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Ryan Gardner's avatar

I'd like to point out that we wouldn't be in dire need of issuing H1-B visas to recruit scientists and engineers if we had a department of education that actually cared about children...or better yet not having a DOE.

I am of the firm belief the day they stripped tether-ball and outlawed kickball on recess playgrounds was the first day they started a slow stripping of their souls. At first in trickles...and then all at once.

Just like everything else that is de facto controlled by the state. During covid they were exposed as hollow, self-serving individuals (and the "guilds") that put their interest over the very children they are supposed to educate and have ready to adjust to the "real world".

Today's kids don't even have recess. It's simply a time when they are allowed to use their smartphones unsupervised. Yet we wonder why so many children have problems and are on prescribed drugs these days

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Nancy Benedict's avatar

Phones with internet access should be banned until the user is age 18. Or maybe 21. I am perfectly serious.

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Kim's avatar

And can pay for one’s own phone.

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Donna in MO's avatar

That was our rule, no smart phones unless they wanted to buy their own phone and plan, but then, our kids graduated in '12 and '13 and kids with smartphones were relatively rare then. Our daughter didn't get one until her mid-twenties as she didn't want to pay a phone bill.

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Based Florida Man's avatar

I like it.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

BRILLIANT

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Oma's avatar

Truth!!

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Valerie's avatar

I agree, IMHO it’s as dangerous to a young brain as alcohol, and we regulate that, so.

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Pat Wetzel's avatar

Perhaps more so. The online world of these kids is so all encompassing that any tethers to a so called social/physical reality are tenuous at best. I was almost run over in a crowded Trader Jie's by a woman with a cart and a cell phone. I called out "heads up" as I literally jumped out of the way. She barely paused to glare at me before she returned to her screen. How do you even begin to converse with this?

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Valerie's avatar

I was almost run off the sidewalk in my neighborhood by a woman with her face so much into her phone she didn’t see me coming walking from the other direction. This happened twice, different women. One a teenager and one a grown adult. One time I actually had to step off the sidewalk. How can someone be that oblivious outside?

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WP William's avatar

i witnessed a pickup truck pull directly out onto highway in front of oncoming ambulance (sirens and horns ) last week; gotta be fking ear buds and/or phone i thought...ambulance drivers know the idiocy of American and Newcomer drivers so it didn't t-bone the moron, then at the supermarket i park near 3 cars with NO Tags whatever on them and one with almost a year expired tag,... what the FK? And the Nicaraguan guy buying cigarettes with no ID at the Dumber General..

SCREW YOUR RULES America...we'll do whatever WE WANT. What we're witnessing is arbitrary rewards, punishments, and a soft anarchism or personal choice--a reality-based Libertarianism; societal norms and rules and structure is simply preference and you can either accept it or road rage/sidewalk assassin someone if not.

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Karmy's avatar

The law of nature will take over. Survival of the fittest. These are the people that get hit by cars or robbed. Easy, soft targets.

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JC in Ak's avatar

Immediate recognition here as the number of times this has happened to me are frustratingly too numerous.

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Peace's avatar

Next time (I'll try to remember if I get the chance) turn backwards in front of them so they run in to ya. Maybe a lesson learned that will save their life?!

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Neil Kellen's avatar

Let them hit you, then sue!

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

Fool's errand - They don't have any money and won't show up to court anyway. Best to avoid the collision and stand on the horn.

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Dawn B's avatar

Phones are weaponized. My concern is access to Porn. It ruins lives forever.

Kids under 10 are easily exposed even if your kid does not have a phone, some other kid will show it to others.

I put software on my kids' phones and I could monitor everything. It helped a lot.

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TG's avatar

That helps, but what did you teach your child? to not go to those sites? to use the tool effectively? or to do an end around you with their friends who have parents who don't give two hoots???

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Dawn B's avatar

I was on them like white on rice but there are always dangers. Many many conversations with my kids, but kids are curious... They did not have a computer in their room and the phones automatically turned off at a certain time and I could see just about everything including social media. There are even better tools now. I even created profiles on my internet to block times and sites with notifications when a site was blocked. They didn't go to certain places and I did have a conversation with parents, including relatives, to see how they manage games and online. Good thing because a couple years ago the FBI literally broke down a relative's door at 6 am because their 14yo grandson was on pedoporn and they thought it was an adult in the house. To my knowledge nothing happened to the kid, but they confiscated his stuff. The kid will probably struggle with porn and having a normal relationship the rest of his life all because they did not even try to protect him.

The other kid at the same house is a they/them now, is always depressed, and on a bunch of psyche meds. She is 25 now but when she was 15, she was groomed from some popular chat place and what they thought was her 19yo friend, was really a dike child predator.

My kids did not go there without me and I warned the "grandparent" about the dangers. I told them so, now both kids are a mess all from the internet.

It is evil and now with AI, IMHO, you are probably talking to demons.

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TG's avatar

Sad really, but blaming the "internet" is like blaming a boogey man... it's not the "internet it's the parents...

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Dawn B's avatar

True 100% ... They were raising grandkids and technologically dumb but they should have done something.

If "they" wanted to block porn and other heinous stuff on the internet they could.

Pedoporn and snuff films are crimes against humanity and children have access to it.

Look what they did to block "misinformation."

They (the evil ones), want to destroy families and people.

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Roger Beal's avatar

Next time you're at your local Walmart or Costco, look around at the young families shopping there.

I'll bet you a month's lease on a Tracfone that you will spot at least one child, age between about 4 and about 10, poking at a smartphone, oblivious to the world around them. Mommy and daddy clearly have no concerns about this.

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Fred's avatar

Or even younger...and screaming bloody murder when Dad takes it away momentarily to text his wife to see if she needs eggs. Recent experience.

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Dave aka Geezermann's avatar

I totally agree. If I were young again and had young children I would have no problem being Amish to the extreme. But wait, have the Amish given in to the "smartphone"?

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Peter Schott's avatar

I think the Amish tend to be more wise in the ways they adopt technology overall. They might have "given in" to the smartphones, but only in the sense that they know how to use them as a tool and avoid the more addicting parts. We have a large Mennonite community somewhat close to us. They have modern tech like computers/phones, but it stays in its lane and isn't part of their everyday working life. They can pull it out for selling, responding to people, and such, but they are pretty intentional about it being a tool.

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CHop's avatar

My Mennonite farmer said he noticed a difference in his children who are older and didn't have smart phones and his younger ones who did. The older ones have more focus and drive. On a side note, the farm orders are online as well as other online businesses, hence the phones.

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Dave aka Geezermann's avatar

Very good points Peter. They are setting the right example for their children - and for the rest of us.

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Nancy Benedict's avatar

I can call or send an email to my Amish roofing contractor but he doesn't text, which is my preferred method of communication. The do's and don'ts of their phone use are kinda quirky.

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Edward Flynn's avatar

Recommend Bobby Kennedy’s interview of John Kempf on Spotify. Yes he uses a phone for work. But has 4M Acres under his ROA methodology and a batting average of 1.0 is solving plant disease problems. Maybe it’s because he has VALUES.

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Nancy Benedict's avatar

Yep. They have 'em.

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shayne's avatar

Absolutely.

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FedUpInOR's avatar

But then who monitors that? Like Australia where you must be a certain age… that’s a tricky way of making everyone have a digital ID bc everyone must now prove they are of age to be on social media. Anytime you say ‘there should be a law against…’ think about the consequences

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Danielle's avatar

Absolutely! We were NOT generally pleased with this law here in Oz. They allowed 24hrs for public comment, which was not advertised in any way, but still received over 15,000 comments in that time period, nearly all against the law.

Parents need to take responsibility for their children. Mine were not allowed any phone until they could pay for it themselves. We took lots of flak because “everyone else has one “, but it not only encouraged responsibility, it has also encouraged good work ethic as well.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Agreed.

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AJF's avatar

Nancy, so glad my granddaughter attends a Waldorf School. Zero screens and highly discouraged at home. Working farm, large vegetable garden, cooking every day...it's lovely.

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Carol's avatar

Leonard Max's book, The Collapse of Parenting, is a fantastic book that gives parents the courage to be the authoritative, loving parent that will put limits on all the toxic social media, video games and internet access. It's critical to their mental health and social development.

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FedUpInOR's avatar

Thanks for the book recommendation!

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Sarah Bee's avatar

Agree! It’s insane! I was just speaking to a friend whose 7th grade son is the only seventh grader without a phone!

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TG's avatar

Although this sounds "good" unfortunately it is not.. The way to handle this is with parental guidance, yes be a parent, you can do so much as a parent to teach your children what is useful and what is bad about the access. Sadly you could try and do this like alcohol and guns and all the rest, but what are the kids going to do when they turn 18??? just like booze, when they turn 21 the go out and do stupid s**t... Why? Because parents didn't teach them control. Sadly you you are asking for the gov to do something which is against what we are all about... gov needs to be out of it and parents need to be in charge. period... laws are the lazy way out...

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LamedVav disavows all vaxes.'s avatar

Sunbeamwireless.com is a kosher phone that texts, takes dictation, pics BUT does not go on the internet! They work well.

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Peace's avatar

Not as inexpensive as I would've thought. But glad to know we can get a dumbphone if desired.

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Johnny Be Real's avatar

Open internet access for minors is neglect at best. We installed software on our kids phones when they got them at 14 so access was controlled no matter what network was accessed. But sadly, other kid’s parents are stupid so garbage leaks out from everywhere.

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Austin's avatar

I totally agree, especially since the intentionally increased blue light is SO addictive and damaging to growing eyes and brains.

And for those who are unaware, the mob that started Las Vegas, WAY BACK WHEN, discovered that if they increase the blue light in the gaming machines, people would play more and longer because the mobsters discovered how addictive the blue light was. Now, every screen, TV, computer, phone, is constructed to increase the blue light!!!!

Here's some info:

BlockBlueLight.com

https://rumble.com/v5igm1h-exiled-brain-surgeon-darpa-mind-control-quantum-biology-and-sunlight-medici.html

This site is recommended by Dr. Mercola as one of the best computer screen software to block out the blue light. The basic program is free but there's also an upgrade for a one time fee, I believe.

https://iristech.co/

But, be prepared. There are PLENTY of sites and articles claiming the blue light thing is nothing but a "conspiracy theory."

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Lisa P's avatar

That would help, but the problems started prior to Gen Z.

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shayne's avatar

I agree

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Dr Linda's avatar

I couldn’t agree more. We grew up hearing “Go outside and play”

All 7 of us kids grew up tough and clever. We were not rich, there were days we didn’t know where of next meal was coming from. We didn’t just survive, we thrived. Was it easy? No. So what?

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Robin Greer's avatar

We were only allowed inside if it was raining outside or we were sick.

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Renee Marie's avatar

My single mom (divorced from an abusive alcoholic marriage) told me to go play on the freeway or dig to China 😉😂 (with a kitchen spoon of course)!

At 61, I can understand how exhausted she was from working. I stayed outside all day by choice and loved it!

She was a loving, tough, mom!

Kids were creative in the 60’s, and 70’s! 🙌

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Karen Bandy's avatar

Or we’d find friends who’s moms worked and then we could stay inside. 🤣

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Jpeach's avatar

The Baby Boom generation grew up in a time of American Exceptionalism and just the right amount of technological advances (ex: TV but, no computers). We had to rely on our God given capabilities to get ahead. The American Dream was real and could be achieved with hard work and perseverance.

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Jennifer's avatar

And then we spoiled our children with consumerism. We put them in daycare, scheduled their free time with adult managed after school activities, helped them get into college, gave them phones and video games, cereal, juice, packaged snacks.... the list goes on.

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shayne's avatar

Oh I wouldn't leave my kids with anyone. Either their dad or I was at home, or I took the whole crew with me.

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Frontera Lupita's avatar

Amen on that!

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

TV is a gateway drug!

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Sumter53's avatar

Remember when our mom took us to the neighbors house so we could get exposed to chicken pox, mumps and measles? We had to play outside or be assigned an afternoon of chores. We had to come home when the streetlights came on or when my dad did his

“ I mean NOW!!! “ whistle??? I believe that a pager/beeper type device could be helpful for child safety in today’s world but nothing more advanced.

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Temcol's avatar

Perfect description of my life as a kid. Drink from hose, minimal snacks and then it was typically fruit. We were healthy, strong, street smart. Ate dinner at the table all together. It was a special treat to use tv tables and eat while watching Wizard of Oz once a year. All 6 of us had chicken pox at one time. My mom was a Superhero.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

This is what my kids hear too 😁

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Oma's avatar

And my grandkids!

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Danielle's avatar

Easy is never a good teacher. Striving for what you want, and the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving it, is.

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Alan Devincentis's avatar

Exactly!

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shayne's avatar

That's what my kids heard. They had a huge tree to climb and a trampoline and when we could afford it, an above ground plastic pool in the summer.... there were 8 of them and they shared clothes too.

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

With a 1 in 36 ACKNOWLEDGED autism rate, with untold others having intellectual, emotional, or other types of brain damage, how can we expect to compete (or even survive) as a nation? This is in addition to the physical maladies that are everywhere. How many of us have trouble putting in a full work day due to chronic illness(es)? I continue to pray this new administration can get to the causes of much of this as it is weakening us as a nation and costing us unknown quantities of money, time, goodwill, etc.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

THIS is a huge issue! I ran into an acquaintance yesterday who casually mentioned that three of her four biological children have some sort of disability or are on the spectrum, plus her one year old foster child as well! She talked about the government assistance she gets for their various treatments (she’s totally not a welfare mom, rather, a suburban homeschooling homemaker) and I wanted to say: but what if they could just be WHOLE and healthy instead? No government aid needed.

Her husband is in the medical field and I know they are pretty medically mainstream😔 I don’t know her well enough yet to have planted some seeds…I hope that day comes.

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STH's avatar

I commented on an autism FB Reel normalizing autistic children and how wonderful they were. I merely asked the question - where were all the autistic kids in the 60’s and 70’s? What a hornets nest I stirred up! They think they were always there but undiagnosed. No idea their bloated vaccine schedule has anything to do with it. 😵‍💫 Complete denial just like the Covid shots.

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Karen Bandy's avatar

I would have been snarkier… where were all the ‘wonderful’ autistic kids in the 60’s and 70’s….

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Fred's avatar

Was it Jeff who pointed out that Zimmerman, the guy who initially debunked the autism-vax link but secretly admitted it, and later did a 180 publcally. Yet his initial statements continue to be used against the association.

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Dave aka Geezermann's avatar

And there is still a debate over the issue of whether childhood vaccines cause autism and other things, like SIDS. I think it's clear by now.

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jmsmithmd's avatar

It Should be clear, but my kids say,”I trust my doctors” and continue to jab

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Susan Clack's avatar

Ugh! Sounds like my sister's 4 kids...they're all in their 40's now and not one of them seems to have an independently thinking brain in their bodies! They all lined up like sheep to the jab slaughter....and crazy old Aunt Susan in Kalifornistan (yours truly) is a lunatic because she said the "vaccine" was a death shot, experimental gene therapy, and that this whole thing was a Plandemic...🙄🙄🙄 I despair of them navigating the next fake emergency. 💔

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Oma's avatar

😢

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Fred's avatar

💔 They should trust their doctor parent instead!

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Karen Bandy's avatar

The damage has been done. Unless she’s planning to have a fifth biological child, what seeds can you plant?

Perhaps dietary changes, probably, and perhaps jab detox??? I wonder if there are any protocols for kids?

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Lots of seeds to plant and water! I am a recovered vaccine injured (tetanus shot at 19 years that led to 13 years of vaccine injury misdiagnosed as “Crohns Colitis”; I bled from my gut for 13 years!) - there are detoxes, there are protocols, there are diet changes, and so much more. I believe a large range of autism is curable. We are fearfully and wonderfully made and praise God, he has designed us to heal! Our bodies are a miracle and a gift from God.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Wicked people cover up the true cause of autism partly because they would be criminally responsible but also because if people knew it was curable, they would seek the cure. But instead they’re told to accept and celebrate a horrific injury that could be healed in many cases and avoided in many cases more.

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

The VA keeps pestering me to get an updated tetanus shot. I told the nurse that there were only 28 cases of tetanus reported to the CDC in 2022. So if I divide 28 cases by 330 million people in the US, my chances are .00000008 of one percent.

Reading your comment about your vaccine injury scared the crap out of me.

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Heather LibertyCricket's avatar

Read up more if needed... tetanus is only a threat if you step on a rusty nail that has been sitting IN ANIMAL FECES. a broken piece of glass in your kitchen? No tetanus. A nail when remodeling? No tetanus. Etc. Good luck and keep strong! and thanks for your service.

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

The VA also keeps pushing the shingles vaccine on me. And, I keep telling them that the shot has a FDA black box warning on it for developing Guillain-Barre Syndrome. A blank look by the nurse is usually the result...so, they either do not know about the warning, or they do not know what a black box warning is.

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BBS's avatar

My sister developed GB in the late 90's after a flu vax. She was paralyzed from the waist down for over 3 months and to this day, has ongoing problems stemming from GB. She can barely walk because she hasalmost no feeling in her feet. I had my second pneumonia vax in Sept. of 2019 and after that, developed severe hearing loss--also permanent. This family says NO to all vaxes.

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

I had problems from the over-65 pneumonia shot. Vision problems for 18 months and balance problems. The balance problems are still there and have lessened.

For folks reading the comments, here is the link for the FDA black box warning for the shingles vaccine. Your doctor won't tell you.

https://www.fda.gov/vaccines-blood-biologics/safety-availability-biologics/fda-requires-warning-about-guillain-barre-syndrome-gbs-be-included-prescribing-information-shingrix

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BBS's avatar

My sister developed GB in the late 90's after a flu vax. She was paralyzed from the waist down for over 3 months and to this day, has ongoing problems stemming from GB. She can barely walk because she hasalmost no feeling in her feet. I had my second pneumonia vax in Sept. of 2019 and after that, developed severe hearing loss--also permanent. This family says NO to all vaxes.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Tetanus research reveals a deep pit of lies told to us. Check into the studies done on traumatically wounded WWI soldiers, some who died with apparent tetanus symptoms but no positive tetanus tests and some who tested positive for tetanus and had zero symptoms/recovered without issue.

Tetanus is anaerobic - it cannot survive in the presence of oxygen. If your wound bleeds, the oxygen in your blood is cleansing it 👏 (fearfully and wonderfully made!). I tell my kids to squeeze the blood out of small cuts and punctures to help flush any bacteria including tetanus out (if that were even a problem; other bacteria/microbes much more likely). Additionally, if you’re cut by a rusty piece of metal, guess what - rust is oxidization - a result of exposure to oxygen, meaning it also will not have tetanus on it.

But also, we have exposure to animal feces in our backyards all the time - rabbits, squirrels, rodents, not to mention domestic pets. (My kids are barefoot all the time at home.) We don’t need to live in fear of tetanus. We just don’t need to live in fear. Period.

No. More. Fear.

My 2024 motto is “in nothing terrified” - from Philippians 1:27-30!

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Susan Clack's avatar

🔥🔥🔥

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Karmy's avatar

A few years ago I did read about a study that showed dietary changes did help with autism. Change to organic foods.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Back before social media, there were 'bulletin boards' on the internet where you could chat and exchange information. I was on several in the early 2000's around learning deficiencies as my son struggled to learn to read, and school was pressuring us to medicate him for ADD, which we fought for several years. Believe he is dyslexic although did have him tested and the results were that he was not. The bulletin boards over time became overcome with a lot of parents with kids with autism, and there was a lot of discussion around ADD, Sensory issues and autism being tied to gut issues. We tried all kinds of dietary interventions - which was tough, as one, he was/is a very picky eater, two, he went to friend's houses and cheated. After a couple of years of non stop food battles, we gave up as nothing really changed for him, although there were a moms on there who claimed dietary changes helped. Hard core limited screen time (for both kids) and

made them 'go outside and play'. Tried meds a couple of years but he didn't like them, said he didn't feel like himself. Worked at home with him a lot on reading, and helped him with coping strategies - like having checklists, routines, using a planner to write everything down so he wouldn't forget. He's still ADD and not a great reader, but managed to graduate HS and college and has a good job as a production manager for a mfg plant, and has a super organized wife. I worked PT til they were in HS and it was all consuming trying everything but realize not all families have that option. They did get the childhood shots, as I was not awake, although there was a lot of chatter on the bulletin boards about mercury/thimerosal being a cause, but the schedule was a fraction of what it is now. Sorry I did not pay more attention, and have told both kids that.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Dietary changes can be very profitable but if the heavy metals or other toxins that caused the damage are still present they will continue to cause problems.

My vaccine injury symptoms did not clear up till I did a heavy metal detox (bentonite clay in my case but there are a variety available) and almost immediately I began to actually make strides forward in healing.

Even after the fact, I know I’m a slow detoxer so even though I eat healthy/live clean, every couple years I need to boost my detoxing again to clean out the sludge from living in our food and environmental pollution.

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Robin Greer's avatar

The schools also get compensated for every "disabled" child that's diagnosed.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

This is a dark incentive that perpetuates the bondage.

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Robin Greer's avatar

Exactly.

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RunningLogic's avatar

I have been shocked how many kids I see with all kinds of physical issues, illnesses and chronic conditions everywhere 😕 I don’t remember it being that way when I was a kid.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

RFKjr said during his Madison Square Garden speech before the election, that 77% of US boys have a chronic health condition that would preclude them from serving in the military. I explained it to my sons this way: “if you are in your co-op class with 10 boys, roughly two of you will need to protect all ten of you. Plus any women or children or property.”

It is a shocking and disturbing reality.

And it will be my sons/conservative boys because they’re unvaxxed and healthy and honorable.

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

I am not sure that this is the best place to put this in this thread...I have run across a couple changing tables in public bathrooms that will accommodate full size adult bodies. This indicates to me that the need has increased to a significant degree.

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Valerie's avatar

I think that 77% includes those who can’t qualify because they’re overweight.

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Acroneinthewoods's avatar

How much of the obesity is from food poisoning chemicals? I get sick when I think about it too much.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

I think a TON of obesity is from food chemicals! It makes me angry! I have a lot of nieces and nephews (20). All of them are clean eating except one family (who still home cooks but just eats a more mainstream diet) and that family has overweight kids. What an unnecessary burden for kids, not just for their bodies but socially as well!

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Dawn B's avatar

I used to think it was honorable to serve. God protect them. Whose wars do we fight anyway? Not our ours... Bankers? World controllers? Good causes? Illusions?

Name a war that was fought for our freedom besides Revolutionary and that is debated. I must be stupid because I can't.

Are we still beholden to the crown? Our court system is at the very least.

I'd rather my son be fat than join the military who notoriously experiments on their soldiers, mind control, use them as cannon fodder and spray them like weeds and then let them suffer the aftermath with little or no support.

We were recently concerned there would forced enlistment.

It is pretty depressing but I am still thankful.

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Peace's avatar

Sounds like the military will need to relax its standards to keep recruitment numbers up.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Or they will need to heal recruits first.

1) clean chemical free food

2) no toxic vaccines or mandatory medical treatments

3) physical exercise and mental/emotional strength building (which often will be a natural outworking of the above, but some recruits will still need extra work)

I hope they don’t relax standards. That just shrugs the damage off and creates a sub par fighting force. Fix the problems that are injuring our children, don’t make another “safe space” for the injury that needs to be healed and the injurers that need to be held accountable.

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Dawn B's avatar

They wanted to weaken us. We are animals for them to exploit.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Yes. To many of them we are. It is our greatest rebellion and strength to know that we are created in the image of the Maker of the Universe and we have value above all other created things. It is essential to know our own worth - possessing souls that God has assigned infinite, eternal value - to ground us and give us a foundation from which to fight an ages old attempt at dehumanization.

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Andrew lawson's avatar

just add more women recruits after dropping the entry requirement standards.

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Dawn B's avatar

I am on vacation with my husband's extended family now.

My SIL has a grand baby that is 3 and barely talks. I know for a fact she got a jab during pregnancy. He appears to be slow with minimal motor skills as well IMO. My son at 3 could dribble a basket ball and this kid can't catch a rolling ball between his legs or roll it back.

AND I heard them talking last night that a close friend suddenly died at 52 in his sleep the day after Christmas. They were saying it was probably a blood clot and the coroner does not want to do and autopsy.

Sound familiar?

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RunningLogic's avatar

It’s very sad and also infuriating 😕

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God Bless America's avatar

A lot of that going around… 🤦🏽‍♀️😢🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Largely just the US.

Countries that don’t vax have almost zero food allergy issues. RFK Jr has talked about this.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Especially the food allergies. I don't remember anyone in my school with food allergies. Around 2005 or so our kids' school started banning bringing home made food for class parties and such, everything had to be packaged with an ingredient list to accommodate food allergies.

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RunningLogic's avatar

Yes same here. The only allergies I remember a couple of kids having were to bee stings and seasonal allergies like hay fever. But even that was pretty rare and food allergies were pretty much unheard of. Now so many kids are allergic to or have sensitivities to all kinds of things 😕

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Donna in MO's avatar

Curious if this is world wide or just US? Something the MAHA team should be looking into!

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RunningLogic's avatar

I have been seeing more examples in my European friends of late also. It’s not as widespread and is reaching them more slowly but I think it’s becoming more and more pervasive there too. Maybe they’ll be able to head these issues off before they get as bad as they are here.

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Robyn Welch's avatar

My son is "on the spectrum", because he wasn't breathing when he was born. So his education was geared towards "autism" and not him, no matter how I advocated for him. I had a friend who took her adopted son to 5 different doctors before she found one to give him the "autism" diagnosis. And my husband's sister-in-law is seeking that diagnosis for her daughter, whom she homeschooled and pretty much isolated from other people. (I'm not sure what my brother-in-law thinks about this). Yes, there's better diagnosis, but there's also more teachers and doctors looking for the "box" for kids, and parents looking for excuses for behavior issues.

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Donna in MO's avatar

Yes, I remember when mine were in school there was a dx called ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) - I never bought it - kids were brats as their parents were too lazy to parent and would rather chalk up mis-behavior to a dx vs actual parenting. No kid likes being told 'no' - easier at first to just give in, until you have created a monster.

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

I can only try to appreciate how difficult that must be. I am glad you aren't accepting the prescribed limitations that the system places on ASD individuals. keep the faith and keep researching alternatives. God bless you and your son!

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Robyn Welch's avatar

Thank you!

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Oma's avatar

Amen!

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Conservative Contrarian's avatar

I'm sure you know this, each state should manage their public education, not DC unelected bureaucrats.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Yes.....and more.

Decentralize bureaucracy. Divest Executive Orders. Move all Federal cases out of D.C.. Paper ballots in person, at physical location, counted by real people, with an arbiter in each precinct to resolve any conflicts. And no pussy's allowed

The State says this is all necessary...NOT.

Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of Tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

You cannot comply your way out of tyranny.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

You can vote it in...but you'll have to shoot your way out of it.

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Based Florida Man's avatar

Correct! And our time is running out.

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Ministry of Truth's avatar

Or perhaps put it in entirely in the hands of the parents?

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Jen's avatar

Sure. However, we have a lot of parents who apparently can't be bothered to feed their kids so why would they lift a finger to educate them? I get so outraged when I hear about local kids who only get meals at school.

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Ministry of Truth's avatar

I also find that outrageous. I grew up in Germany in the 90ies, our schools didn't serve any food. But we also didn't have the levels of poverty I hear about in the USA, food wasn't a problem. Those kids with crappy parents are pretty much screwed anyways, I don't see a good reason then to make all the kids with decent parents suffer as well.

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Jennifer's avatar

I've been teaching elementary school for 21 years and it is worse than you think. The devices are ruining the children's ability to track left to right when reading (the eyes don't dart around naturally as they do on a screen), there is no memorization, children spend time on devices and aren't learning to write and spell (but they will be Apple and Microsoftcustomers) , they are fed ultra processed food by the school and parents, children don't play outside unsupervised anymore (many of my 3rd graders don't know what bark is on tree), and the list goes on. We do our best to mitigate these obstacles but it is very overwhelming. Behavioral problems are off the charts as is the volume of illnesses. Most media (and many readers) blame the teachers but they don't realize or even research the curriculum the systems purchase that we are required to use. County officials visit the classrooms making sure everyone is teaching the same thing or of the same book irrespective of the needs of the students. It's a monopoly beyond repair. The fact that anyone in a leadership role would support the rediculous visas in lieu of holding the monopoly from k-12 and the university systems accountable in our own country says everything you need to know. There are tens if thousands of STEM graduates from US private and public universities every year. Even more disgusting is the fact that programming should be taught in high school without a need for a degree. It's about cheap labor from abroad mixed in with USA's low standards.

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Shelle's avatar

We need the visas for now AND we need to save our country's children. I know people here on these immigration visas and they are really good people, many of whom would vote conservative if they could vote. People smart and successful with good morals who want to live in a free country without the bribes common in their country of origin and they are our allies. They shouldn't be made to be in the cross hairs.

But what you say about the children, my heart breaks for them. I'm raising my children differently than the norm in a good way and I am dismayed to see my children's classmates (even in private school) be just as you describe.

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Whatsit Tooya's avatar

yeah, it has to be both. Fixing education is a decades-long process, during which we can't just let our technology sector lie fallow, that's a non-starter in a global economy. DOGE (read: Elon and Vivek) have repeatedly mentioned the Department of Ed as chief target in the crosshairs, because they do, actually, contrary to half of MAGA's belief, understand the need to train Americans.

But that doesn't change the timeline being 20 years, when the next generation finally enters the workforce. In the meantime, either those positions are left unfulfilled, or we find strong foreign workers and weld them into the burgeoning American juggernaut like we always have done.

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Shelle's avatar

Just wanted to add that the private school children don't have the curriculum problems, but they do have the problem of too much technology at home making them distracted and uninterested in reading.

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Dave aka Geezermann's avatar

Jennifer, great comment. I support abolishing the federal involvement in public education, abolishing the Dept. of Education. We are seeing and experiencing the end result of intentional dilution of real education. It has almost reached a point of no return. Drastic measures must be taken.

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Fla Mom's avatar

Great comment, Jennifer, thanks for sharing your experience. We need to hear from all sorts of people with granular information like this, now that we're allowed to talk about this subject openly.

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Leskunque Lepew's avatar

Overseas workers do work for less $$$$.

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Danielle's avatar

Overseas workers often work harder and with less complaint. The first thing that they are taught is to work hard to achieve what they want. Western children are often taught more about their “rights” and won’t go “over and above” in the same way. Obviously, not all, and many times it’s parent-dependent, but as a general rule they don’t work as hard.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Brilliant comment. Kudos!

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Peace's avatar

This reminded me of a new teacher coming to our school and reporting the principal of her prior school stated, "I want to hear the start of a sentence in one classroom and walk to the next classroom to hear the end of the sentence." Re: "County officials visit the classrooms making sure everyone is teaching the same thing or of the same book irrespective of the needs of the students."

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Bandit's avatar

IMHO, the reason so many kids are on prescriptions and have problems, is because the parents are too busy with their own problems to be bothered to be parents. It's easier to drug children up than deal with them being noisy, or running in the house, or needing their attention. Who wants to be bothered when you're tired and frustrated from working all day with a bunch of jerks, in pointless meetings, and then be expected to do an entire days work in the remaining 3 hours of your day? All on top of everything costing WAY too much and everyone still needs to be fed.

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SM's avatar

The difference between letting emotions dictate your life and actually THINKING, is self control and emotional maturity. Nobody wants to learn self control because it requires discipline and patience.

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Pat Wetzel's avatar

Let's throw in a touch of awareness or even conscious. But I dream...

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Leo's avatar

Pat, it is going to take more than "a touch" of awareness...

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Leo's avatar

SM, Yes! Which was the main point of Jeff's C&C today. Grow up. Learn self control. Quit polarizing/demonizing people who disagree with you...for the sake of our nation! "Divided we fall."

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Peter Schott's avatar

I think there were a lot of people who listened to the "experts" for drugs. The experts introduced "being bored" as "having a problem to be treated" and inexperienced parents bought into that. I think that tide has been shifting back. More parents realize that "being a boy" <> "needing ritalin" these days and they're seeing more value in getting kids up and active instead of chained to a desk all day. It's a slow shift, but it's happening.

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Ryan Gardner's avatar

Yes. Good point.

Being "bored" is essential to a healthy human because it is a time for self reflection and examination.

If life goes unexamined you will never truly know who you are...or be able to intentionally improve as a human being.

In boredom you can find purpose

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

Daydreaming is very productive. Always came up with my best ideas.

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Bandit's avatar

Some of my best ideas, SOMETIMES, would come while I was busy doing something else.

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Leo's avatar

Bandit - hopefully not daydreaming while you were operating dangerous machinery...

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Bandit's avatar

Not while I was daydreaming at all. Not always, but SOMETIMES, while I was doing paperwork. Concentrating on what I was reviewing, a solution to a problem having nothing to do with the data or an entirely random inspiration for something totally different from my job would pop into my head. Sometimes I would write it down, sometimes it would just stick. I'm never going to argue with myself about how a good idea came about, I'll just roll with it.

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Leo's avatar

Me too. Occupy the Left Brain so the more wholistic Right Brain can be listened to.

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St. Alia the Knife's avatar

There is a significant difference between being "bored" and being still. I have tried to just be still more in recent years. The pause that refreshes. Psalm 46:10a "Be still and know that I am God..."

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Danielle's avatar

Maybe a reflection of less generational support too. Grandparents living long distances away and families not as close.

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MaryAnn's avatar

My s-i-l had to fend off teachers who wanted to drug her very bright son in elem school. She, herself an elem teacher, suggested he be given more difficult, aka challenging, (not more busy work) assignments to keep him engaged. This meant more work for the teachers which was not welcomed.

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Robin Greer's avatar

Tracking kids by ability groups was the way this was accomplished back in my day. There were advanced kids, average kids, and slow-learning kids. Each group was taught at their skill level and this made life for the teacher easier and it made life for the kids better.

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nt's avatar

Agree !!! It’s a 💯 parenting problem, not school, not government. Parents !!!

Parenting against culture is WORK - it’s like swimming upstream 24-7! Not to mention if both parents are working and there is still a full-time job waiting at home …😬

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Danielle's avatar

It’s much harder to say no, and stick to it.

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nt's avatar

So so true ! And perfectly explains why I have a hairy Aussie inside my house 🤦‍♀️

But snap chat …now that’s a hard NO. lol

Win some -you loose some 😂

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Bandit's avatar

One of the reasons I don't have kids. The begging gets on my last nerve.

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ILoveherbs's avatar

Could it be that many parents have succumbed to the convenience of "smart devices" & hence all the screen time for kids? Agree, it is work to go against current trends & culture. Being "old fashioned" is not acceptable. I think I would be very happy to live in an Amish community.

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Cynthia Eagan's avatar

I came here to say just this, but you’ve said it better. Isn’t the H1-B visa debate an opportunity to discuss our pathetic schools? Why attack the messenger when the message is quite obvious?

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Leskunque Lepew's avatar

Ask the Department of Ejukashion

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ILoveherbs's avatar

😂Love the spelling 😂

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Franklin O'Kanu's avatar

Children education went further down when Bill Gates got involved with common core. He was trying to shape the minds like the Rockefellers did: https://unorthodoxy.substack.com/p/origins-of-modern-education

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Peace's avatar

Yep, Gates' math curriculum was a dandy! Perhaps that's part of why college kids are struggling with STEM courses?

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Jenn's avatar

Today's government educational system is in name only - it's actually a day prison. Children check in through metal detectors, deposit their belongings in a locked up box, go their rooms where they have no option to think but just be told what to think, eat the worst food imaginable at lunch (if they don't get to bring their own lunch), and then collect their belongings and head out the doors. Day prison. Many have bars on their windows and chain link fences. So tragic.

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Dave aka Geezermann's avatar

Jenn - wow, that's some analogy, and is sadly correct.

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Jenn's avatar

And! It's yet another way to attack children by making them feel imprisoned. I drive by a very, very large secondary school every day and many, if not most, walk or trudge their way home. Rarely do I see a student upbeat or even lighthearted. They just look withdrawn or depressed. 😔

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Leo's avatar

Dispirited.

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Jenn's avatar

More accurate word, for sure!

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Jenn's avatar

It is unimaginable how they got to this place.

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

Do any kids still bring their own lunches to school?

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Peace's avatar

They do at our kids' school - no lunchroom so everyone brings their lunch!

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Kathleen Janoski's avatar

Thanks, I was just wondering.

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

Kids don’t need to be in the socialized school system at all. They need true education which starts at home (building character, work ethic and identity) and gradually moves outward with age - during some of our most productive periods in history, children didn’t receive formal (I mean in class room) education till college around 15/16 years old.

Other kids were tutored or eventually, attended one room school houses in the mornings, if they could, if it wasn’t harvest time.

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RunningLogic's avatar

Agree. Our current model of “education” is much less effective with regard to results than past models.

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walk2write's avatar

I think you should add dodgeball to the list of stripped sports that should be reinstated. That sport is the ultimate in character building. If you can survive dodgeball at recess, you stand a good chance at thriving during adulthood.

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Elizabeth's avatar

At a Silicon event titled 'Reboot 24' hosted by the organization Foundation for American Innovation, I, as a plebian, listened to leaders in Silicon Valley, including Fukuyama. Anyone who is in CA should attend if they hold it next year. For a few bucks, you get to rub shoulders with the Titans, plus they host a fabulous spread, including juice shots. (https://www.thefai.org/about-us) What was alarming was a discussion of the visas. One big wig noted the problem of failing schools in San Fran. While he saw it as a problem, the solution was to 'brain drain' the rest of the world. I was dismayed, to say the least.

There are two problems. First and foremost, we have the natural resources here. Unless someone truly believes in Eugenics, even our poorest children, properly educated and motivated, should be able to succeed. In fact, when parts of Silicon Valley moved to the LA beach area, I wrote Maxine Waters asking for her to reach out to her 'buddies' to start a school in her district—it seemed an easy win-win. I was so naive.

The second problem is that our universities are so full of wokeism that now is in STEM that graduates will be encouraged to take top jobs while shunning the 'natives.' I've encountered such individuals. They make you ashamed about being an American, bringing up all our past sins. While the concept of sins is a good one, without redemption, it is only a weapon.

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Leskunque Lepew's avatar

How can they function without "experts".....?

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SM's avatar

People want to medicate their (undisciplined, spoiled, egotistical and entitled) children to make them more manageable because pills are the easiest way to parent. I’ve seen it in people who are in their 50s with younger children and I’ve seen it in people in their 30s even more so.

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Doug's avatar

Spoiled, egotistical and entitled behaviors are all learned. When I acted that way as a kid, I was "corrected", not allowed to continue, or God Forbid, indulged. As a parent, you nip that in the bud - you don't let kids walk all over you and run the house.

I have a friend whom I've known since I was 3 years old - he was raised in a "permissive" household, back when that was a new thing they were trying out. He was allowed to sass his folks in a way that would have earned me a slap in the chops at my house - I couldn't believe it. He was kind of a wild kid; when his mom asked him to stay at home, he'd take off across town on his skateboard. Since his parents never held him accountable, he had trouble understanding how to hold himself accountable, and that manifested as an inability to take any true responsibility for his actions. He also seemed to lack emotional intelligence - he seemed unable to "read the room" and this put him in some dangerous situations at times.

He was over-indulged, and then as an adult, he became over-indulgent. He became addicted to coke in his 20s and stole things to support his habit. He ended up in AA (a good thing) and has remained sober for many years. I'd like to say that he's matured, but there are still some quirks left over from his childhood. He still can't read the room - when we exchange emails, he often puts meanings into my words that I never intended, and gets inexplicably offended by what I think is very clear communication that lacks any provocative undertones. And he still lacks accountability - I met him on a motorcycle camping trip a couple of years back in a national park, where he slimily avoided paying his share of the camping fee (I paid my share, and found it disturbing and embarrassing that he weaseled his way out of paying his own fee).

Oh yeah, he's also politically illiterate, but that doesn't prevent him from holding strong opinions. I had to block him toward the end of the recent election cycle, as I couldn't bear to argue with him anymore online - it was like trying to explain calculus to a baby, except the baby already possessed an alternate mathematical theory, based on wishful thinking.

I often resented my own parents for being stricter with me, particularly in comparison with my friend's parenting. Although some of my dad's corporal punishment tactics left me scarred emotionally, I'm actually grateful today that I had firm, if not somewhat hypocritical boundaries in my house. I ended up growing up with some character, self-control and a conscience that escaped some of my friends. Some of them are dead, some are in sobriety programs. I turned out okay, I think.

My wife thinks so, too.

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MaryAnn's avatar

You could be writing about my nephew. As a 6 yr old he took a hunting knife to their upholstered couch. He was one angry child screaming for boundaries to show him someone cared. None came. It was too much trouble. Have not seen him in over a decade. His parents do not speak of him.

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Doug's avatar

Well, I imagine my friend to have a LITTLE more decorum than THAT.. But your point is well taken.

Instilling character has two sides: the corrective and the example. Being a living example to kids isn't just about showing them how to act, but also showing them reasons why it's beneficial to act that way - beneficial to oneself AND to others. I think if a parent is really good at that, there's very little need for the corrective side.

Yes, boundaries do indicate caring. I'm not really sure what the theory behind "permissive" parenting was - but one important boundary is that between parent and child. You just CAN'T be your kid's "cool buddy" - maybe when they're older, but not when they're in their developmental stages. I interpret the couch-slashing kid as one screaming "I need a parent, not an aloof friend".

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Leo's avatar

Doug, I'm very sorry you had to endure your dad's corporal punishment. No child should ever have to endure an emotionally demeaning "slap in the chops." From your comments, you seem to have healed the emotional scars and matured far past the crude hypocrisy. Far more than "okay."

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Susanna Bythesea's avatar

When I was in college one of my summer jobs was working at city “day camp” (summer child care). One five year old boy was quite hard to manage, although if I gave him my full attention and was firm and clear with him, he responded well and respected my directions. Unfortunately I was the camp director, so not with the kids all day, and his behavior with the counselors (who were kids themselves) was pretty impossible. Eventually his parents were told he’d have to leave if something didn’t change. Both his parents worked and his mom was so frazzled when she picked him up every day he’d run right over her too.

Five years old.

She went out and got him put on ADHD meds that day.

The rest of camp he was shell. A blank, hollow child who couldn’t engage with the rest of camp so brought legos along to sit and play by himself.

It was so sad.

Having had five boys myself now, i can see more than ever that boy needed his parents to parent. He needed to be with his mom, not at camp. He needed boundaries and to be protected by loving structure.

No job is worth losing your kid’s precious personality to drugs, at five years old.

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RunningLogic's avatar

I agree, everything has been dumbed down and the focus has been taken away from teaching actual skills that have value.

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Dawn B's avatar

Until I quit teaching in 2020, my students had recess and we played dodge ball! I bought expensive soft gator dodge balls and it didn't even hurt (much) if you got hit in the head.

Kids need to run and have fun and they learn better when they do.

I am not a fan of STEM because it only covers the science they think we should teach. The scientific method isn't even used these days. Think masks and jabs...

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Michelle Neudeck's avatar

All the more reason to teach the scientific method so they know when they are being duped.

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Paula's avatar

They banned tag at my son's elementary school. Because it was "too rough."

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