These articles are always idiotic by nature because they are solutions in search of problems.
The suburbs are not and have never been a problem for kids. There are plenty of other kids in the suburbs to play with and far more room to do things than you will ever find in an urban area. I don't want to live in a fucking cave right up next to my neighbor and I won't as long as I can afford it.
Why is it that we've got tens of millions of examples of people who grew up in the suburbs and fucking loved their childhoods, but these dimwits keep on pushing urbanism as a panacea to a problem that only ever exists if parents allow it?
I grew up in the suburbs during the 80s and early 90s. My childhood was to wake up at 6ish, watch some cartoons, and then get locked outside the house except for lunch or a snack. I rode my bike, played sports, played in makeshift forts, went fishing, and went hunting. I would show up again when the sun started going down. That was my day, every day that the weather wasn't bad.
My dad usually dominated the TV during the evenings, and so my time was spent playing or reading or doing homework. We didn't have a lot of money, but I did have a bunch of hand-me-down lego sets, and I would create Transformers and other toys with the lego pieces. My dad had old military blankets which I would use to create forts, or alternatively, mountains to drive my Hot Wheels cars through. I would just pile them up and shove my arms through them to create tunnels. And I'd play video games, but that time was limited and on a 13 inch black and white TV.
Was it perfect? No. My parents were emotionally abusive at times. But I had to meet my friends every day in person and I had to learn how to get along with them and their parents and families. I couldn't just toss a tablet on a bed when I had an issue with GoatHumper666. Sometimes that was arguments. Sometimes that was fights. But we were all we had and we would make up at the end of the day.
Go talk to a teacher. Ask them how the kids are doing today. They're all ultra-self-entitled. A bunch of little princes and princesses who won't listen to teachers because they have no incentive to do so. The school systems will push their little unsocialized, imagination-bereft asses along and the teachers themselves are powerless to discipline them in any way that actually matters. A bunch of children being raised by screens because their parents are distracted by screens and the teachers who are forced to attempt to deal with all of their pent up energy when they can't look at those same screens.
The suburbs are not and have never been a problem for kids. There are plenty of other kids in the suburbs to play with and far more room to do things than you will ever find in an urban area. I don't want to live in a fucking cave right up next to my neighbor and I won't as long as I can afford it.
Why is it that we've got tens of millions of examples of people who grew up in the suburbs and fucking loved their childhoods, but these dimwits keep on pushing urbanism as a panacea to a problem that only ever exists if parents allow it?
I grew up in the suburbs during the 80s and early 90s. My childhood was to wake up at 6ish, watch some cartoons, and then get locked outside the house except for lunch or a snack. I rode my bike, played sports, played in makeshift forts, went fishing, and went hunting. I would show up again when the sun started going down. That was my day, every day that the weather wasn't bad.
My dad usually dominated the TV during the evenings, and so my time was spent playing or reading or doing homework. We didn't have a lot of money, but I did have a bunch of hand-me-down lego sets, and I would create Transformers and other toys with the lego pieces. My dad had old military blankets which I would use to create forts, or alternatively, mountains to drive my Hot Wheels cars through. I would just pile them up and shove my arms through them to create tunnels. And I'd play video games, but that time was limited and on a 13 inch black and white TV.
Was it perfect? No. My parents were emotionally abusive at times. But I had to meet my friends every day in person and I had to learn how to get along with them and their parents and families. I couldn't just toss a tablet on a bed when I had an issue with GoatHumper666. Sometimes that was arguments. Sometimes that was fights. But we were all we had and we would make up at the end of the day.
Go talk to a teacher. Ask them how the kids are doing today. They're all ultra-self-entitled. A bunch of little princes and princesses who won't listen to teachers because they have no incentive to do so. The school systems will push their little unsocialized, imagination-bereft asses along and the teachers themselves are powerless to discipline them in any way that actually matters. A bunch of children being raised by screens because their parents are distracted by screens and the teachers who are forced to attempt to deal with all of their pent up energy when they can't look at those same screens.