Prehistoric Human Life

In very many cases people didn't!

Children of mothers who smoke and drank were born premature and/or with deformities.

People died of asbestosis, a particularly pernicious way to go.

A greater proportion of people who were involved in road accidents were killed or seriously injured.

People died of listeria.

The build-up of lead led to lead posioning.

Children consumed bleach, pills, etc and died.

They rode bikes with no helmets and were killed or seriously injured when their heads hit the road.

Etc, etc.

Just because some H&S is the proverbial 'H&S gone mad', doesn't mean that all H&S legislation, and other legislation which has helped to protect people - from themselves as much as anything, is bad.

Similarly, there are some things on your list that are pefectly sensible.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike-B:


HOW DID THE HUMAN RACE SURVIVE

As Darwin used to say, it's not the smartest or the strongest but the most adaptable that survive.

As new step-dad, the whole issue of children's safety is a concept I'm fairly new to.

The need to protect children against injury seems pretty clear, but we can go to far. For example, regulations requiring playgrounds to have low impact ground cover have made them so expensive that they are now less common than they otherwise would have been. Children travel great distances to get to them, increasing road safety risks. There is no evidence that the "improved" playgrounds have reduced (the already very low) incidence of injury.

The bit I can't get my head around is the collective hysteria around "stranger danger". Our 9 year old has been so inculcated with this hogwash that he is reluctant to go to the front gate by himself. He is convinced that the world is filled with "bad guys" who will abduct him and murder him in a flash. We live in one of he safest places in the world. I don't know how to fix this, but his fears are seriously affecting his enjoyment of childhood in my opinion. I can recall similar irrational fears at his age. I wasn't worried about being abducted, just murdered while I slept. I was convinced that someone would come in through my bedroom window and stab me. I was paranoid.

On a related matter, Nancy fucking Grace has a lot to answer for. By endlessly repeating the extremely rare high publicity cases in the popular media, she does us all a great disservice. This greedy and selfish bitch should be called to account.

Bottom line, child abductions and murders (in the developed world) are vanishingly rare. And when they do occur, they are overwhelmingly likely to be perpetrated by their parents or close family members. And don't give me the "but one is too many" argument. Yes it is, but we all make compromises in every area. Let's worry about the stuff we should really worry about. Let the kids have fun.

Rant over.

It's interesting to compare ones own childhood with those growing up today. I was born in '66 so was first allowed out on my own in about '70. From this point on I regularly played 'in the gully' as we called it which was a small stream with a narrow band of woodland either side about 400m from my home. I received countless stings, scratches, cuts, bruises etc., but rapidly learnt that falling off things hurt. So many of the bad accidents today seem to stem from a complete lack of common sense; I blame this on over protective parents and the compulsive behaviour of our Nanny State and its health and safety laws. (and also no win no fee personal accident lawyers who should be rounded up and shot!)

My parents also warned me to be on the look out for anyone strange, but this was more of a gentle caution that not all people are to be trusted rather than a panic inducing - watch out, enveryone's a murderer! On this subject I went out for a walk yesterday on my own in a local forest - just getting some fresh air and trying to work off some of the recent over indulgences. I was struck on one occasion when a couple with 2 young children saw me, promptly grabbed their kids and herded them past me giving me a concerned look. It comes to something when walking alone in the woods is automatically assumed to mean 'up to no good'

I try to give my 11 year old daughter a balanced view and a reasonable degree of freedom - I'm not sure I always succeed as peer pressure to keep your kids safe is all around.

And the good news is that we are all going to live till 100 years.

To what purpose?

Life is simple

Born

achieve puberty

reproduce

ensure offspring reach puberty

Shuffle of mortal coil to make room for grandchildren

longevity has no meaning.

Also modern society will collapse under the burden of millions of very elderly.

Anyway Kids today seem to be deprived of the very many pleasures of my childhood.

We all did stupid things and for the most part got away with it.

Certainly a few falls and sometimes a fracture only ensured we were less stupid next time. I fell 30ft down a waterfall in a cave while at school. Fell on a friend and knocked him out. I got a few bruises and cuts. Still went caving.

We have to manage risk and not remove all risk.

It seems today we are more likely to die of boredom than adventure.

Boredom seems to lead to substance abuse and depression imho.

On Xmas day it was good to see a few souls run into the sea.

Now H&S could have cancelled it due to the risk of shock hypothermia and heart attack or even drowning.

Mind you i did my own risk assessment and concluded that a water temp of 4c was definitley not the Indian Ocean. So just watched the others.

david

Dear Miles Smiles

OK if it is the most adaptable that survive where does that leave the panda???

or even the koala bear???

David

quote:

As Darwin used to say, it's not the smartest or the strongest but the most adaptable that survive.

Just remember that "fittest" doesn't mean that you live longest, just that you produce the most offspring who then go on to produce ... etc. So, evolutionarily speaking, once you reach your mid-forties you're essentially just dead weight. Most of the activities cited probably wouldn't kill you till you were past reproductive age.

I recall being allowed to play wherever I liked, and as said above, I rapidly learnt my limitations and what was likely to hurt me. Some lessons like "never cut towards yourself" really bite home when you suffer the consequences of doint it wrong, and I have the scar on my left hand to prove this (I was splitting bamboo in a misguided attempt to make a fishing rod, at age 9)

At the other extreme SWMBO says I will be arrested one day, because (shock/horror) I TALK to children - although only when their parents are there.

I was kinda hoping this would develop into ripping yarns, cracking capers, irksome boys & bravery in the face of basher bloggs.
Well thanks to DaveBk for a hint at least.

My dad was KIA 1944 & I got my early years kid stuff curtsey of my young uncle; swimming in the Thames including from his ex-army inflatable boat, I could swim more or less when I leant to walk I am told, riding on the tank of his motorbike, canoeing on the roads when the Thames flooded in 1947, self taught riding an adult sized bike, then I helped him "do up" an old kid size bike for me, learned to shoot air guns, & only when well able he allowed me to go with him for real shooting with his 4-10 then when old (big) enough 12 bore.

Later years was whole days out wandering around with friends, building secret camps in the woods, real camping, making rafts, scouting, odd jobs on farms, driving tractors, riding horses, stalking deer, catching snakes, frogs, newts & whatever, building huge community bonfires for fireworks night, practising fireworks from early October, scrumping, collecting conkers & making the ultimate 100'er, making catapults, bows & arrows & perfecting the art of long distance javelins.

The local policeman, a huge man who rode a bike with a double crossbar & knew every boys name & would clip your ear if required with a hand the size of dinner plates. Ditto his sergeant & the other cops in the town. The fear of getting into trouble also spread into a respect of the older teenagers who also somehow kept order & beat up interlopers & ne'er-do-wells. But what it did for me & all the rest was a very respectful fear of doing something wrong, I got in trouble for riding my bike on the pavement, no lights, sneaking into the pictures without paying, riding a motorbike on the road aged 12 - a hardened criminal by age 12.
I took a few knocks, broke an arm, dislocated fingers, (but got more broken bones & dislocated fingers from grown up rugby & cricket) at least 20 maybe 25 stitches, lost a few yards of knee skin & fell out of a few trees - oh and an adder bite.

Yes it seems idyllic now, in these later years with rose tinted eyes & a dose of nostalgia.
Realistically it probably was a lot harder but we were all using a different base line in those days, I didn't notice it but rationing was till around until I was 8 & running shopping errands for pocket money with ration books & remembering all the neighbours "divi" number was the way it was.
It was not until teenage years & motorbikes, drink girls & R&R that real trouble & tragedy started. Buts thats another yarn.

Despite the public paranoia and belief that crimes against children are greater these days than in the past the figures for reported crime remain steady since the second world war. Given the levels of awareness these days it may seem reasonable to suppose that fewer crimes against children go unreported therefore it would follow there are fewer crimes to report and the country is in fact safer not more dangerous than it has ever been.

Oh my mother drank (and smoked till I was 9) maybe that's why I'm a misfit? I was in total danger and made it thru to adulthood, Born '53, I loved the woods back east and followed streams and hopped rocks, fell off my bike and no helmet or kneepads, every summer I had a couple bad sunburns and obligatory scraped knees. As a teen in CA I had many opportunities to be washed out to sea by rip tides or hit trees while skiing, we went over cliffs and heart stopping ice conditions where I hung on for dear life.

I looked certain death in the face at 4 in West Point as base drums and brass band passing review I started wiggling around and got the hand on the shoulder and disapproving look from the Lt Colonel. Also in CA at 17 I rear ended another car just after a stoplight and had to drive 5 miles and go in back yard to confess my sin to dad floating in the pool with a beer in hand. I died a thousand deaths in that hour as the corporate lawyer looked over the car in the garage.

I survived to 57 and take care of my folks now that they're 89 and can make them laugh and their life easier. Making the most of my life even tho I have a couple major health conditions which makes me think back to lead paint, sunburns, my drinking habits and 2nd hand smoke.

Just one of the boomers that survived and loving having lived a colorful life.

quote:

Dear Miles Smiles

OK if it is the most adaptable that survive where does that leave the panda???

or even the koala bear???

David

Just to interject before Miles Smiles gets in:

"Fewer in number than they would have been"

This calls for a quote from the late great David Hume:

"There can be no demonstrative argument to prove that in those instances in which we have no experience resemble those of which we have had experience."

The universe is not fine-tuned for life; life is fine-tuned to the universe.

Jon