  nothing wrong with that. JFC, the 13yo could be operating a motor vehicle in 2 years, I would hope they could locate a few items at a grocery store with out starting the plot for Taken 6.  I would get my kids to do that at 7-11s when they were 9-10 yo and I was filling up on gas outside the store.  I would say the ex was over-reacting by quite a lot.

 

[MissingInAction 25107]

A friend of mine would not let her boy go into a public bathroom by himself until he was twelve, and would bring him into the women's bathroom with her. She only stopped this once I started calling her Norma Bates, and mentioned how he is really going to enjoy the women's public bathroom once puberty kicks in. 

The kid is 14 now, and just fucking weird. Dog won't even go near him. 

[RollLeft 5045]

On 8/16/2019 at 1:19 PM, midtown said:

She didn't yell at me.  She happened to text me while I was sitting in the truck and asked where the kids were.   We actually co-parent really well and generally agree on parenting.

username no longer checks out

[Buzzrock 14922]

My wife tells my ten year old to walk his friends home to make sure they make it safely. They live one and four doors down respectively.

[midtown 3346]

1 hour ago, Buzzrock said:

My wife tells my ten year old to walk his friends home to make sure they make it safely. They live one and four doors down respectively.

This happened with my 9 year old last year.  A girl  from her basketball team happened to live on our street.  I was texting with mom and told her to send her daughter up for a play date on a Saturday afternoon.   The door bell rings 10 mins later and the whole family is standing there.  Uh you could have just sent her over.

[Prepuce of Doom 21080]

22 hours ago, Jerry Callo said:

I heard this lady on a podcast - Free Range Kids.  Have your wife read some of the articles.

She's also a good follow on Twitter, but some of the idiotic news stories she posts will make your blood boil. 

 

[TwiceHorn 31497]

On 8/15/2019 at 9:30 PM, ernest_t_bass said:

Multiple reports around us and various Wal-Mart parking lots where kidnappings have been attempted.  "Lookers" wandering the store and following to cars, a few incidents where verbal and physical approach has happened.  With the absolute fucking sickness that is in this world (sex trafficking), I'm going to go ahead and play on the safe side when I'm in a very busy area.  Local Dollar General?  Have at it.

Are you trying to argue that somehow sex trafficking is new?

I offer for your consideration the Mann Act of 1910, also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act (unpack that title if you dare), "An Act to further regulate interstate and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes."

There's nothing new under the sun, folks.  We may know more about it, but it ain't new and it probably isn't a threat to your kiddo.

Most sexual exploitation of children offenses, meaning the vast, vast majority, are perpetrated by family members or close family acquaintances.  Next time you read a story about it, dig into it and you'll probably find that that sex trafficking victim was sold into it by family, or that the diddler was Uncle Ernie, in neither instance was it a stranger in a white van.

Also, much like modern-day screeching about sex trafficking, the Mann Act was mostly used against individual johns rather than any large-scale traffickers.

Edited August 20, 2019 by TwiceHorn

[Goofyboy 3293]

I do everything I can to anti helicopter, don’t know if it will work tho. Fucking soft generation.  
I do need to vet some of the stories I’ve been hearing lately on this side of town.  Next door/Facebook/rumor mill has had 2 stories floating on west side of Houston in last few weeks. One at Walmart with a 12-13yo, another at La Centerra with a 13-14.  Both girls, both supposedly “sick, out of it” when recovered (somehow drugged). La Centera story was pretty detailed - the Wal-Mart one was kind of flaky sounding.  Who knows. 

It wasn’t La Centera. It was La something else in San Antonio and got posted around our neighborhood pages as well. Regardless, sheriff departments have debunked a bunch of these.

My son is 8. We are starting to ride bikes a lot more. I want him comfortable on his bike. When he turns 12 or so, he will be free to roam. He will prob have a cell phone of some kind, but for the most part - get out and explore. Hopefully my wife will be on board with this.

[fattyflattie 4639]

If it was San Antonio, it was La Cantera. 1604/10 upscale shopping center if I had to guess.  My wife mixed it up then, which is 0% surprising.   

The other story I was talking about was Fulshear/Brookshire area.  I’m sure it’s was bullshit/hyperbole/nextdoor as well, but scary to think about, if not.

I think we’ve discussed this before on TOS, but I’m a few streets away from you.  Luckily, mine is just a big loop, and there’s about 40-60 kids on the two streets. I think we will be able to let them go as they please for the most part, starting with our immediate little loop.   My biggest fear is the assholes that treat the drag in front of the old model homes like a fucking drag strip   

 

[Goofyboy 3293]

The wife that originally posted it got it mixed up.
The assholes that speed through our hood really is the only concern I have for my kid on his bike.

[bernorange 8362]

You are a brave, brave man midtown ....

 

... for giving your 13 yo son your credit card. 

[Hate 20114]

The wife that originally posted it got it mixed up. The assholes that speed through our hood really is the only concern I have for my kid on his bike.

 

 

Absolutely this. My son has a light that flashes on his bike for when he is out past dark. Another concern is kids in golf carts. In my hood, parents let their teenage kids drive around on their golf carts. It pisses me off because I know those kids aren’t paying as much attention to the road. They’re too busy trying to find a place to fingerbang their fat girlfriends.

 

[midtown 3346]

19 minutes ago, bernorange said:

for giving your 13 yo son your credit card. 

Not worried about this one.  He wouldn't buy a $1 piece of candy without my permission.   My 10 yr old daughter on the other hand would buy $100's of stuff and deny it and then make up a story about a kidnapper forcing her at gunpoint to buy all that stuff

[ernest_t_bass 1196]

2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Are you trying to argue that somehow sex trafficking is new?

I offer for your consideration the Mann Act of 1910, also known as the White-Slave Traffic Act (unpack that title if you dare), "An Act to further regulate interstate and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes."

There's nothing new under the sun, folks.  We may know more about it, but it ain't new and it probably isn't a threat to your kiddo.

Most sexual exploitation of children offenses, meaning the vast, vast majority, are perpetrated by family members or close family acquaintances.  Next time you read a story about it, dig into it and you'll probably find that that sex trafficking victim was sold into it by family, or that the diddler was Uncle Ernie, in neither instance was it a stranger in a white van.

Also, much like modern-day screeching about sex trafficking, the Mann Act was mostly used against individual johns rather than any large-scale traffickers.

My response is more in regards to letting my young kids roam free in a busy shopping area that is unfamiliar.  I just simply won't do it.  That doesn't mean that my children don't get to experience freedom.  We're blessed to live in the country, on a farm, on relatively quiet back roads.  We attend a rural school that graduates ~60-70 each class.  They can come and go as they please in probably 90% of situations.  If me not allowing them (9 year old girl particularly) to roam a busy, unfamiliar, Wal-Mart is helicoptering, then label and judge away I guess.

[fattyflattie 4639]

11 hours ago, Hate said:

Another concern is kids in golf carts. In my hood, parents let their teenage kids drive around on their golf carts. It pisses me off because I know those kids aren’t paying as much attention to the road. Their too busy trying to find a place to fingerbang their fat girlfriends.

This has become a thing in my hood as well. And those fuckers run stop signs, act like general malcontents. I’m afraid some half cocked housewife is going to ruin one of them. 

[Goofyboy 3293]

Saw a cart with four girls on it rolling down the side walks - half on the grass and half on the sidewalk. They did at least stop at cross walks, but man, fuck the grass I guess.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21907]

Just as long as they weren't driving on the greens.