Soooo... I just used the term "shocker" over the phone to Jason at work. Without thinking, clearly.


Now to see if anyone that overheard knows what that is...

Well, I did some in-store helmet browsing. Much to my surprise, the "dorkier" option actually ended up looking less dorky on my than the "stylish". Go figure.

While I don't wax poetic about it, and if I ever had children wouldn't do it myself, I don't really view my parents application of corporal punishment as damaging in any way. But neither do I hold the view that it can't be damaging.

As for the risks thing, any individual aspect of risk abatement is hard to argue against, I just question when we've gone to far in trying to eliminate all risks.

When I was a kid we used to dig a pit in a nearby wild area and then build ramps to jump over the pit with our bikes. We all survived. None of us ever even owned a helmet. Many of us got hurt to some degree or another. And there was never any parental supervision (where we were if someone was seriously hurt it would have taken 20 minutes to even get to somewhere possible to call for help).

THere was serious risk (we were also generally swimming in the nearby creek without supervision as well) and it was all easily avoidable and it would be hard for me to fault a parent prohibiting the entire thing on safety grounds (or making us take it to a specially built bike park with padded walls and body armor and a 1:1 parent to child ratio). But I also can't help but feel that something important is also lost if that kind of unstructured, unsupervided group play is taken away.

Is there any reason to let kids ride in a car without a seatbelt? Not really (though sitting on my dad's lap "driving" the car up and down the street in front of my house when I was four is one of the strongest positive memories I have). Is it child abuse to leave you six year old in the car while running into the convenience store for five minutes? Not really.

What was the complete sentence?

"I really enjoyed that shocker you gave me last night, left me tingling for hours, will you do it again when I get home?"

is more interesting than

"Did you see that story about the shocker the utility worker got when she fell alseep in his cherry picker and coworkers played an unacceptable prank on her?"

Alex, agreed re: risk. Hell, I DID take some pretty serious spills on my bike, with a chipped front tooth to show for it. No biggie.

In a lot of ways I think it's more important as an adult to worry about safety equipment than as a kid. My reflexes, reaction time, maneuverability, and ability to recover from injury are significantly reduced from what they were 20 years ago. Plus I have a longer way to fall with a lot more mass and momentum to increase the impact force.

But really the deciding factor for me is regularity. Most everyone is going to survive the occasional ride to the store or day of jumping over flimsy plywood ramps unscathed. But repeat daily over a long period of time, and one's odds of injury become less and less comforting.

Not to put a damper on it, but you and your family depend on your income, and if you get hurt, it's not only you who would be affected.

Have you ever heard someone recall with fond memories being beaten? I know I haven't.

Me: "Did you get The Shocker?"

Background: a running gag on Sealab 2021 is a fictional chain restaurant, Grizzlebees. Their claim to fame is that they're the home of "The Shocker" - which looks as one with a slightly dirty mind might imagine. Incidentally, if you order The Shocker, you get a free Tossed Salad.

Jason and his co-workers went to Applebee's for lunch.

I *think* she was referring to the lyrics I posted. I've heard the actual song (which I don't think you need to hear for the message and I didn't link cause the message would be lost in the context - country music isn't popular around these parts) and I don't think he's waxing poetic about it... I think he's referencing it to how times have changed and it can seem that the theme to parenting these days is threats without follow through and the child threatening to call the police on their parents for a spanking on the butt for doing something dangerous.

Times are different now. It's not all bad and it's not all good.