I don’t think so. What I’m lamenting is that our society is so far removed from having actual community that people can’t even imagine what life was like back then when parents wouldn’t give any thought to kicking their 9 year old kids out of the house to go run around their cities because the parents knew that everyone in town knew who their kids were and everyone looked after each other, and especially the kids.

That really was normal for most of human history.

We are probably going to disagree on cellphone access being better for the kids.

In 1913, 700 miles was practically across the country. That was further away than most adults traveled from their birth town in their lives.

Yes, the store thing was just an example. The point is that before the 1970-80s basically ALL kids were “free-range”. In the 80s a PSA would come on tv that asked the parents if they knew where their kids were, and often than answer was ‘no’. (That’s literally the moment when parents started being shamed for not being helicopter parents.)

It’s just an uncomfortable fact.

Parents used to buy postage and literally mail their kids across the country.

And people didn’t think that was weird.

You think that started in the 70s?

Yes. Definitely (though of course the actual specific time when such things started changes based on location, rural areas were slower than suburban).

Consider this: How old were your kids when you allowed them to go to a store by themselves for the first time?

How old were you when you were allowed to go to a store by yourself for the first time?

Ask your grandma how old she was. (Call your grandma anyway, she would love to hear from you.)

I honestly don’t believe that Dr. Spock would recognize today’s parenting expectations as anything other than absurdity. Which it is.

No where did he say that children should not be allowed to go to a store by themselves, or that kids should be expected to have a minimum of 16 hours of college credits before they turn 18.

When he was writing, he would not have been able to imagine the way “parenting” would evolve by the end of the century.

Not really, no. The modern concept of a parent is really recent invention. Parents 70 years ago did not have expectations and responsibility that parents have today.

Your great grandparents would absolutely think the job of parenting today is absurd to the point of just being comedy.

That sounds like an awesome experience!

You should watch the Scouts “Safe Guarding Youth Training” program.

The scouts very likely have stricter youth protection policies then your kid’s school does.

I really recommend you actually read some of the requirements.

The Scouts are very, I would say, “classically conservative”, meaning they lean very heavy on traditional conservative values, like helping others and being an active member of a community. Yes it’s very patriotic, but it’s patriotic from a position of service to your community and participation in you local democracy. I honestly can’t think of anything “fascist” at all. (The fact that MAGA hates the boy scouts should be evidence enough of this.)

Is that like ROTC in the US?

The Supreme Court literally ruled that racism was over when they overturned the voting rights act.

Just to be clear, “morally straight” does not mean “sexually straight”.

And yes, “mentally awake” literally means “woke”. (Seriously. The scouts have been literally teaching “woke” for over 100 years. It’s actually a very progressive organization.)

Does your son play Rec or Select baseball. My kid plays on a select team and I don’t know any team that does no travel at all.

(There just generally aren’t enough local tournaments to even make that possible and still fill out a season.)

No overnight trips?

You haven’t had a kid in sports yet, huh? (Not that there is anything wrong with that.) Over night trips are generally pretty common for any kid in sports over 6th grade.

What’s… better?

So here is all of the Scout is Reverent requirements for Cub Scouts.

https://www.scouting.org/programs/cub-scouts/leader-resources/pack-meeting-resources/family-reverence/

What specific lesson can you identify here that you disagree with? (Please actually cite the specific activity you take issue with. Don’t just make something up.)

So let’s back up.

What specific actual virtue of the Scouting America do you have a problem with?

Here’s the scout law to get you started:

A scout is: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.

Which one of these virtues do you want your kids to have? (And for gawd sakes, please read something about what “reverence” means before knee-jerking to that one."