The debate, rather low-key but persistent though it may be, has been ongoing for some time. Briefly, there is a growing chorus of critics claiming that many, too many, of today’s parents are much too controlling and overprotective; they are stunting the ability of their offspring to mature and become at least relatively streetwise.
In other words, mom and dad are, in the view of the naysayers, creating a generation of wimps. Well, we can argue these points endlessly. After all, I do recall that the so-called Spock Generation was supposed to be coddled and ultra-catered to as well.
So this theme tends to have an ongoing quality to it over the decades. But that recent case in Maryland — in which a parent found herself being interviewed by the police and child protective services because she allowed her two youngsters to walk to and from school by themselves — has crystallized some issues.
But let’s not belabor this stuff too much. Let’s just state that, in the past, the parental leash was a bit looser. And there were reasons for that. Life was simpler. There were fewer distractions. There was no such thing as a smartphone or social media via the Internet; there was no cable TV; there were no laws governing seat belts, bicycle helmets, etc.
Here on the Peninsula, there were huge swaths of open space right in the middle of burgeoning, new housing developments. Many of them former grand estates of the wealthy, these vast properties represented playgrounds for neighborhood kids.
Heck, for me, as noted previously, the old Borel Estate and its environs in San Mateo featured everything from a gurgling creek and wonderful trees suitable for treehouse-building to horses available for rent on weekends.
You could pack a lunch, bring along your air rifle, pay a very modest fee and saddle up swaybacked old Paint for a docile canter into the wilds of the foothills where the College of San Mateo is now located.
You could spend most of a day on your own with your pals in pursuit of adventures at the tender age of 12. That’s rare today in these parts.
Oh, and then there was work. Yes, work. Juveniles actually could get small jobs in the 1940s and 1950s. I have recounted that my first real job, at 13, was as a butcher’s apprentice (really, a cleanup guy, a scullery for brisket and pork loin leavings) at the long-gone State Market. I spent my afternoons after school caring for knives and the electric bone saw and meat grinder, injecting brine into corned beef, refreshing/replacing sawdust on the floors and tending trays in the display case, among other mundane chores.
That would not be permitted now. Can you imagine Cal-OSHA’s response if the authorities discovered a 13-year-old laboring near an electric bone saw or meat grinder at Lunardi’s or Molly Stone’s? Good heavens, the screams of outrage would be deafening. Quick, bring back Upton Sinclair.
My point is simple: There were more opportunities to turn young people loose in the past. They were less organized by their parents, and they had to find more things to do on their own.
Was it safer growing up 30, 40, 50 years ago? Maybe. Maybe not. That’s not clear. Let’s just say that all of the high-tech information (including cable TV and nonstop news) and gadgets available now provide a vague perception of danger on a minute-by-minute basis.
It’s no wonder so many parents are paranoid. Can’t say that I blame them.
John Horgan’s column appears Thursday. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.
