Kids are Getting Soft

“Cool. All the more trout and venison for us...”

“OK! I think at age 3, we should take them and drop them in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey dressed in a loin cloth and armed with nothing but a Swiss Army Knife. Leave them for 5 days and pick them back up near the highway at Midnight on the 5th day.”

“I never see groups of kids out playing anymore like we used to. Everything is organized by their parents (baseball, soccer, etc) and when it's over, it's back to the Playstation!
Actually, more girls and women are participating human-powered activities according to the outdoor gear maunufacturers. The boys are riding ATVs and snowmobiles and watching the NFL.
I can't find enough college guys to run on my cross country team, but I've got twice as many women as I need!”

“thats what michael jackson said”

“aero
If you've got twice as many women as you need......maybe you need some help.

Will work for women
Willing to relocate”

“Let's talk...:D”

“..and I'm not even Mormon!”

“Good thing, I'm talkin' SIN here, brother!”

“Artex, you missed a far better story on FOXNews!”

“I played video games when I was a kid. Still do! But with the kids in our neighborhood, there was a bad stigma associated with staying in the entire afternoon after school playing video games. If you weren't outside skateboarding, playing soccer, ect... you were dubbed a "nintendo nerd" or worse. For every hour we played video games, we probably spent 3-4 hours outside playing sports.”

“LOL @ aero! Yeah, I saw that one too.”

“"But there is a silver lining: Participation in human-powered outdoor sports, especially among women, continues to climb steadily. That gives retailers faith that their industry is simply maturing. When the economy and the weather pick up, they say their sales will, too."
Article from the Boulder (CO) Daily Camera”

“This would probably be a good time to mention scouting, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Venturing. Get involved and help fix the problem.”

“The link was about "kids" aged 18 to 24.
If they haven't been taught outdoors skills before then, they aren't very likely to start now.

Teach your children well, ....”

“My dad taught me how to hunt and fish. I still go fishing, but I just don't hunt anymore. It is not that I am against hunting, or killing animals, I just persue other things these days. I took my nephews fishing, ages 3 and 5, the 5 year old nearly got sick when I gutted the trout and refused to eat any of them. The 3 year old had a great time playing with the fish on the stringer, and eating the fresh caught dinner.”

“Seriously, I don’t think it’s that kids are getting soft as much as they just lack the energy for outdoor activities. It’s just easier to sit on the sofa for hours on end.

I think it is a lack of caffeine and sugar in their diets. Soda consumption has dropped dramatically over the last couple of decades.

Our girls are plenty active. We accomplished this by adding a spoonful of instant coffee to their formula and gradually moving them up to espresso as they mature. You should see the energy my five-year-old has! She drags herself out of bed, has a couple of cups of java with her cocoa puffs (with sugar sprinkled on top) and she’s spinning out the door like the Tasmanian Devil. We leave a 2-liter bottle of pop on the back porch so she can get recharged at regular intervals. She’s the picture of health.”

“Yeah, that's it!”

“lmfao violin! sounds like a perfect match for my 5 yr old boy....


anybody ever seen the cartoon rugrats? the kindergartners who walk around like savage natives? halarious!”

“"Typical" fly rods cost $500? In that Manhattan yuppie fly shop maybe. That's like a Porsche dealer saying the "typical" car costs $75,000 -- because that's all he sells. The story then cites a customer who is a CFO -- yeah, just your typical American -- an upper level executive.

Send that message out to young persons and it certainly won't result in more of them picking up on hunting and fishing. A $500 rod (or a $500 pack or a $500 sleeping bag), while plenty available, is not the entry point to outdoor sports, as TTers well know; even if we do drool over the catalogs from time to time, coveting cool gear, we give a lot of advice to newbies about getting started with good, affordable gear, upgrading to more sophisticated stuff when the knowledge, commitment and finances acrue.

Apparently it was too far for Fox News to walk to try to find a middle class tackle shop.”

“Just remember these kids who don't participate in outdoor activities are more likely to destroy them later in life. If they have no exposure and get no joy from hunting, fishing, hiking, etc., why would they feel guilty about buying up land to build a shopping mall or drill for oil?

The article is right. A kid these days with a loaded shotgun out squirrel hunting with his dad is considered a terrorist and a future menace to society. I used to take my guns to school in the trunk of my car. As soon as school was over I'd go to my favorite wood lot and start hunting. Today I'd be considered a felon.”

“Kids have been going soft ever since child labor was outlawed. That damnable Upton Sinclair...!”

“i used to disappear in the woods all weekend...eventually i'd get hungry and come home. i wouldn't dream of letting my kids roam the way i used to.....”

“Ultrapecker, you're scarin' me- I actually agree with you. I see more and more 18-25 year olds on ATV's, snowmobiles and dirtbikes, than ever, up in the mountains and they're just yearning to tear around the Wilderness Areas which are currently closed to motor vehicles. They've destroyed everything else. As this group grows and gains more politcal stroke you could see some changes in public policy regulating wilderness and off-road use. The Bush Administration is pushing to open more areas to off road vehicles as we speak. So as the numbers of young motorheads increases (and hikers decrease) you can expect the arces of wilderness to evaporate.”

“Why walk when you can
ride?”

“I read the article...

In additiona to Pekka's observations that they misquote "typical" price information, the part the bothered me was that hunting and fishing was equated to outdoor lovers. To quote the article: "We are losing touch with the natural world."
They chose to take only one outdoor activity to use as supporting evidence to their cause...and misrepresented it at that.

arrgghh”

“You mean.. most backpackers don't hunt and fish? GASP!!!”

“Well, I don't hunt, but I was able to trick these fish into jumping up onto the bank and into my frying pan during my backpacking trip in Montana last summer....

”

“heeerre, fishy, fishy, fishy...”

“You really have to wonder about a country where the average 15-year-old can't skin a carcass.
8D”

“yea, i mean, we all enjoy shoveling dead animal parts into our oral cavities :) yum hahaha!

well, speaking for the younger generation (im only 19 :p) ive never hunted, but my old man dosent, and ive done very little fishing- once i got old enough to have to buy a liscense, i quit. wish i knew exactly how to gut a fish though, might be good to know, but if im in a pinch, i think i can figure it out. fishing's too boring, too much nothing going on- hunting, ive just never really had the chance. ive spent a lot of time outside though, my family does a lot of car camping, dayhiking, canoeing- whitewater and lake, and the like, nothing hardcore like backpacking, but it is outdoors nonetheless (and we dont do these little .8 mile paved trails, we do 8 to 12 mile loops and such, real trails) i got more of the backpacking end of things from being in scouts (got eagle), my brother is in now. i think the scouts take alot of heat from sources that have no base - granted, there's troops out there that just wreak havoc, but most arent that way. its a good place to learn about the outdoors.

later,
-nate”

“...then you've had them in the cauldron too long. Children are best al diente...”

“nate, you could be one of my boys......19 and lots of outdoor(with family) and no hunting and very little fishing.”

“good one, bit!”

“Bitpusher = Marilyn Manson?

The beautiful people, the beautiful peeeeeopllllllle!”

“Were is ULTRAPacker when you need him?”

“bit has been hanging out with lyra waaaaaaay to long. ;)”

“At the same time, I think women are getting tougher. There was an article in our sports section today about the Univ. Wyoming women's basketball team bulking up this year in the weight room! They were benching 175-200 lbs. and beating up on the other teams.

Half my women's cross country team hunt elk in the fall, but none of the guys do!”

“That's true aero. The girl I'm dating now used to box professionally (one of her matches was even on ESPN). Having said that, she's very feminine, and dosen't look "butch" at all. You would never guess she can whoop some serious a$$! I had a bruise on my right shoulder for four days last time we were just playing around and sparring, she's got a wicked right hook. :-)”

“Viagra rival having name problems
Tuesday, February 4, 2003 Posted: 1:59 PM EST (1859 GMT)






--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Story Tools



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Imagine how Mr. Viagra would feel if there was one. He would be the butt of jokes.
-- Russell Cialis






LONDON, England (Reuters) -- It may be the newest drug to rival Viagra and last longer and act quicker but Briton Russell Cialis is not happy that the latest anti-impotence pill to hit the market shares his name and wants the company to change it.

The 64-year-old public relations executive and his family do not want their name linked to a drug that boosts male libido and have already been the butt of jokes since pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly decided to call it Cialis.

"We were hoping against hope that they would drop the name but now they go ahead in spite of our protestations," Cialis said on Monday.

The firm claims Cialis has the edge over Viagra because it offers users a "24 hour window of opportunity" for sex.

The British arm of the family, which extends to Ireland, France, Canada and Australia, have spoken to lawyers and are having a family meeting soon to plan their next move.

"Imagine how Mr. Viagra would feel if there was one. He would be the butt of jokes," said Cialis.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed”

“Copyright 2003 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed"

Oooooo, I'm tellin'! Treebeard broke the law!”

“Just take the pill tonight and then be afraid to get up from your desk all day tomorrow...”

“"I can't find enough college guys to run on my cross country team, but I've got twice as many women as I need!"

"Half my women's cross country team hunt elk in the fall, but none of the guys do!"

Are you sure you don't have the guys and gals mixed up, aero???”

“Is a "24 hour window of opportunity" really of any use to a couple that's been married a while?”

“Depends on the marriage, I guess”

“I swear Marty! The guys here are wusses; just ask newgirl!”

“Now, where'd I put my glasses?”

“Maybe you need to invite newgirl to your next summer XC retreat - she can shoot some guns or skin some game or something to show the guys how to be tough....”

“:p mabye cross country running sucks

i did it for a season in high school, our team was about half girls, half guys- we all knew why the guys ran, but we werent sure why the girls did...but we didnt really care :) i cant think of any reason to be complaining about having a plethora of girls on the team :) brutal sport though, particularly in the summer. after that, i went to rowing crew- much more fun, and you're on the water (and i won races, that was a change)

and tom- you never know, mabye i was :p i had a scoutmaster named tom, actually, but ive never lived in maryland...but ive got a friend who was in the scouts up there, david mccollough, hey, you never know :p

later,
-nate”