Had a thought today driving through my neighborhood. I rarely, if at all, ever see kids (boys) running around shirtless. When i grew up, not wearing a shirt was commonâŚthe norm even during the summer. Never really see that anymore.
One of my projects is in a cute residential neighborhood and there is a roving gang of 6-10 year old boys out enjoying their summer break most days. Itâs nice to see them out on bikes and scooters just ripping around and playing games, scraping knees, playing soccer etc. But, they are head to toe in protective sun gear.
ETA now that I think about it, in the mornings itâs pretty common to see kids running around half naked in their yards. But when the sun comes out and theyll be out for extended times its a different story.
A) Absolutely love this thread. I am a later Gen X-er. More on the hip hop becoming main stream end of it. But so many memories in here wow.
B) More of a direct reply to you @RandMart I coach XC and track. I am floored how much less often the kids go shirtless. I know for a while it was banned in different cities/ districts/ schools/ etc, but when itâs hot out I inevitably have boys with shirts on. I canât do it anymore. Not fit enough and coaching lol. But We absolutely never wore shirts unless it was cold out. Itâs more true with the girls. Theyâd always strip down to sports bras back in the day. About 50% now.
I coached girls distance in 2001 and one day loaded up 3 girls in my car and drove them to a park on a Saturday to run trails.
I got called into the office and was told under no circumstances was I to that again.
When I was in school in the 80s, having a teacher or coach drive you somewhere off campus was seen as pretty normal.
Quick addendum to this story: a college teammate of mine lost his teaching and coaching career doing exactly the same things. He either had relations with a student, or the student claimed that he did. Either way, he had driven her home on many occasions.
As much as we hate to admit it this was also fairly normal. Not necessarily socially accepted but frequently swept under the rug.
Now we get news releases when a teacher is fired for it (and it still happens with disturbing regularity).
Our rowing coach started dating one of the lightweight girls as soon as she graduated. He was in his late 20s or early 30s. She had just turned 18. They didnât hide it at all. I think it lasted 6 months, she broke up with him and he quit coaching.
Back to the gen-x shit, did anyone elseâs parents just leave you and your siblings in the car at the mall for extended periods while they went shopping and ran errands?
I remember once it was warm out so my brother and I opened all the doors. A little bit away was another car with a couple kids also left in the parking lot. We went up and talked to them for what felt like an eternity until our parents came back. I canât remember how young I was, but pretty young. Definitely too young by todayâs standards!
I went to a very small school and it happened twice in 5 or 6 years. 8th grade teacher and long time basketball coach, 50+ years old, quickly left town after he affair with a senior (who was his neighbor) was found out. Girl in my grade married the typing teacher, 30âish year old guy who replaced the previous basketball coach, shortly after graduation. In a totally unrelated story he gave her student of the year awards for his classes multiple times so it probably started when we were juniors.
Around 2005, my kids were asleep in the car.
I left them in the car outside a gas station, as I went into pay. (The credit card reader had some issue).
I came back (about 2 minutes later) and a woman was screaming at me for neglect.
At first, I felt guilty. (You are always guilty of something as a parent).
But on second thoughtsâŚ
Do I really have to wake up and carry two smallish children with me into a gas station, on a shady 80 degree day?
The screaming lady said she was going to call the cops!!
I noticed that she was extremely unnaturally agitated.
I offered to call the cops myselfâŚ
At which point she threw her drink at me and sprinted off.
My later thought:
âWelcome to the 00s- where even meth heads will tell you what is wrong with your parenting.â
I left my dogs in the car when I went in to eat. I could see them from where I was sitting. Some guy comes in and tells me it is illegal to leave your dogs in the car. I told him it is most certainly not. He said he was calling the cops, I offered to dial for him and told him I would wait with him until they showed up. It was about 45 freedoms outside.
Yesterday, I learned thatâs how Henry Rollins & Ian MacKaye met; riding bikes (Iâd never heard this story before, unlike other Rollins stories, which he has a tendency to repeat and refine)
In a convo posted in April, he said that he was 12 years old riding his Schwinn StingRay around the neighborhood in DC, and came across another kid and his friend on an alley, both with StingRays as well
They rode to a ballpark where there was also a board and a brick = a jump!
So Henry joined them, jumping their bikes, and those were his first & longest friends
This was news to me, because the long-standing âcanonâ from Henry himself, was that they met at age 15 at a skatepark
key in the ignition flicked to accessory so the radio worked, doors unlocked, cigarette lighter unsupervised, mysterious sh*t in the glove compartment, it was great