Parenting
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The Boy just got dumped. First gf. He's taking it hard so I had a chat to him after he drank a suitable quantity of bourbon while I enjoyed a rum and related my experience of getting the arse at that age.
I look forward to Mrs TA getting indignant over any or all of the following:
- that he's using alcohol to get over it (her Dad is an alco and she's a total bloody straight about that stuff)
- that someone had the temerity to dump her little boy+
- when I point out she has no useful advice to give, as she's never been dumped in her life.
+Despite him being somewhat of a neckbeard, with a weight problem and an unwholesome addiction to the zone immediately between the PS5 and the couch.
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@mariner4life said in Parenting:
I didn't think the stickadicktomy was a real thing
It is , sometimes it takes a couple goes before you can one that takes and doesn't rot off . In fact you can hedge your bets these days and keep the taco and add a hotdog.
See how much of this article you can make it through , I'm sure you all miss me sharing this kind of quality content.
Jesus, perhaps you need to go into isolation again. Fucken hell pal
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So, when to get kids first phone?
My son turns 11 this week and that is sort of the “standard” where we live. I’m a bit dubious as he’s quite a young 11. And he hasn’t asked for one much either (he really wants Jordan’s which makes me proud). A few of his buddies have them, maybe 30%.
When did others take the plunge and any advice?
Just talking boys here, I suspect girls is a whole other ball game ….
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@Machpants said in Parenting:
Secondary school for all our kids, which is a bus ride rather than a walk home away.
same.
We passed over our second hand phones, and got google family installed to lock time/limit access. it genuinely bricks the phone -but they can still call you if needed.
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As we live rurally, we did intermediate, but was a text only plan, and they were our old phones and were only family contacts in thier phones.
Interestingly enough, a few months ago, the kids (17 & 14) suggested we use the 'Life 360' app, which means we can track them (and they us)
Is most useful for TR jnr who is still on his restricted and often goes straight from work to his mates, and never let's us know he has arrived (40 min drive on unlit windy roads out to Ngunguru)
Was also great last weekend when TR jnr went to sound splash in Raglan.
Is a bit creepy though that this is available if not used as it is intended and the paid version gives more data too.
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Both my boys got phones at 12. Bloody nice getting calls and messages from them I must say. Handy too when picking up from school, sports practice etc. The bombardment of memes gets fucken irritating though.
Both have threatened to block me if I don’t stop sending the same shitty ones.
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@taniwharugby yeah crappy road South some right idiots on it, to. I cycle into work often, proudly going to get knocked off at dinner point. Also pretty good change I know your kids mate, it they went to Ngunguru school haha
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@Machpants nah, his mate moved to Ngunguru late last year and we live in Ruatangata, both went to KIS & KHS.
Yeah sadly plenty of morons on the roads, and they are shitty roads too...perfect recipe
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The most important thing is that you have strict rules in place and monitor use. I dropped the ball big time with my eldest. His mother was onto all that and I was happily using my Windows phone. After she passed I didn't have a clue about what was going on. I was shocked when I found out. The language and toxicity were out of this world. No wonder so many kids are fůcked in the head these days. I've nothing against kids having phones per se, and there are major advantages in terms of their safety and knowing where they are, but they can get seriously mind fůcked if allowed to use them unchecked.
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haven't chipped in on this thread as we dont have kids...but have just done three weeks away with my 10 and 5 year old nephews...all you that have kids have the patience of saints, i think they're calling me grumpy uncle "kiwiwomble" now...love them but they have so much energy!
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@barbarian said in Parenting:
@Rancid-Schnitzel I don't actually think my parents will really mind. My dad just has a very deep connection to the place - he went there, he taught there for the vast majority of his working life, he coached sport there, he practically lived there. Still works there now in his retirement.
So saying we're taking our son elsewhere may come as a blow, but we just can't afford it. Which is almost a luxury because if we could afford it I'm not sure we'd want to send him there either, and THAT is a much tougher conversation...
Enrol the tyke as your dad's kid?
(It's a joke)... -
@Victor-Meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
@antipodean said in Grumpy Old Man:
@No-Quarter said in Grumpy Old Man:
A thread for grumpy old men that complain about kids
I do like how old people complain that children have access to quality of life improving innovations.
In all seriousness, I think kids today have as rough a life as any generation. Materially better off, but life throws them much more shit like cyber-bullying than in days gone past.
I remember bullying as a kid and I can't think of much worse than being exposed to it 24/7
I guess it's easier at my age to say it, but the earlier kids can learn not to give a flying fuck what their peers think about aspects that don't matter, the better. The difficult bit from where I stand being the determination of what matters.
Then there's the bit of me that looks at what's going on and thinking perhaps a bit of peer pressure to conform isn't as bad as contemporary perception would have us believe.
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@antipodean said in Parenting:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
@antipodean said in Grumpy Old Man:
@No-Quarter said in Grumpy Old Man:
A thread for grumpy old men that complain about kids
I do like how old people complain that children have access to quality of life improving innovations.
In all seriousness, I think kids today have as rough a life as any generation. Materially better off, but life throws them much more shit like cyber-bullying than in days gone past.
I remember bullying as a kid and I can't think of much worse than being exposed to it 24/7
I guess it's easier at my age to say it, but the earlier kids can learn not to give a flying fuck what their peers think about aspects that don't matter, the better. The difficult bit from where I stand being the determination of what matters.
Then there's the bit of me that looks at what's going on and thinking perhaps a bit of peer pressure to conform isn't as bad as contemporary perception would have us believe.
Having seen a bit of how my students interact, all I can say is thank fuck we didn’t have this technology when we were younger.
I don’t disagree about the peer pressure part, but equally I’m not sure that the peer pressure is in any way pushing conformity as anarchy. Maybe that’s a local thing here though (see the sushi licking thing for examples).
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@antipodean said in Parenting:
@Victor-Meldrew said in Grumpy Old Man:
@antipodean said in Grumpy Old Man:
@No-Quarter said in Grumpy Old Man:
A thread for grumpy old men that complain about kids
I do like how old people complain that children have access to quality of life improving innovations.
In all seriousness, I think kids today have as rough a life as any generation. Materially better off, but life throws them much more shit like cyber-bullying than in days gone past.
I remember bullying as a kid and I can't think of much worse than being exposed to it 24/7
I guess it's easier at my age to say it, but the earlier kids can learn not to give a flying fuck what their peers think about aspects that don't matter, the better. The difficult bit from where I stand being the determination of what matters.
Then there's the bit of me that looks at what's going on and thinking perhaps a bit of peer pressure to conform isn't as bad as contemporary perception would have us believe.
Having seen a bit of how my students interact, all I can say is thank fuck we didn’t have this technology when we were younger.
I don’t disagree about the peer pressure part, but equally I’m not sure that the peer pressure is in any way pushing conformity as anarchy. Maybe that’s a local thing here though (see the sushi licking thing for examples).
When the web and social media took off, it was said that people took their everyday values/morals online. You have to ask if this is now the other way around with today's kids - the first generation to grow up fully with social media. Hardly a week seems to go by without some murder or act of extreme violence cooked up by social media being reported and growing up just seems worse than when I grew up.
At 17, I was getting drunk, falling off motorcycles, making an arse of myself with women and generally endangering myself - but somehow survived. When I look at kids today, there's a lot more societal fear and control around and less opportunity to simply go out and explore life, fuck up, learn and move forward.
They seem to live a more straight-jacketed life than my generation did and I think it's a tougher life, mentally and emotionally, in many ways.