and with no sidewalks or paved roads . . . to a one room school house with only a wood burning stove to provide the heat . . . if we all brought a stick of wood . . . .
Actually, on snowy days we had to wait an hour for the bus. If it didn’t show up we could go home. And sure as shootin’ somebody’s mother would drive us to school anyway! (Usually mine, which did a lot for my popularity quotient.)
I certainly had to walk more than two miles, and it went uphill all the way. Surely the reason I was always happier coming back than going to school. And there was a charcoal stove in each class.However I did have shoes and it rarely snows around here.Great memories of nearly hour-long chatting/flirting on the way back. And my first real kiss too.
It does seam like more and more kids are riding in a car this days. Also they seam to be more of if you don’t give me what I what I will hold my breath on till I die.
That last panel reminds me of the time I had to ride the bus to work for a few months until I could get another car. One of the passengers wanted the driver to let him off at the entrance of a small strip mall where there wasn’t a bus stop. The driver refused and the passenger called him a really bad word for not complying with his request, not realizing bus drivers can’t let people off in undesignated areas. Must have been one of those kids that wanted to be dropped off right in front of the door.I walked six blocks to school when I went to elementery school, one block to the junior high for the 7th grade, but had to take the bus to another junior high when we moved. Problem was there was a school down the block I could have gone to instead but for some stupid reason I wasn’t sent there. I either walked to or took the bus to high school, it just depended on the weather.And for people driving their kids to school, recently there has been an uproar in my area over parents telling their kids it’s okay to treaspass on other people’s property to get to their school because they don’t want to wait in line to drop them off in front of the school. One of the areas was under construction and in frustration they put up a plastic orange fence to keep kids from walking through a construction area. The kids leaped over it and/or tore down the fencing and the parents complained they should have been warned about it and got really heated up over it. All because they didn’t want to pay the extra money to have their kids take the school bus. But teaching your kids it’s okay to break the law, God only knows how those kids will turn out.
They are the children of “The Age of Entitlement”. Their motto:“Give me what I want now & for free”. Want to see them?Look for them “occuping” Wall Street.
It’s not the children to blame for it- it’s the parents. Children will do what they are told for the most part, and without a lot of complaining if that’s just the way it is. ncalifgirl58 hints at why kids are driven everywhere (and come to expect to be) – which is a frankly irrational fear of the world. The have always been predators and sex offenders, and in fact, in the past they thrived to some extent because some people at least pretended it didn’t happen, or actually were unaware. There’s not more now, there’s probably less, because parents and teachers and kids are more aware and wary, but now we let our fear rule – so kids don’t play outside unsupervised, and they don’t walk to school on their own, or even at all, because mom and dad don’t have time to walk them, so they just drop them off.
Two things that bug me almost endlessly: (1) the student entrance to school is at one end of the building; you can’t bring a car up past a certain point in the driveway. Kids will either try to have their parents drop them off right in front of the door, or have their parents drive them around to the main entrance of the school. God forbid I should have to walk a little; (2) when I rode the school buses in this county, the drivers were prohibited from stopping more than four times in a mile. Now they stop at every driveway, regardless of whether there’s even a bus length between them. Who will teach the kids how to walk and cross the streets safely when we’re hand-carrying them from their own front doors all the way to the front doors of the schools?
Linda1259 over 11 years ago
and with no sidewalks or paved roads . . . to a one room school house with only a wood burning stove to provide the heat . . . if we all brought a stick of wood . . . .
Dani Rice over 11 years ago
Actually, on snowy days we had to wait an hour for the bus. If it didn’t show up we could go home. And sure as shootin’ somebody’s mother would drive us to school anyway! (Usually mine, which did a lot for my popularity quotient.)
daniel_bel over 11 years ago
I certainly had to walk more than two miles, and it went uphill all the way. Surely the reason I was always happier coming back than going to school. And there was a charcoal stove in each class.However I did have shoes and it rarely snows around here.Great memories of nearly hour-long chatting/flirting on the way back. And my first real kiss too.
cl1996 over 11 years ago
It does seam like more and more kids are riding in a car this days. Also they seam to be more of if you don’t give me what I what I will hold my breath on till I die.
ncalifgirl58 over 11 years ago
I would not let my kids walk by themselves these days for sure. But I remember running to school and back. Those were the days! lol
cbrsarah over 11 years ago
That last panel reminds me of the time I had to ride the bus to work for a few months until I could get another car. One of the passengers wanted the driver to let him off at the entrance of a small strip mall where there wasn’t a bus stop. The driver refused and the passenger called him a really bad word for not complying with his request, not realizing bus drivers can’t let people off in undesignated areas. Must have been one of those kids that wanted to be dropped off right in front of the door.I walked six blocks to school when I went to elementery school, one block to the junior high for the 7th grade, but had to take the bus to another junior high when we moved. Problem was there was a school down the block I could have gone to instead but for some stupid reason I wasn’t sent there. I either walked to or took the bus to high school, it just depended on the weather.And for people driving their kids to school, recently there has been an uproar in my area over parents telling their kids it’s okay to treaspass on other people’s property to get to their school because they don’t want to wait in line to drop them off in front of the school. One of the areas was under construction and in frustration they put up a plastic orange fence to keep kids from walking through a construction area. The kids leaped over it and/or tore down the fencing and the parents complained they should have been warned about it and got really heated up over it. All because they didn’t want to pay the extra money to have their kids take the school bus. But teaching your kids it’s okay to break the law, God only knows how those kids will turn out.
Badfisherman over 11 years ago
They are the children of “The Age of Entitlement”. Their motto:“Give me what I want now & for free”. Want to see them?Look for them “occuping” Wall Street.
Greg Johnston over 11 years ago
It’s not the children to blame for it- it’s the parents. Children will do what they are told for the most part, and without a lot of complaining if that’s just the way it is. ncalifgirl58 hints at why kids are driven everywhere (and come to expect to be) – which is a frankly irrational fear of the world. The have always been predators and sex offenders, and in fact, in the past they thrived to some extent because some people at least pretended it didn’t happen, or actually were unaware. There’s not more now, there’s probably less, because parents and teachers and kids are more aware and wary, but now we let our fear rule – so kids don’t play outside unsupervised, and they don’t walk to school on their own, or even at all, because mom and dad don’t have time to walk them, so they just drop them off.
Linda Solomon over 11 years ago
Ben must be from Minnesota too…aka Many snows to ya…
K M over 11 years ago
Two things that bug me almost endlessly: (1) the student entrance to school is at one end of the building; you can’t bring a car up past a certain point in the driveway. Kids will either try to have their parents drop them off right in front of the door, or have their parents drive them around to the main entrance of the school. God forbid I should have to walk a little; (2) when I rode the school buses in this county, the drivers were prohibited from stopping more than four times in a mile. Now they stop at every driveway, regardless of whether there’s even a bus length between them. Who will teach the kids how to walk and cross the streets safely when we’re hand-carrying them from their own front doors all the way to the front doors of the schools?