Chicken bald back

[blueandwhite]

So I'm sat on the beach when a family pitch up beside me. Young lad about 7 whines 'what am I supposed to do on the beach?' No suggestions for a while but he persists. 'Run around or something' said the Dad. And he does in a circle for 10 minutes until they cart him off to 'do something real.' I'm wondering what that might be! I remember being on the beach all day, whatever the weather with my parents and the same with my son (now 22). There was so much to do and so many fond memories. It made me really sad that conversation. Still I enjoyed the beach ... even swam in the sea!

[Cat tails]

Wow...

 

Had a media awareness week with my mentor students and took away their phones during the day.

 

Kids were lost... Absolutely lost...

Some asked me: but what am I supposed to do during the break?

Well... You could try and talk to each other...

[The Dogmother]

Don't I was ranting about this with a friend of a similar age (grumpy old ladies!) I turn my phone off for the evening, and can quite happily exist without it. With kids though, it's the end of the world.... it's a real worry.

[chickencam]

How sad

 

We too spent many happy hours on the beach with our three children, even quite recently they have made sand sculptures etc on the beach. We are off to Brighton with the younger two 18 and 15 in a couple of weeks and I will be amazed if they don't get grubby and lost in the water and sand and pebbles. DS is about to go to uni near a beach one of his criteria was a costal uni.

[Cat tails]

They tried to fool me too, by giving me an old phone or saying they left it at home...

I just rang them up, and watched their pockets and bags start to vibrate

[The Dogmother]

LBB has 'technology free days' with her step sons - great idea

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That is sad, I remember my boys playing for hours on beaches without any instruction .

 

We're going to a cottage up north on Saturday that has no internet - how will we survive .

[The Dogmother]

I'm a firm believer that children thrive on 'being bored'; it encourages them to use their imagination

[Lavenders_Blue]

Do kids have no imagination these days? I can still happily play for hours on the beach. The old 'dig a massive hole and cover it with a beach towel so someone falls in' trick never gets tired you know

[Egluntyne]

Am speechless! What a sad world we live in, when a child can't make its own entertainment, on a beach!

[sparkysmum]

That is sad,

 

We're going to a cottage up north on Saturday that has no internet - how will we survive .

 

Wot , no forum

[gavclojak]

I'm a firm believer that children thrive on 'being bored'; it encourages them to use their imagination

 

I quite agree, I have a friend who insists on filling her kids time with every imaginable club, hobby etc. etc., without actually spending any time with them, she constantly complains she is so 'busy' taking them from school to their various activities but barely see's them..

 

I did play with my kids but also let them play alone, I think they have to learn to occupy their own time in constructive way

[Cat tails]

I did play with my kids but also let them play alone, I think they have to learn to occupy their own time in constructive way

 

I completely agree. I have an aunt that used to play with her oldest every single moment of the day. Painting, playing with dolls and all. My niece never had to come up with any activity on her own.

She's 8 now, but has no hobbies apart from reading and is a kid with hardly any imagination. She can only play stories with dolls etc which she has seen before, or the ones that her little sister comes up with.

 

I think a vivid imagination is what makes being a kid so much fun!

[Bramble]

That's SO sad ... I used to spend hours/days on the beach and still do - just pootling, looking at nothing in particular, it's the most wonderful way to lose an hour, or a day (or longer) so so so sad if children can't appreciate something like that ...

[Claireabella]

Am speechless! What a sad world we live in, when a child can't make its own entertainment, on a beach!

 

Speechless here too! Another bugbear of mine is parents not letting their children explore and ensuring they are kept immaculately clean - pulling out their wet wipes all the time. What happened to climbing trees, building dens and grazing their knees etc etc... dont get me started

[The Dogmother]

I couldn't agree more Claireabella; I was brought up on my Italian grandparents smallholding, and spent school holidays in Norfolk, mucking about on boats and on the beach. I learned vital lifeskills...including despatching and prepping most small livestock/wildlife. You could always tell the farm kids at school - they weren't squeamish if they dropped their packed lunch on the floor, or found a dog hair in their sandwiches

 

In fact there was a similar thread on the lurcher forum not so long ago; owning dogs which are born to hunt, you quickly learn some field skills, and we decided that we stood a better chance than most 'come Armageddon' when we all need to fend for ourselves

 

I do worry that we are going to end up with a generation unable to think or fend for themselves without technology, and ill equipped in the common sense department.

[soapdragon]

Am horrified that children could find nothing to do on the beach! I remember hours of just pootling, beachcombing etc as a child. Back in June my two boys (10 in Sept and 6.5) had to be physically dragged away from the rockpools and sandcastles. They had wetsuits and would have spent every waking hour on the beach, if we had let them!

 

I have steered clear of electronic devices and they seem quite happy with the occasional treat of 10 mins with OH' I Pad. ES has many freinds at school who have all sorts of technology but, equally, some that just don't. We are keeping him away from all this for as long as possible and both boys make up endless wonderfully imaginative games with their Lego figures, wooden pirate ship etc - long may it last

 

No doubt we will have to 'give in' at some point, if only so that they don't feel like 'the poor relation' when everyone else has one but we plan to resist as long as poss

[The Dogmother]

I had that crunch with Rosie when she went to secondary school

[soapdragon]

Oh well, I've another couple of years yet then - will make the most if it

[chickencam]

Ours was secondary school too. Technology has its place, my DS is quite shy and socially awkward and having access to the internet has helped rather than hindered with his social skills. He has met a lovely and equally shy American girl and has travelled alone to the states to see her. Hopefully they will start uni together in September.

 

I worry about my two young nephews who both have the Tesco Hudl tablet they are 5 and 3 their parents have justified it by saying that they are now used extensively in primary schools and the older one already sometimes has to use the internet for homework. To be fair my SIL has always taken the boys out a lot to parks etc and they are both very active too.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I remember that lovely story about your DS, Chickencam . Have they both got places at St Andrews?

[Valkyrie]

Bored? On a beach? Oh my goodness. I spent most of the time in the water and my parents had to pack away and walk back to the car so that I'd take note and get out - yes a shivering prune but I loved it. Rock pooling if there were any were great and sandcastles! My dad used to dig a boat out of sand for me - I then carried on with my children. They spent ages sitting in their ships and cars just steering and using their imagination. Although DD is a bit like me with water - only worse. If it's wet she was in it. That included mud. We always took spare clothes because she'd run in fully clothed before we had a chance to change into her cossie. Then if it's a big beach - French cricket. Collecting shells. Later years was surfing. Then I became anxious mum on the beach - where's DD I yelled to hubby who was still playing with number one son? Dunno she was here just now. Why weren't you watching her? So I ran off down the beach while hubby and son stayed in the water away from angry mum. And where was she - on a broken body board on a little rip tide further down the beach being hauled in by life guards. She thought it was great! Hubby stayed clear of me for some time. Well I guess she wasn't bored!

 

One year when we had only just got engaged we made a huge sandcastle at Woolacombe and then stood on the top and waited for the tide to come in. We had a couple of old ladies come up and say that was the best castle they'd seen for years!

 

What happened to flying kites. Tennis. Cricket of all types - going to watch a local match or playing. Then go out with a magnifying glass. What insect is that. Wendy house, paddling pool.

 

What and why should register big time and it's so sad that they have to be entertained. Go and pretend you are an X box character then. Or be a Pokemon animal. Jigglypuff - let them play at the grandparents with washable pens and while grandpa's asleep . . . well I did something similar with my nan - put lipstick on her nose while she snored. Heh heh heh!

[Mrs Webmuppet]

It is a sad state of affairs these days. We are off camping soon and I'm not sure how LMW is going to cope without the internet for a long weekend, she's 14.Not that she is allowed to spend that much time on her techie stuff, just enough to keep in touch with her school mates during the school hols(I should explain its a boarding school and the kids come from far and wide).

 

 

I have made sure that she has plenty of non-techie hobbies, knitting, crochet, cooking, beekeeping and gardening etc. I think my Dad was quite shocked when he jokingly said when you come to stay bring your gardening clothes and she said no problem are we going to your allotment, I'll give you a hand. Her cousins are always spotlessly clean and wouldn't dream of getting grubby. But I'm a country girl at heart and have tried to instil some of my 'country attitudes' into her. I do worry that if there was some massive disaster and we had to go back to the land etc that there would be very few people around who would have the knowledge to survive. So many kids don't even know what fruit and veg plants look like, as proven by the amount of kids who stop and ask about the veggies in my front garden (well out of the way of marauding chooks).

[Charlottechicken]

It is sad if children can't use their imagination these days

 

OH and I have just spent a week in Wales and several days wandering round beaches. No internet connection and scant mobile signal and hardly missed it. We had great fun wandering around, clambering over rocks and just watching the waves roll in, bliss!

 

OH teaches guitar and will no longer accept teens, they have had enough after four or five weeks and all efforts creating lessons for them and folders etc are wasted as they just have no staying power any more. He refuses to waste time and money on them now, which is sad. If they cannot pick up a guitar and instantly sound like they should be on X Factor, then they aren't interested. His most stoical students are usually over 40 or retired altogether. They are the ones who will stick at things.

 

Thankfully, you still hear of children who buck the trend, thank goodness, but they are few and far between (and usually connected to this forum!).

[chickencam]

I remember that lovely story about your DS, Chickencam . Have they both got places at St Andrews?

 

 

Provided that his results are up to scratch and he thinks that they will be, they will both be starting at St Andrews on 6th September she has an unconditional offer.