my kid informs me that she really wants to go to disney world. i explain that disney world is a place i really hate, so she ought not hold her breath. then she suggests that she can go to the park by herself and i can go find some other way to entertain myself during that time. i dismiss the idea immediately.
when i think back though to when i was her age, i realize that is exactly what would have happened had my parents taken me to disney. (my parents, however, didn't venture more than about 100 miles from new york city, so no worries about this actually coming up). by the time i was in the fifth grade, i was pretty much on my own. i walked to school in the morning and back home in the afternoon. on days when there was no school, i'd leave the house to go out on the street in the late morning and come back at dinnertime. i walked long distances to go places and would take the bus or subway on my own if i had the money to. all my friends lived this lifestyle as well and a complete lack of supervision seemed the norm. in fact, the few children we did know who lived under parental supervision where considered highly unusual both by us kids and by our parents. my dad left hungary after a dispute with the communists and their radical expansion of power. europe, however, isn't really that big a place, so he soon found himself living the life of a beach bum in southern italy. he was quite a dark skinned man and seemed able to spend all day in sea and sand without any ill effects. i, on the other hand, burn easily and am impatient with just sitting in the sand all day. he came to new york and was a beach bum there as well and never lost his love of the beach. on summer saturdays we would go to jones beach along with 100,000 other people. it is a large and well appointed place. i'd hang out with dad for half an hour or so, then disappear to find other activities. maybe i'd swim a couple of miles down the beach or maybe i'd go check out the basketball courts. i'd return several hours later after having entertained myself adequately . this was pretty normal. i'm still fond of the beach and take my kid whenever i can. she is never out of my sight. my question is a simple one: were my parents' generation simply negligent in their outlook or are we simply insanely overprotective? _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new parts see official list sponsor: http://www.buymbparts.com/ For used parts email [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
