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Dave's avatar

I am surprised that I still have all my fingers. As a kid I packed cutoff match heads into used co2 cylinders to make improvised rockets that sometimes exploded when set off. I like to tell my grandkids about how as ten year olds with paper routes my friends and I once rode our bikes to a nearby small airport. We gave a pilot we didn’t know a couple of bucks for gas and he flew us over our homes in a Piper Cub. When I got home and told my mom her response was “that’s nice, get ready for dinner” and that was it. We lived in a Chicago suburb and would ride the train to the Loop and wander through the big department stores and once ended up on State street south of Van Buren outside a burlesque show hoping to get a peek inside. A friendly doorman waved us in for a free show. That we never mentioned to our folks. I fear for the current coddled generation.

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Brandy's avatar

I don't know exactly what age you are speaking about, but I was born in the late 70's and I was babysitting 4 kids (1 an infant) when I was 11. Were they irresponsible parents? No. Because most of us knew how to take care of ourselves pretty well by that age. Today, I'm not sure if 20 year olds are at that level and I'm sad for them.

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