OT – california lifestyle

[admin]

My young cousin from Germany and his friends love the california lifestyle.

They love the service, the food portions, the weather, the freeways. I think give them 6 months and they would become really big/fat.
Big glasses with free refills? Unheard of in Europe.

They said california girls are more sexy.

So we got it good here. It takes other people to remind us.

[kcal09]

There is no question that the CA lifestyle is one of the best. Especially the climate, people and freedom are very much admired by Europeans who life a much more confined and regimented life.

[The-Shoveler]

That was one thing about working in the Europe or the Asia Office.

NO FREE COFFEE !!!

Inhumane I tell you.

Also the Free bread they give you at most chain restaurants in Cal. these days.

[spdrun]

[quote=kcal09]There is no question that the CA lifestyle is one of the best. Especially the climate, people and freedom are very much admired by Europeans who life a much more confined and regimented life.[/quote]

In many ways, younger Europeans are less regimented. University is cheap, so they’re not locked down by student loans. They tend to demonstrate a lot more, since the consequences of being arrested/ticketed aren’t as great as in the US. More time off, so more time to travel when young.

It’s also pretty common for kids over 8 or 9 to walk or take public transport to school, and travel to other countries with friends by age 16 or 17. Helicopter parenting isn’t as common as in the US — kids grow up more independent.

[The-Shoveler]

[quote=spdrun]
It’s also pretty common for kids over 8 or 9 to walk or take public transport to school, and travel to other countries with friends by age 16 or 17. Helicopter parenting isn’t as common as in the US — kids grow up more independent.[/quote]

If kids were raised today like most of the boomers grew up, they would have the parents locked up for neglect LOL.

There was no day care in those days.

[spdrun]

And fewer meddlesome swine in uniform with something to prove.

[FlyerInHi]

I find Europeans stronger, less neurotic and less needy in general. I personally get irritated with needy people.

My cousin’s friend is 30, cohabitating, but the “wife” back home doesn’t really care they are not legally. They gave a daughter. Marriage is not something that is that important to them. He made a joke about getting married to an American girl and staying.

They don’t believe in God. They seem perfectly well adjusted. They like to talk about everything, people watch, mock the funny people. They can laugh at themselves. Very easy going. I enjoy having them.

They are not afraid to do things like drive, to go to Mexico, try different food….

On the plus side in our favor, Americans make more money overall than Europeans. I’d say, by and large, Americans make about 1.5x to 2x than the big EU countries. Even more than the peripheral countries.

We enjoy more spending money for sure. And our consumer goods are lower priced. Does that make us happier, better adjusted, living long healthy lives? That is the question.

The other thing is American popular culture is incredibly strong. They know American films, sitcoms, etc… They insisted on eating hotdogs from the carts at Balboa Park because they see cops doing it in films.

[Reality]

[quote=The-Shoveler][quote=spdrun]
It’s also pretty common for kids over 8 or 9 to walk or take public transport to school, and travel to other countries with friends by age 16 or 17. Helicopter parenting isn’t as common as in the US — kids grow up more independent.[/quote]

If kids were raised today like most of the boomers grew up, they would have the parents locked up for neglect LOL.

There was no day care in those days.[/quote]

I walked home alone from kindergarten. By 8-9 definitely on my own.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=JohnAlt91941][quote=The-Shovele

r][quote=spdrun]
It’s also pretty common for kids over 8 or 9 to walk or take public transport to school, and travel to other countries with friends by age 16 or 17. Helicopter parenting isn’t as common as in the US — kids grow up more independent.[/quote]

If kids were raised today like most of the boomers grew up, they would have the parents locked up for neglect LOL.

There was no day care in those days.[/quote]

I walked home alone from kindergarten. By 8-9 definitely on my own.[/quote]

there is a movement for this type of thing to come back called. free range kids

Some free range parents got a cps referral for allowing kids to walk from school.

USA is a lot of things but free isn’t one ofvthem.

[flyer]

I read an article about that–some of the parents are now facing investigation. From “helicopter” to “free range,” things definitely flucuate from one extreme to another in the parenting world.

We raised our kids in about the same way as we were raised, and, although these parenting styles had not yet been identified, it was probably a combo of “tiger” “helicopter” and “free range,” along with a few other nuances.

My wife and I, who are Boomers, and most of our friends, had moms who, although educated, chose to stay at home and/or work from home–as my wife did with writing, music and film–then branch out when the kids were older.

Life for all of us was about family, education, sports (mostly golf and tennis, along with some team sports) music, travel etc., etc. with little of the stress and pressure we see today.

Whatever the parenting styles, from the memories we all have, and the way things turned out, I don’t think any of us would change much about the way we were brought up in CA.

[The-Shoveler]

I can honestly say I can never remember ever being picked up or dropped off at school.

It was the Bus or the bike from day 1 as far as I can remember.

If we were involved in some team sports most of us walked or road our bikes to the field.

If for some reason we stayed after school we walked home.

Both Parents worked, neither got home until well after 5:00 PM.

[scaredyclassic]

Free range is the conservative traditional style in place in America throughout its entire history until about 20 years ago.

Prior to the police state going into effect.

[FlyerInHi]

We went to the old spaghetti factory last night (bad food, never go there, but cheap and family oriented). Some kids running around In the restaurant were playing peek a boo with the guys. The mom didn’t mind but the dad clearly didn’t like it.

[CA renter]

[quote=JohnAlt91941][quote=The-Shoveler][quote=spdrun]
It’s also pretty common for kids over 8 or 9 to walk or take public transport to school, and travel to other countries with friends by age 16 or 17. Helicopter parenting isn’t as common as in the US — kids grow up more independent.[/quote]

If kids were raised today like most of the boomers grew up, they would have the parents locked up for neglect LOL.

There was no day care in those days.[/quote]

I walked home alone from kindergarten. By 8-9 definitely on my own.[/quote]

Definitely. My sister and I would walk to the corner market when we were 4-6 years old. Walked to and from school by ourselves (maybe with some friends, too) when we were 6-7 years old (took the school bus before that…mom didn’t walk us to/from the bus after the first couple of days to be sure we knew where to go). Stayed by ourselves while our parents went out to eat when we were around 7-8 years old. Definitely “neglect” by today’s standards. From the kids’ perspective, we enjoyed our freedoms very much! I feel that this kind of upbringing gave me a sense of confidence and independence that I would never have had if raised by helicopter parents.

Not sure if you guys saw this story about some parents who were totally harassed and threatened with arrest and losing their kids because they let the kids lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s sickening.

http://www.today.com/parents/maryland-parents-investigated-neglect-after-letting-their-kids-walk-alone-1D80430594

[CA renter]

[quote=FlyerInHi]We went to the old spaghetti factory last night (bad food, never go there, but cheap and family oriented). Some kids running around In the restaurant were playing peek a boo with the guys. The mom didn’t mind but the dad clearly didn’t like it.[/quote]

I’m all for kids having freedoms, but they should have to earn their freedom by showing a sense of responsibility. Knowing how to behave in various venues is a big part of that. Personally, I hate it when kids run around screaming in restaurants. We started bringing our kids to restaurants when they were a few weeks old and taught them from day one how to behave. Not saying they are always perfect, but we’ve always gotten compliments from other patrons and servers/managers regarding their behavior, even at a very young age. We’ve never had any complaints or even gotten the evil stare from others, and we have two kids who had a difficult time with sitting still/managing different environments. If they acted up, we took them outside immediately. It was tough for awhile, but worked out well in the end.

It is NEVER acceptable to let one’s kid ruin another person’s night out. It might be that person’s only chance to get out in a month or so. It might be a very special occasion for them. Not okay to ruin that under any circumstances. We’ve been out with other families who never discipline their kids or teach them to be considerate of others. Not fun. This is a huge pet peeve of ours.

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