Colleen Anderson's Blog, page 35

Grrr, Tough on Crime

Captain Marvel gets tough on crime (Marvel Comics)

Yet again, we're hearing about the Harper government's tough on crime slogan. I actually get shudders because this phrase just sounds a bit too much like the Bushism "War on Terror." There's a crusader's zeal to it that means not taking measured steps or looking at issues sensibly. It's a fervent belief that actually has no facts to support the need.

Crime in general and violent crime has been going down consistently in Canada, so what's happening?

Well, on one level, you have a Conservative government with some scary religious zeal being redirected to where Canadians will find it more acceptable than true religious right-wing zealotry. Crime! Everyone hates crime and yes we want people to be punished for their misdeeds. But the government's smoke and mirrors means they're really spending relatively little on building more prisons for a crime rate that's going done. Then in a few years when the greatly diminished statistics are available (because this government cut out a lot of what's needed by statisticians) they can say, "Look what a great job we did."

Hmm, in the meantime they haven't spent money on crime prevention, which includes lessening poverty, providing education for children (including those who have learning disabilities), and helping people get away from drug addiction. Much better to throw the drug addicts in prison where they can become ever more hardened than try to rehabilitate.

The other half of this weird equation where crime is going down but it "looks" like it's going up can be blamed on media. When I say media I mean all, from the comic above to all those TV shows and movies with violent criminals or sometimes savvy and cool and handsome ones (the thieves and internet heisters). This also includes radio, TV, newspaper and internet news. We are now supersaturated in the fat of tragedy. Every trauma, tragedy, disaster or crisis is reported on. We don't get the news just twice a day, but every hour, in twitter, on the internet, in colour, with numerous graphic pictures. We get talk shows and articles until all we see is the DIRE HORRIBLE STATE OF THE WORLD. Aieeee!

No wonder the Conservative government can sell wasting money on more prisons when crime is going down (gang warfare however, is going up). It would be nice if the media went back to unbiased reporting, which means mentioned the good things in life too. How about a few more tales of human kindness and achievement, of the beauty in the world both natural and made by humans. I want to weep sometimes as the mess we're making but we also have great creative beautiful minds and the majority of people aren't criminals and really do want the world to be a better place. So while we stay tough on crime (England's thugs, I'm talking to you) let's also be gentle and uplifting with beauty.

Filed under: crime, Culture, drugs, news, security Tagged: beauty, crime, criminal punishment, Harper government, media, media bias, news, prisons, terror, tough on crime, tragedy

A Short Review of Cider

Rekorderlig Wild Berry Cider

My first taste of alcoholic cider was in England, lo these many years ago. It might have been Strongbow but I actually don't remember anymore. I've become quite the cider connoisseur over the years, taking every opportunity to try as many as possible. Strongbow, once it was available here, became my standby and you can find it in most Vancouver restaurants with it or Rock Creek on tap in many.

Most of the US ciders I've had tend to be flatter in taste and effervescence, and slightly sweeter. Next time I try one I'll do a review.

I'm always on the lookout for a good dry cider. When I first tasted cider in England I could barely get it down and it almost tasted like beer to me. (I don't drink beer because I"m allergic to the hops.) I think that was just the dry aspect of it. But as it turns out, it would be my first love and I would search the world over for another cider as dry and crisp.

Common in Vancouver, cider is served with a slice of lime, just like the British do it. When I was in Ireland, enthused to be able to try all the types of Irish ciders, I asked for lime with my drink. I was given a subtle look and then my cider would arrive with no lime. After the third time I realized, oh, the British do that, not the Irish. Bulmer's cider was the brand and it's one company in England I believe that makes and distributes it with different names depending on the country. It was pretty much the only cider in Ireland, except for Stag's Head, which was by the same company and an extremely sweet Danish cider that I tried in Dublin.

Once in a while our liquor store gets in other ciders. The BC ciders made by such companies as Okanagan and Growers are fruity alcohol drinks that have as much in common with traditional cider as ketchup has with mustard. I can't drink them anymore because they are just too sweet. They're made to cater to the younger college crowd and women but some of us have refined our tastes.

The other day I picked up a can (500 ml) of Rekorderlig wild berry cider ($2.99). As you can see from the picture it's a pleasant pinky color. Like most Canadian ciders it comes in at 7% alcohol/volume. This is as much as or more than some beers. Rekorderlig is a Swedish pear cider.

I don't tend to like pear ciders in general. They're too sweet and indeed this was sweet but not as bad as I thought it would be, and not as sweet as most BC ciders. There is a distinct taste of berries and a nice level of effervescence. Over all, it went down nicely on a hot day, served over ice with a slice of lime. Why the lime? I'm not sure why the British first started doing it but I find it can add a slight tang and if the cider is too sweet the lime cuts that a bit.

I don't know if this cider is made as a true cider, which requires cider apples, but for someone who likes fruity or ciders not too dry, it's a good choice.

Filed under: consumer affairs, Culture, food Tagged: alcohol, alcoholic bevarages, apple cider, booze, Bulmers, cider, Okanagan, Okanagan Cider, Rekorderlig, Rock Creek, Strongbow, Swedish cider

East Van Wall Art

Bugs on the wall

East Vancouver, around the Commercial Dr. area is known as the boho artsy part of town. The neighborhood used to have and still does, a heavy Italian and Chinese influence, mixed with artists, First Nations and lesbians. It's eclectic, used to be lower income and filled with many restaurants. Every fall there is the East End Culture Crawl where people can wander through the many artist studios in the area.

Wings on the walls

As much as these characteristics are part of the cultural pastiche of East Van, the natural fauna  include raccoons and crows. Crows and Ravens are our local board and even the seagulls don't compare. Every evening as the light leaves the sky, murders of crows fly east to Burnaby and the Grandview cut to roost for the night.

Feathers on the wall

It's no wonder that recently in a community beautification project, that crows feature largely.  Britannia Centre includes a high school, day care, library, park, year-round skating rink, swimming pool, gym, courts and other areas. The school grounds take up several city blocks and on the west side there is a large retaining wall. A few years back, they rebuilt it and people have been trying to do some community gardening there though it's been sporadic.

But recently, in the last two months, during Vancouver's cool weather this year, people were showing up to paint the walls. I was curious. Was it a random flash graffiti mob or was it organized? People came with stencils and I'd say the bottom part was done by participants who didn't need to be artists. Several people blocked the background geometrical colors, while others came along and blocked in one color with a stencil.

Later, I saw some guys doing the top part of the wall, which is covered with flying crow silhouettes. The bottom half has bugs, bicyclists, birds and leaves. What really worked for this wall was the range of colors, bold swatches behind bold designs. All of the images have had depth added to them with brushstrokes of other color. The wall is interesting and complex without being overly busy and it's so much nicer than the bland concrete of before.

I don't know who paid for this project, if it was the community or the city or some combination but it is a beautification plan that has greatly enhanced the area. The wall is two blocks from where I live and I love walking by it. The only thing that could dampen it, like some of the other walls in other areas, is if people paint graffiti over it. I don't mind graffiti but it's disrespectful, pointless and destructive to paint over other art. Here's to hoping there are more projects to make the city look better, and to community spirit.

Filed under: art, Culture, entertainment, home Tagged: art, community spirit, crows, Culture, East End Culture Crawl, East Van, East Van crows, graffiti, Vancouver, wall art

How to End Your Life

Creative Commons: by Shuets Udono, Flickr

I'm sure I could write an unending series of stupid things people do that could or have cut their lives short. But perhaps the most common that all of us might do is the act of being a pedestrian. Walking isn't really an art since we've done it from the time we gave up crawling (except for those who get too drunk). Walking is however something that takes attention.

If you walk unconsciously, you're bound to run into trouble. I know someone who was walking and talking with friends, looking sideways, and ran into a pole and smashed her nose. Then we have the infamous jaywalker. In North America, in most places, this is illegal and for a good reason too. It's not just that you're taking a chance with your life because you're too lazy to walk to a corner, but you also disrupt the flow of traffic and could cause a car accident with another car or with you. Is it really worth shaving a few seconds off of your trip? Not to mention, the more walking, the better you keep in shape.

I am both a driver and a walker. I walk where I can and don't take my car if I'm going ten or twenty blocks (on most days). When I'm a driver, I respect pedestrian rights. When I'm a pedestrian I respect car driver rights. Too many people feel entitled, but last I looked  no one owns the world. Although pedestrians have the right of way in British Columbia (and many other places) this does not mean they have the right of way in the middle of the street or against lights. At intersections and corners, yes they do but there are still rules. You can't step right in front of a car and expect them to stop. You would become road pizza.

However, in Vancouver I've noticed that if you are standing at a corner, most cars will never ever stop for you. I step off of the curb but not in front of the car, and make eye contact. I kinda like my life. When I start walking I have the right of way but even when I hit the lane going in the other direction, I stop first and look, making sure cars are slowing down and stopping. I've had people try to run me over halfway through a crosswalk.

The best way to end your life is to cross against a light, or run across the street because you just have to catch that bus or get that coffee. In the dark or in Vancouver's notorious rains, people aren't always that visible. All cars have blind spots and if you run out suddenly, even at a corner, the driver who is turning might not see you. This happened to me once, in the rain in the dark. All I  saw was a flash of legs and it was so sudden. A few seconds different and that person would have been severely injured.

BC has intersections with blinking green (or yellow) lights on the main street, and stop signs for the side streets. The blinking light means they're pedestrian controlled and it takes a person pressing the button to have the light turn red. When the light changes, the cars on the side street can get through. When the light turns red the pedestrian is supposed to stop and let the cars go. Red always means stop, even for pedestrians, yet you'll find people sauntering across without even looking. And crossing anywhere, whether with the light or if you have the right of way, without  looking is a good way to make yourself a smear on the road. Bicyclists and skateboarders (and rollerbladers) who feel that the rules don't apply to them and think they should go down the middle of the road could find themselves statistics.

Yes, pedestrians often have the right of way, but we're soft flesh and cars are giant metal monsters with exoskeletons. So if you want to end your life sooner than later walk against the traffic rules or step out in front of a car without looking, because you want to make them  brake suddenly. The best thing to remember is respect. Riders, drivers and pedestrians have to respect each other and not feel that they're the entitled ones where the rules don't apply. Go talk to the bodies in the morgue and see if disobeying those rules helped them.

Filed under: cars, Culture, driving, health, life, security Tagged: car accidents, jaywalking, liife, pedestrian right of way, people, wallking safely

Travel Trips on Money

Creative Commons: Roby on Flickr

I'm planning a trip to Europe in September and thought I would get some of the preparation out-of-the-way. When I went to Ireland in 2007 I took some cash and traveler's  checks and my sister took cash. But travelers' checks, they're kind of passé, aren't they? A friend had pointed out that I could have used my bank card and I thought, well, duh. But then, could I?

Creative Commons from www.travelingcow.com

So I've started checking out a few factors. I thought the easiest thing to do would be to put a deposit of cash onto my credit card and then I could just charge items to the card and only pay the exchange rate. But guess what, because the credit card companies (Visa, MasterCard, and I presume American Express) don't feel they're gouging us enough with anywhere from 10 to 19% interest on our charges, they tack on a 2.5% charge for any transaction out of the country. For me, being Canadian, that means even a trip to the States will cost me extra on my card. I might be able to pay off my bill before the interest charge comes into effect but not for the 2.5%. Remember, on $1000 that would be an extra $25 for nothing.

Next I called my bank to ask about my debit card, which now has a chip. They said it probably would not work for point of sale transactions as each store in Europe would have to buy into a system and there is no reason they would be part of a North American system. I could use it at a bank machine that is part of the same network as mine (Cirrus in this case) but I would be most likely subjected to a fee from my bank (depends which network) as well as from the European bank machine, which could be as high as $6 per transaction. Well, that's cheaper than Visa/MasterCard but still could add up and I'm stuck with withdrawing a daily limit. It's best to check what that limit is.

It looks like I'll be using a combination of bringing some Euros in cash that I can get from my bank (It's best to warn them ahead of time so they have enough on hand) and travelers' checks. Because I will most likely not do US travelers checks but Euros the bank might need three days to order them in. Travelers checks have about a 1% service charge so they're cheaper than the credit cards. I'll be getting them about two weeks before I go, just to make sure there are no glitches.

Creative Commons: Eagle Creek also has leg pouches http://www.amazon.com/Eagle-Creek/e/2...

I'll arrive in Europe with Euros in cash, travelers' checks that I can cash at a bank if nowhere else will take them (if you're going to out-of-the-way places, make sure you cash these at a bank as many shops won't take them anymore), and a credit card. I have a passport pouch that will hold my money and that I can wear around my neck. Some people favor money belts but I feel more secure with the neck pouch. It's a matter of preference with these but they're also an essential for travel when you're bringing a fair amount of cash and to keep all your important information safe.

The other precaution I take beforehand is to write down all numbers into a booklet that is separate from my money. Should my credit card be stolen how do I call the number on the back of the card when I don't have the card? I have it written down elsewhere with my credit card number. Emergency contacts, camera serial codes, passport number, travel insurance, etc. are all good things to record elsewhere. You can also send yourself an email that you could access on the internet with all the information. I did this with Ireland, in case my camera was stolen (unfortunately it was stolen from my home shortly after the Irish trip). You can also record your travelers check information, serial numbers and the company contact in case you lose them or run out of money.

No matter where one travels, it's always good to keep alert and stay cautious. Don't let your guard down and don't flaunt all your cash. Take out what you need for the day and hide the rest. I'll see how the other trip preparations go after this.

Filed under: crime, Culture, security, travel Tagged: credit cards on trips, fees, moneybelts, passport holders, travel safety, travelers checks, traveling, trips

Revisiting the PNE

A back yard haven near the PNE

Vancouver's Pacific National Exhibition is a yearly fair, which highlights food, rides, agriculture and animal husbandry and any other  area of public interest. The PNE is over 100 years old and is held in Hastings Park, a piece of land originally given to the people of East Vancouver to serve as a public park much like Stanley Park. Unfortunately the city saw fit to rent out and chop off chunks of this park till almost nothing was left. Hastings Park is supposed to have public access and the fight with removing or shrinking the PNE has been going for a century now. It's smaller than it was and was supposed to have vacated the land in 1994, then two years later, and then it changed and changed again. The residents of East Vancouver still continue to fight for more parkland.

An exquisite sand sculpture at the PNE

Meanwhile the PNE charges a hefty price just to enter the doors ($20). This does not include any rides or food, which you must pay for separately. The fair goes from Aug.20-Sept. 5 this year. Last year was the first time I went in a very long time, because friends were visiting from the US.

I haven't been in years so it was somewhat fresh. I might go for rides one year but you're looking at a cost of $60. There is Playland, which is separate and open most of the year if you need some rides.

The RCMP ride is always a favorite

Parking is always a premium and hard to get so many local residents rent space in their driveways or even on their lawns (though other residents hate this). Some of free things to see include the RCMP mounted ride where Mounties in their red serge do various maneuvers on horses.

There are agricultural buildings with bunnies, ducks, chicken, sheep, cows, horses and pig races, which included 20 minutes of hype for 30 seconds of piggy racing. You can see other farm animals as well as the judging of the draft horse teams that pull the old style wagons.

A topiary horse outside one of the buildings

There are dog races and free entertainment at the open air stage, including well-known bands such as Spirit of the West on the night we were there, and a selection of the usual rides and games to play. There are demonstrations and of course the line up for the million dollar home draw. To line up to see a house seems boring to me but I have to remember that such fairs started as showcasing home agriculture, husbandry and industry. Other prize draws abound but I paid little attention to these.

These draft horses are truly huge.

Bunnies are always a favorite.

We did stroll through container art, a collection of art projects made within the metal containers that you see semi trucks pulling. Some were great, some left a lot…to the imagination I guess.

After about three hours I was done, and that was not doing any rides. I guess I wasn't that interested in demonstrations. But for a day of seeing a host of activities, it's not bad. Checking out the PNE's site will tell you when there are free or discount days and ways to cut costs. Take the bus, bring water, snacks and something warm in case the weather changes, and let yourself move at a slow pace. There is probably something for most people to see or participate in. And if you care to, ask them why it's not free to enter when Hastings Park is supposed to be open to the public. I'd be curious as to what they say.


Filed under: art, Culture, entertainment Tagged: agricultrue, animal husbandry, fair, home lottery, horses, Mounties, musical ride, national exhibition. PNE parking, PNE, RCMP ride, sand sculpture

Can Writers Be Rockstars?

Rock stars and movie stars and known for their blowouts, the drug and alcohol abuse, their indiscretions mostly because they're so rich and famous they're always in the limelight. Over at Terrible Minds Chuck Wendig argues/pokes fun at the image and says we need writers to be rock stars. But have we ever had them, those memorable characters known more for their antics with drugs, alcohol and sex than for their writing (almost), or those with personalities that would have them locked up if it weren't for their mad genius?

Wendig names Oscar Wilde, Hunter S. Thompson and Ernest Hemingway as characters in the past that had that crazed star image. William Burroughs would also enter that arena. Phillip K. Dick and Thomas Disch had a legendary hate on of each other. Dick, paranoid and spaced out on some substance hated Disch who was gay and reported him to the FBI (or maybe it was the CIA). I only learned this though reading Disch's last book The Word of God. Disch got his last digs in at Dick in the stories (part fictional/part autobiographical) in the end. But these guys are all dead guys so they don't count.

Creative Commons: Drew Coffman, Flickr

Who are our living writing rock stars, the bad boys and girls of the literary world, the ones whose pens drip a venom that pales to their verbal vitriol, their nasty antics, their crazed abuses of the body? Someone pointed out that perhaps it's because rock stars are younger and writers older when famous that age tempers these antics, but what can we say about Keith Richards then, though the Janis Joplins and Amy Winehouses definitely fall early in the realm of substance abuse. Perhaps it's because we don't look at authors whereas we watch movie stars and listen and watch rock stars, that makes a difference. Writers create characters and your imagination takes over. Who wants to find out they're an elderly housewife of three or that they're old and fat and greying? Just doesn't live up to the glamor, does it?

Wendigs subcategories are: Erratic Author Appearances, Intensely Weird Drug Habits, …Making Rock Star Demands, Insane Hobbies on Display, Jack Up Our Books With Rockstar Juice, Groupies+Entourage=Awesome, …Writer Cribs, …Hookers, …Public Urination. Hmm, granted this piece is high on irony, I guess this might be considered a primer for the famous on what not to do. For writers, maybe we live out all that through our characters so we're less likely to act it out. The TV show Californication  probably comes closes to the fantasy of a rockstar writer. Of course it's Hollywood so everything is skewed there.

So who is alive who might be considered a writing rock star for wacky habits? Harlan Ellison is definitely one. Not that he's defecated in anyone's mailbox (that we know of) but he's more than spoken his mind, trounced people verbally and on the page and been known to do a few "rumored" deeds such as signing a woman's breast or leaving the garden slug dessert (search my posts for more on this). Samuel Delaney was known for his erratic author appearances. Neil Gaiman is mentioned as someone who should be a bad boy but is relatively tame. Wendig did miss that Gaiman has an entourage. If you've seen if at a convention there is usually a contrail of black-clad gothettes following him about. Sadly, I cannot think of any bad girl writers.

I tried once to tell the writers group I belonged to that we needed to hang out in bars and perpetuate a lifestyle that could be more infamous than our writing. No one went for it though. Maybe I'd be better known if I had. But the piece is right; overall we're not the same prima donas as rock and movie stars. Check out Wendig's article, and If you can think of a living writer known for strange, bad, erratic or aberrant behavior, post here so we can start a list.

 

Filed under: culture, drugs, entertainment, humor, music, people, Writing Tagged: bad boys, Californication, ego, erratic behavior, Harlan Ellison, movie stars, Neil Gaiman, prima dona, rock stars, writers, writing stars

New Look

I'm changing up the blog after three years of the same theme. All the pictures in the header are by me. Let me know what you think and if there are aspects you like or dislike. I can change the order and look of the sidebars and add a few other features (if I can figure them out). So if you'd like to see something else, let me know.

I see some of the formatting on the other pages has gone to crap so I'll have to revamp those in the days to come. It is what it is. There are many other themes but I wanted one that's still clear and still gives an image at the top. Change is sometimes good and sometimes painful. Hopefully this will be fresh and exciting!

Filed under: Writing Tagged: blog, themes, Wordpress, Writing

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

The massacre in Norway is in some ways not new. Unfortunately, it's a common enough scenario; yet another example of the endemic problem of judgment, racism or bigotry that infects this planet. Granted, there are people of unstable or extreme personality types such as narcissists who believe only they matter, or sociopaths who don't really care about anything but their own gratification. I don't know the statistics but I'm betting half of all massacres, multiple murders and suicide pacts are from unstable personalities. Religious temperament is probably responsible for the other half.

Creative Commons: co_exist_by_c3b4

If we rule out that all religious beliefs make you a little crazy or that racism is only practiced by nutjobs, then we have to believe that people have extreme views and sane minds. But what's at the basis of all the bigotry and hate crimes?

It's a belief that someone is "other." I am green and you are purple. Therefore you are different, not like me, maybe an alien and I can't trust you. Or: You believe the flying spaghetti monster is god and I believe in Cthulhu. Therefore you are evil and should be shot down for spreading spaghetti monster worship, which is wrong. This I believe.

These examples are all about judgment and belief. A belief that I am better, my way of seeing the world is right and yours is wrong for some reason. I believe I am more favored by god but somehow you're not or bringing in the wrong god. But what does it offend? Our sensibilities?

I may not like you walking around and showing your plumber's crack. I may believe your religion of wearing orange cones on your head is goofy. I might see you eating cucumbers as a sign of true evil or that when you sing you are opening a hole to the world of darkness. But no matter what I BELIEVE, what really matters is, are you hurting me?

I mean tangible hurt, not some imagined slight to your soul or psyche. To me this is what it all gets down to and what we should remember. I might not like it, but is it hurting me or do I still have my freedom of movement and thought? I believe, like or worship this. Does it hurt anyone? No. Then I can do it. I can marry the rock in my garden, make sweet love to a chocolate croissant or worship the almighty slug. I might be seen as deranged but I'm not dangerous.

So everyone needs to take a deep breath and in that moment of judgment and hate boiling up in your guts, just step back and ask: Is he/she hurting anyone? If not. Then leave them alone to live their lives as they please. After all, it's what you would want people to give you.

Filed under: crime, culture, news, people, politics, religion Tagged: bigotry, ego, hate crimes, judging others, judgment, massacres, murder, narcissists, Norway massacre, racism, sociopaths

The Coddled Society

Creative Commons: Los Angeles CB Grant

Hundreds of years ago a child was only a child for so long. When they got big enough to walk and carry, that's what they did. When they got big enough to hold a sword, they learned how to use one. When they could ride a horse, shear a sheep, seed the ground or chop food, they did. There was no waiting until you were of driving age, drinking age, voting age. There was no waiting, sitting and playing while mom and dad prepared things for you. Childhood probably lasted until about the age of five and then you were put to work. Even if you were noble, you were learning the ways of society and ruling at an early age.

Anyone who's lived on a farm knows this lifestyle. Farm kids don't sit and watch TV before or after school. They feed chickens, milk cows, bale hay, muck out pens and do a myriad of chores to keep the farm running. Third world countries have higher populations and larger families because, in their poverty, the more hands that can work then the more money and food they can bring in, even if there are more mouths to feed. I don't just say this. Studies show that populations slow and stabilize the more a country moves towards a good economy.

As a child I learned to cook and bake by the time I was eight,with my mother guiding. I helped stir bowls of batter, added eggs and made hamburger patties, basted turkeys. I was cooking on my own by the age of ten. I had to pick up after myself, vacuum, wash dishes, polish and dust. My siblings of both genders had to do the same. We walked to school, a good mile distant, from grades 1-12. We walked in sun, and in rain, in hail and in snow. I remember the big snowsuit in grade one and so much snow that I was late every day for a week. But I walked, by myself.

My mother told us to go outside and play. If we said we were bored you can bet she'd give us chores. Sure we had to check in or tell her where we were going and I remember getting in hot water because I went off and played in the alley with my sister and her friend at the age of four, and didn't tell my mother. But I did it, without constant adult supervision.

My hand wasn't held as I slid down the slide, I wasn't told I was too young to bake. We learned and we grew self-sufficient. I could cook and drive when I moved out on my own and in with my boyfriend. And so could he. I've met men (more than women) who couldn't cook because mommy had done everything for their sons or only children. I've met people who couldn't iron and lived in pigsties because they were never taught to clean up. And I meet people who think children have to be protected 24/7.

Many threats to children haven't increased over the years, but media coverage of kidnappings and perverts have. I drive by a school where the parents are lined up to drop off their children. I've read about a school that was going to raze a low hill because the children might fall down it. I've read and seen playground slides lowered, guards put up, safety nets added so that children can't bump or scrape or get a few of life's bruises.

And what do studies show, out of Norway and the US? That people who are coddled so much grow up with more anxieties, are less likely to take any risks and find all of the world a big scary place. In essence, they become victims of parenting. Never has there been an age where children were padded, wrapped, helmeted, swaddled and overly protected from the daily aspects of living. Sure, don't leave toxic chemicals in the reach of a baby but teach your children how to be cautious yet adventuresome, and how to apply thought and learning. We never would have hit the age of exploration if all those searfaring adventurers had been raised as coddled children. Let your children live a little.

Filed under: culture, environment, family, life, people, security Tagged: abuse, coddling children, overprotective parents, parenting, playgrounds, safety, scrapes and bruises, soft playgrounds