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It seems not such a long time ago when children could play all sorts of games and explore the wide world in safety. And, not such a long time ago, we could give the kids a hug to encourage their learning, or, a slight swat to discourage the same. You and I probably squirted each other, ran around killin' whatever happened to be the "enemy" of the week, appreciate the freedom to just hang around with the guys or hike to the local swimming hole (where we often doffed our clothes so our mothers wouldn't find out, snitched a green apple from the neighbor's tree. All innocent fun, well recorded by Mark Twain in his books. Somewhere along the line, though, we reacted to the events that existed even in those innocent days, to sexual abuse, to hate crimes, to a host of situations that our own parents knew of but warned you against. Those crimes were, indeed, real. My best friend was shot by another child when exploring their father's guns, most experienced or were aware of people who "touched you" where they shouldn't. As parents ourselves, we have tried to remedy by ruling. To ensure that our children can avoid the unpleasantness of inappropriate touching by legislating (either legally or socially) that touching of any kind is no longer appropriate, that someone attempting to help a lost child in a mall is suspicious, or ensuring that our children are accompanied at all times without the freedom to wander off independently. And that the old swimming hole must now be supervised and chlorinated at all times or safely secured with barbed wire fencing. Yet, I'm not so sure if we haven't traded off a tremendously valuable experience for our children and placed them in a cotton batting that is, ultimately, to their (as opposed to our) benefit. I hope that we can find and deter whatever is really threatening them, to provide a world of relative safety and sanity. I hope that in the near future, we can say to our children that we trust them and want to provide them with what we had, independence to learn to be responsible individuals. But, until that time, I hope that we can, as adults, keep the perspectives on our rules and apply them as appropriate, not just because they are "The Rules" Earl =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST 4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv. For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.html =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=