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| Before the beach poo. |
The dog, for the longest time, did not join our man in the surf. At one point the little collie sniffed around the sand, moving ever farther from the water, before settling on a dry spot to defecate. After he'd done his 'business', the dog went right into the water for a bit of playtime. The owner, I'll have you know, was watching as his dog shat in the sand, but did not retrieve the poo before he and his dog left the beach. Dog owners, eh? (Yes, I know. #NotAllDogOwners.)
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| Pool Peep |
I watched this kid watch me standing in my birthday suit as I was toweling off after a shower. My questions were: Where is his mother? Why is he in the change room if he's not swimming? Is he being scarred for life at the sight of a strange woman in the buff? I'd seen him come in with his mother/grandmother/don't know and some other adults and older children. Could she not have left him in their care for the duration? Maybe they were all showering together? Whatever the case, it seems to me that children are these days, by and large, attached to their parents to the point of absurdity. I was just thinking the other day that none of my childhood memories involving going to the public pool include adults of any kind. Sure, there was a lifeguard here or there, but the guards were only teens. Most kids nowadays, if not all, who I see at the pool are with chaperones of some sort. The child above is a wee one, so I should think he'd be with a parent in the change room, but I've seen more than my fair share of school age boys changing with their mothers. I find that odd, but I would imagine that some poor mother would be accused of child abuse were she to let her 7-year-old boy use the men's change room on his own while she got on with things in the ladies'.
Also: Feel free to disregard what I've written as I am not a parent & just an opinionated child-free adult.
I am another childless opinionatated person. I cannot remember my parents at the pool - or indeed at many of our activities. I worry about helicopter parenting and wonder/believe it reduces independence and resilience. A child in our extended family is the beneficiary/victim and he seems (at thirteen) to be unable to do things on his own. I don't think for example he has ever been to the local shops on his own. Or the library.
ReplyDeleteOne of my friend's children did not go to the shops on his own until he was around 15 years of age. He also, might I add, didn't seem inclined to go off on his own either. A different world from ours, eh?
DeleteVery different. I am grateful that I didn't live that way.
DeleteBack in 1976 we took our great BiCentennial vacation, and scooped up some extra kids for the trip. I think my girls were 9 and 11. My BFF's boy was 7. In Boston, on the commons, I made him use the girl's room. I told him I wanted to keep an eye on everyone, and he said "Thanks for watching out for me, Aunt Joanne." I've always wondered about that. He's a retired Marine, these days.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great you took a '76 vacation. I have vague memories of that time, but mostly remember everything seemingly decked out in red, white and blue!
DeleteAn acquaintance not much older than me tells a story of how they used to go out to a patch of land that became an island in the river at high tide. One evening he got cut off so went to sleep in a bush. Next as home they had barely noticed he was missing. Conversation went something like - Dad (annoyed but unconcerned): where the hell have you been? Child answers and gets short sharp ear clip. Dad: Well you'd better bloody well get your self off to school. No one bothered. It would be police and helicopters now.
ReplyDeleteYes, it would be a very different response today.
DeleteThe dog owner looks as though he is about to poo himself.
ReplyDeleteHe's in an unflattering pose, isn't he?
DeleteWhen I was a kid, we were scared to death of stranger danger. We heard all about how we could be abducted by some rando while we were walking home from school. Adults my age are the helicopter parents. I think we were so scarred from these talks that we go overboard looking after children. (Not that I have any.) That's my theory, anyway.
ReplyDeleteOh, yes. My GenX friends are very much helicopter parents. I sort of don't think they have the choice not to, given how the culture has shifted.
DeleteI don't recall 'stranger danger' being drummed into us when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. I do recall the MEGA anti-drug campaign that hit with Nancy's Just Say No! slogan, however. Having said that, I recall now a kid from school almost being abducted by some scuz in a car as she walked to school. And, one of my friends was almost abducted in the same manor when she was around twelve. Her parents never let her walk anywhere after that episode.