Essex Files: The Kids Aren’t Alright
- Because We’ve Forgotten How to Be Neighbors

Children ARE more managed today than raised. The village is government-driven, and children are not okay, because we as a country/world are not okay. I grew up in a country (called suburbia today) neighborhood where almost everyone was related, albeit distant in most cases. The adults watched over all the children, so we could run and play all over the neighborhood, and we knew we were safe. We ate off each others' fruit trees, and we might jump in and help (as if we had a real choice) a neighbor shuck corn. My small town government was almost nonexistent; you never heard from them, but things always seemed to get done. The teachers in the schools knew our parents; parental participation was an extension of the community. To give you some perspective, I grew up in the South in the sixties and seventies. Things are different today. The younger generations are so trusting of government. It's surprising that young parents don't want to hear how insane injections they subject their children to, because government says so, are adversely affecting their children. They get angry with the people who try to warn them. They take doctor's advice for their newborns over people who've birthed and raised children. It's a strange world, but it demonstrates how easy things will be for the one world government if things continue as they are. The left is insane, but they are preparing the world for one government rule.

I'm a 71 yo woman that has fond memories of all the antics with my cousins when we were about 12. Swimming in irrigation ditches and walking miles in the rural countryside to find something to see or do. We had neighbors, but with only a few homes per square mile, there were just a few we were close to. Wouldn't change that part of my growing up for anything. We had a freedom that doesn't exist anymore because the world has changed so much.

There was also the rise of drugs, crimes, and predators. When my daughter was ten we moved into a BRAND new neighborhood- new houses, new neighbors. Nice neighborhood. We were excited because we thought there would be other families with children about the same age as our daughter. And there were. We were pretty sure that we wouldnt have a problem letting our kid run around the neighborhood to have fun. But it was ALL poisoned because the barrio showed up a week after we moved into our new house - - they had been the recipients of that LOVELY little Loan Manipulation that allowed for people who did NOT have the means to afford those kinds of homes to get into those actual homes. And we all found out WITHIN FIFTEEN MINUTES of them showing up at their house that their one and only teen age son was a little terroristic gang member who had apparently enough money to get a hot rod car with the kind of subwoofers they used to smoke Noriega out. Within fifteen minues of them driving up, with subwoofers at high volume, we were outside to see who it was and the next door neighbor was booking it outside of his house because the subwoofers woke up the baby they had just put down for a nap. It got worse from there. This young voter did not take long in making it his business to troll the neighborhood streets and if a young teenage girl was walking along, he'd follow her in his hot rod with the windows down and harrass her with threats if she didn't join his gang or at least buy drugs from him. His parents would get drunk and confront anyone who protested the loud music. Their son would invite his gang friends over and have LOUD parties in the front yard. His mama would be out there with them, flirting with them. They were defiant and ugly and scary and NOT people with whom I would have EVER allowed my daughter to be alone. Not even just walking by on her way to her friend's house. And there was very little that we as neighbors could do because 1) we were in a COUNTY jurisdiction, not a city so therefore there were no county ordinances against loud noises 2) until they caused an actual crime, there was little that the county officials could do 3) they were constantly threatening people if they dared tried to directly speak with them about their activities. I reiterate: this was in a NICE neighborhood with quarter-million and half-million dollar homes. So when you see this kind of blankety blank show up in places that you would THINK youd have no problem in, Id rather risk being called a helicopter parent and do what I can to protect myself and my neighbors who have young girls. This went on for three years at least before they were finally removed for foreclosure...and even then there had to be a police escort to get them to leave. I have to tell you though, as much romanticizing that GenX does about the "glory days" of being feral and having no parental oversight, there were plenty of times when we felt like having SOME kind of parently governance and structure would have been welcome. Its probably WHY we have been so protective of our own children. We remember how vulnerable we were and that not everybody was "safe." Getting rid of the illegals will go a long way towards returning safety to neighborhoods...but its a situation so entrenched now, its going to take more than just a few deportations.

I'm 76 and remember the 50s to be the best time to be a kid. I lived on the outskirts of the city on a block that was teeming with children, all of whom were within a year or two from my age. Parents didn't know the first thing about arranging play dates. We just rang doorbells to find out if "so and so" could come out to play. NO kid wanted to be inside so unless it was the dinner hour we knew we'd have a playmate. In the summer we just were required to head home when the street lights came on. Sure...we had rules to follow: don't talk to strangers, don't take their candy or get into their cars. We kids heard those rules over and over and over.......but we followed them. Today's parents are afraid to let their kids be kids.

Last Sunday I stopped at Sam’s to pick up a few things. My first clue that things had changed should have been the number of cars in the lot. It was packed at 10:45. I went in, did my shopping and I kid you not when I say I only heard three or four customers speaking English. The rest of the cacophony was Spanish. We have been invaded - the third world is here.

The kids aren't all right because the parents are scr--- all twisted.

It's the cell phone in your kid's crib. It's the video game the kids play 24/7. Those days of kids out playing in the street from 9 to 9 and walking home with their arms around each other's shoulders. Those days are gone. Thank the Lizard People. "It's Not what IF, it's what IS." - Granny Stone

Amen and Amen

I'm with #4. I was what's now called a latch key kid. Mom left me something to heat on the stove. Back out 'til dinner time and in the summer, out until somewhere around dark. Bicycled for miles with my friends. I've since met someone who got a license to operate farm machinery on the roads after his dad passed away. He was about 12.

Three years after my divorce I went house hunting and found a nice 3 bedroom in a well established neighborhood on a dead end street. There was probably 30 houses on the street and I was the only working mom. So many kids and the family across the street had 11 (yes they were Catholic) with 2 that were my son and daughter’s age. Those kids spent as much at our house as mine did at theirs. Behind their house was a wooded area perfect for little boys to play cowboys and Indians. I went looking for my son one day and 8 boys were playing their hearts out. My husband had married a lawyer by that time and they bought a house in an expensive suburban neighborhood. I asked my son if he was making friends at his dads house and he said yeah but they just want to stay inside and play video games. Even our UPS guy knew that neighborhood was something special. He told me I love turning down your street, it’s all kids playing with their dogs running around. I’m still proud of giving my kids that experience of growing up with the freedom to be an unsupervised child. There was another house that was cheaper and bigger, and I loved that house, but it was in a neighborhood that had a lot of renters and all I could see was perverts with no roots lol. I wanted a neighborhood I could let my kids play unsupervised. We lived at that house for 12 years and even though I live in the country now I still think of that neighborhood and miss it.