4 ms·
This is an old(ish) essay, but I enjoyed reading it again. A couple thoughts... " A parent who set an example of loving their work might help their kids more
by geebee 17y ago
This is an old(ish) essay, but I enjoyed reading it again.
A couple thoughts...
" A parent who set an example of loving their work might help their kids more than an expensive house. [3]"
I wish it were a choice between loving my work and an expensive house. Then I could just live in a more modest house and not worry so much about money. The problem is, just living modestly with a family in places like San Francisco, New York, or London takes everything you got and then some. I suppose I don't strictly have to live in SF...
"[3]... Parents move to suburbs to raise their kids in a safe environment, but suburbs are so dull and artificial that by the time they're fifteen the kids are convinced the whole world is boring."
Or worse, they look for trouble to make their lives more exciting. I grew up in SF, and while there was still plenty of risk-seeking behavior (of the bad kind) in high school (inevitably), there was so much that was interesting to get into that other things, like a meth addiction, seemed less interesting. Just anecdotal, but I actually think that moving to a boring suburb won't just convince your kids that the world is safe and boring, it may backfire and give your kids a world that is boring unless they find a way to make it unsafe...
- anigbrowl 17y agoSeconded, heavily - and also the repost, for being just what I needed to read this morning.
- araneae 17y agoI am the classic example of a boring suburban upbringing resulting in a penchant for the unsafe (I don't really consider myself self-destructive, but everyone else does ;P) But kids are fairly rebellious no matter how they're raised. This is mostly a problem because parents hang on to their kids far longer than they should. When puberty hits, kids get rebellious because -wait for it- they're adults! They have a biological imperative to get out into the world and mate!
- nopassrecover 17y agoIt's for the best that they are prevented as much as possible from succeeding at this biological imperative (pregnancy) before they have the necessary means and capabilities.
- rbanffy 17y agoWe have evolved in a time that, by the time you could hunt, you were old enough to mate. Our society is much more complex than our biology expects.
- nopassrecover 17y agoI do have to wonder if children were brought up socially rather than parentally. I find it hard to imagine a 14 year old being an adequate hunter.
- araneae 17y ago14 year olds can be very mature if they are expected to be. Having to hunt to survive can make you learn to do it well very quickly. Also, clearly you have never lived in the Midwest. Even in some parts of modern day society 14 year old boys are adequate hunters :).
- nopassrecover 17y agoFair enough. Modern day society has guns and less predators though.
- gcheong 17y agoI believe in most hunter/gatherer societies, the hunters hunt in groups with the older hunters training the younger ones.
- deleted 17y ago[deleted]
- araneae 17y agoBest for what or whom? All the first world countries are below replacement rate, except for the United States. We're at replacement rate only because we have fairly heavy immigration.
- scotch_drinker 17y agoYes, all kids who grow up in suburbs turn to drugs and wild women because they are convinced the whole world is boring. I really enjoyed the essay but making sweeping generalizations about kids raised in the suburbs is ridiculous. Also, it's not as if the suburbs don't have things like computers or theater or whatever else it is about large, urban cities that make them so much more interesting. Whenever you see someone writing sweeping generalizations about rural or suburban life, you can bet that person is parroting things they heard or assume to be true from their wonderfully urbane life.
- psyklic 17y agoMy experience has been that the suburbs were dull, allowing me to get really great at programming. But even better, when I had the opportunity to move to big cities, they were even more fantastic and exciting because I was from suburbs. I can't imagine growing up in a city and getting bored with it, before I'm even old enough to take full advantage of life there!