OT:Drunk kid wants his Mac and cheese at the Union

[David 76]

Other reasons:

Houses are farther apart. I grew up on a 1/4 acre lot and live on an acre.

We are often too busy to know our neighbors (2 parents working 47 hrs/wk each vs 1 parent working 40/wk)

Parents have become too concerned to let kids play w/o adult supervision. Even though violent crime has gone down, the media and parental anxiety leave the impression that kids are disappearing every day.

If you have a real neighborhood, you are lucky. It is a protective factor for your kids and it makes life more enjoyable.

 

[ctchamps]

Other reasons:

Houses are farther apart. I grew up on a 1/4 acre lot and live on an acre.

We are often too busy to know our neighbors (2 parents working 47 hrs/wk each vs 1 parent working 40/wk)

Parents have become too concerned to let kids play w/o adult supervision. Even though violent crime has gone down, the media and parental anxiety leave the impression that kids are disappearing every day.

If you have a real neighborhood, you are lucky. It is a protective factor for your kids and it makes life more enjoyable.

Was going to present 2 and 3. Great minds you know. Forgot about number 1. Big impact for our son growing up in a rural/suburan neighborhood. He still found to a way to get to friends. But not the same as growing up in a neighborhood with houses in close to proximity to one another or even in the city where several thousands of people are in one building. But like everything else there is good and bad with each of those variations.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

Other reasons:

Houses are farther apart. I grew up on a 1/4 acre lot and live on an acre.

We are often too busy to know our neighbors (2 parents working 47 hrs/wk each vs 1 parent working 40/wk)

Parents have become too concerned to let kids play w/o adult supervision. Even though violent crime has gone down, the media and parental anxiety leave the impression that kids are disappearing every day.

If you have a real neighborhood, you are lucky. It is a protective factor for your kids and it makes life more enjoyable.

So, true. When I was 9 years old in the summer, I would eat breakfast and run out the, possibly not to be seen by my folks until dinner time (depending on my ability to forage for lunch at a friend's house) and my 'territory' was basically a 2 mile circle around my house and I did not have a cell or other way to communicate. Yet, my folks let me go without any real worry. I am surer there were just as many kidnappings back in the '80's as they are today; but, unless they were high profile and wound-up on ABC national news at 6:30 or were local enough to be covered by the Register or ABC 8 out of New Haven, never heard about it. Today, if there is a kidnapping in the brubs of Chicago, its all over the web in Jersey and all of the parents are thinking 'my kid will be next' even though it was far away and it was a custody fight, which means it was not random. I am on the fence about how far I let my 2 boys wander, though, I keep them away from the street primary because its a secondary road with no sidewalks that people tend to do 45 MPH on and not 25 MPH as the signs state.

 

[Paesano]

I worked for Campus Police in the 80's. Three football players came back from a night of drinking, and beat a kid into a coma. They had to attend "meetings," and couldn't live on campus.

The kid/parents won a nice lawsuit vs the school. But that was it. They were not tossed out.

Bottom line: I agree - No way kids are worse today.

Just curious, what years did you work for campus police? I never had any run ins with them as I was a well behaved engineering student but I did have one interaction which was sad on my end and handled well by the officers. Were you a cop or did you just work in their department?

 

[temery]

Just curious, what years did you work for campus police? I never had any run ins with them as I was a well behaved engineering student but I did have one interaction which was sad on my end and handled well by the officers. Were you a cop or did you just work in their department?

Undergraduate. Different school.

 

[Chuck]

Other reasons:

Houses are farther apart. I grew up on a 1/4 acre lot and live on an acre.

We are often too busy to know our neighbors (2 parents working 47 hrs/wk each vs 1 parent working 40/wk)

Parents have become too concerned to let kids play w/o adult supervision. Even though violent crime has gone down, the media and parental anxiety leave the impression that kids are disappearing every day.

If you have a real neighborhood, you are lucky. It is a protective factor for your kids and it makes life more enjoyable.

One of the reasons we stayed in our town and moved to a bigger house (but smaller than we could've gotten in other towns) is that it's a small town in a crowded area (northern NJ). There's no school bussing, the kids ride their bikes and skateboards everywhere. I see the teenagers walking in to town to catch the train to the city (blessing and a curse). I think one reason that some of this exists is that our lots are narrower than some of the nice towns around us so there are a lot more houses that are close to town/schools/trains. Adults and kids walk more and people hang out in their front yard which furthers the bonding. We all do block parties, and my neighborhood still does July 4th parade floats. The home prices are somewhat narrow as well which I think adds to the community feel because even the "rich" people don't have too much more than others.

There are negatives with this as well. My house is pretty close to my neighbors, we have zoning regs that make it tough to build-on or add stuff to your backyard, everyone knows your business, and we have high taxes because we have our own solid school system, police, etc. Also, I would get more house/property for my money, even in some of the higher-end Bergen County towns. But there are a ton of people that grew up there that move back. All of them say that when they were kids they had no intention of coming back, but then when they have kids it's the kind of place they want to raise them. Then they move out again to avoid the high taxes after the kids are out of town.

All of that said, I still generally walk with my kids to their friends' houses that are more than a block away, and then they play outside on a few properties. Next year (5th grade) seems to be the big age to give the kids the freedom to roam (and the cell phone that goes with that freedom) as long as they are with multiple kids.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

One of the reasons we stayed in our town and moved to a bigger house (but smaller than we could've gotten in other towns) is that it's a small town in a crowded area (northern NJ). There's no school bussing, the kids ride their bikes and skateboards everywhere. I see the teenagers walking in to town to catch the train to the city (blessing and a curse). I think one reason that some of this exists is that our lots are narrower than some of the nice towns around us so there are a lot more houses that are close to town/schools/trains. Adults and kids walk more and people hang out in their front yard which furthers the bonding. We all do block parties, and my neighborhood still does July 4th parade floats. The home prices are somewhat narrow as well which I think adds to the community feel because even the "rich" people don't have too much more than others.

There are negatives with this as well. My house is pretty close to my neighbors, we have zoning regs that make it tough to build-on or add stuff to your backyard, everyone knows your business, and we have high taxes because we have our own solid school system, police, etc. Also, I would get more house/property for my money, even in some of the higher-end Bergen County towns. But there are a ton of people that grew up there that move back. All of them say that when they were kids they had no intention of coming back, but then when they have kids it's the kind of place they want to raise them. Then they move out again to avoid the high taxes after the kids are out of town.

All of that said, I still generally walk with my kids to their friends' houses that are more than a block away, and then they play outside on a few properties. Next year (5th grade) seems to be the big age to give the kids the freedom to roam (and the cell phone that goes with that freedom) as long as they are with multiple kids.

Sounds like my town, i.e. borough. A lot of folks grow-up, leave for college, and then come back to raise a family. The only reason that my street does not have a 'neighborhood' feel to it is because the street has no sidewalks and traffic zips by at 45, though the speed limit is 25. That said, I have no been coaching for about 4/5 years now and the group of and parents that we spend a lot of time with is its own community and it is a good group. The taxes do suck; but, we live 35 miles from NYC in a top school district. You get what you pay for, I suppose. That said, from a tax and logistics standpoint, the three towns that belong to my school district shoudl just merge (cultural differences, and there are many, aside) as I don't see the value in having 3 police departments, 3 public works departments, 4 school superintendents (each town has 1 plus the regional HS has 1), etc. covering 24 square miles, which is smaller than the town I grew-up in in CT.

 

[Chuck]

Sounds like my town, i.e. borough. A lot of folks grow-up, leave for college, and then come back to raise a family. The only reason that my street does not have a 'neighborhood' feel to it is because the street has no sidewalks and traffic zips by at 45, though the speed limit is 25. That said, I have no been coaching for about 4/5 years now and the group of and parents that we spend a lot of time with is its own community and it is a good group. The taxes do suck; but, we live 35 miles from NYC in a top school district. You get what you pay for, I suppose. That said, from a tax and logistics standpoint, the three towns that belong to my school district shoudl just merge (cultural differences, and there are many, aside) as I don't see the value in having 3 police departments, 3 public works departments, 4 school superintendents (each town has 1 plus the regional HS has 1), etc. covering 24 square miles, which is smaller than the town I grew-up in in CT.

Sounds like my town, i.e. borough. A lot of folks grow-up, leave for college, and then come back to raise a family. The only reason that my street does not have a 'neighborhood' feel to it is because the street has no sidewalks and traffic zips by at 45, though the speed limit is 25. That said, I have no been coaching for about 4/5 years now and the group of and parents that we spend a lot of time with is its own community and it is a good group. The taxes do suck; but, we live 35 miles from NYC in a top school district. You get what you pay for, I suppose. That said, from a tax and logistics standpoint, the three towns that belong to my school district shoudl just merge (cultural differences, and there are many, aside) as I don't see the value in having 3 police departments, 3 public works departments, 4 school superintendents (each town has 1 plus the regional HS has 1), etc. covering 24 square miles, which is smaller than the town I grew-up in in CT.

At least you have 3 towns for your school system. That must give SOME efficiency (although the superintendent in each town + the HS is crazy). I think it's cool that our school (GRHS) is pretty small (700 students) and it's generally ranked highly, but it's all on us. And our police force has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. That's all for a town that is 2.7 sq miles.

 

[8893]

 

[UC1995]

Good first step to redemption... though the line that said "that isn't what I am all about" is a bit ridiculous and still shows he doesn't get that he has an issue.

 

[David 76]

If he is sincere, it is a good start. Work on those issues kid.

 

[intlzncster]

If he is sincere, it is a good start. Work on those issues kid.

He's probably a politician. Errbody so good at PR these days.

 

[The Viking]

I was in Portsmouth, NH today and in the center of town was a make-your-own t-shirt store (great idea by the way)...anyway, the T-shirt outside the store for display was Jalapeno Bacon Mac and Cheese....and it was in UConn colors.

hilarious.

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

Hahahahahahahahaha

 

[CL82]

At least you have 3 towns for your school system. That must give SOME efficiency (although the superintendent in each town + the HS is crazy). I think it's cool that our school (GRHS) is pretty small (700 students) and it's generally ranked highly, but it's all on us. And our police force has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. That's all for a town that is 2.7 sq miles.

If it is the district that I think it is, it has enormous inefficiencies that result in 3 of the the towns subsidizing the 4th town to the tune of $6 to 8 million a year. NJ regional schools frequently have enormous funding issues, due to a series of factors. If you are curious PM me and I can discuss it in more detail. Since it is an NJ issue, it would be a very boring hijack of the thread.

 

[Leebo]

His apology is fine by me. We can't know what's actually in his head, but he didn't shirk responsibility for it.

 

[ctchamps]

Good first step to redemption... though the line that said "that isn't what I am all about" is a bit ridiculous and still shows he doesn't get that he has an issue.

He stated he has some problems that he's addressing. Hope it's true.

 

[huskyniner]

The way he titled the video and how he conducted his apology screams "I'm terrified what will happen when future employers google my name". Didn't sound too sincere to me.

 

[Leebo]

The way he titled the video and how he conducted his apology screams "I'm terrified what will happen when future employers google my name". Didn't sound too sincere to me.

What's wrong with being terrified of that? Does he not have a right to try to rectify the situation (the situation being the search results that will be dominated by the first video)? He has to wallow in the shame of that youtube video indefinitely?

 

[intlzncster]

I was in Portsmouth, NH today and in the center of town was a make-your-own t-shirt store (great idea by the way)...anyway, the T-shirt outside the store for display was Jalapeno Bacon Mac and Cheese....and it was in UConn colors.

hilarious.

Tell me you bought.

 

[huskyniner]

What's wrong with being terrified of that? Does he not have a right to try to rectify the situation (the situation being the search results that will be dominated by the first video)? He has to wallow in the shame of that youtube video indefinitely?

Yes

 

[mauconnfan]

Give the kid his due. If he is going to address his issues good for him.

I would love to hear from the people who got to know him for a month or so on campus to answer the "that isn't what I'm all about". Is he a better kid than the perception from the video? He may or may not be, either way time to change.

 

[Leebo]

Yes

I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're not actually saying he shouldn't be able to work or live his life because of the video.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

If he is sincere, it is a good start. Work on those issues kid.

I hope he does turn things around. My concern though is how much of this is him and how much is Dad spoon feeding him.

 

[DarthGrumpy]

At least you have 3 towns for your school system. That must give SOME efficiency (although the superintendent in each town + the HS is crazy). I think it's cool that our school (GRHS) is pretty small (700 students) and it's generally ranked highly, but it's all on us. And our police force has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. That's all for a town that is 2.7 sq miles.

GR is a nice town. Plus, you have 2 commuter rail stations (I have to drive to Ramsey 17, about 10 minutes away) and you have Beekman's, which is a good spot to find a hard-to-find adult beverage.