Does your neighborhood howl

[Gliderman8]

I had a photo processing machine go down when I had a pre-press business. I traced the error to a component on the board. $4 and a little soldering and it was back up and running. Of course I could have replaced the board for $175 which if I was forced, I would have done.
It's good to be handy and curious.

 

[mikephillips]

Mike - great story. Do you suppose the "why bother - just give me the answer" attitude stems from parents making life easy for their kids, so the kids rarely have to do things themselves?

It may very well. And from the idea that everything from getting up to going to bed needs to be rewarded, even if they've not actually put effort into doing anything. We've recently at work been told we need to at least once a month send an Ecard to a minimum of two other employees, (my word, not associates or such), thanking them for doing a great job. I referred to it as the thought of a participation trophy generation who needs validation for breathing... Personally I don't need some silly thanks for doing what I knew I was hired to be doing, but some have never been told or pushed to put in effort regardless of reward.

 

[NutmegCT]

It may very well. And from the idea that everything from getting up to going to bed needs to be rewarded, even if they've not actually put effort into doing anything. We've recently at work been told we need to at least once a month send an Ecard to a minimum of two other employees, (my word, not associates or such), thanking them for doing a great job. I referred to it as the thought of a participation trophy generation who needs validation for breathing... Personally I don't need some silly thanks for doing what I knew I was hired to be doing, but some have never been told or pushed to put in effort regardless of reward.

No kidding. But I keep reminding myself - it's not the kids' fault. It's the way they were/are raised. If many young folk feel thinking and physical work is to be avoided ... how will that affect *their* kids.

There are millions of good people out there, teaching their children (and their students) the way toward self-reliance and altruism. But I'm afraid it's a dwindling number.

oops - gotta run. One of the grand kids made an error on his SAT. Need to pay a few people to fix things ....

yeesh
Tom M.

 

[AngliaGT]

Or you could spend a little more,& get them into a nice Ivy League school.

 

[TRMark]

Thanks Mark. What did you actually do to stop rowdy behavior, noise, trash, ATVs, motorcycle groups, uncontrolled kids, etc.? That's what I need advice on.

Tom M.

Spend some time reading city code about these things, then understand how the code enforcement department works. In my city they work on complaints, they do not enforce code unless they are contacted. I have made numerous complaints about inoperable vehicle parked in driveways and on the street. It is not enough the vehicle be licensed, if the vehicle is not readily operable it cannot be stored. I have requested the tagging of rv's, boats and commercial vehicles parked on the street. Check the gvw limits of local streets, over the road tractors cannot be parked in the neighborhood. I have emailed and talked to members of the city council about problems. There are neighborhood websites, check Nextdoor, there may be a group operating in your area so you can communicate with others.

 

[NutmegCT]

Thanks Mark. All good ideas, but here in New England we're mostly living in towns, not cities. Towns are pretty conservative, with few or no codes or restrictions.

Wish we had some codes on behavior!

Tom M.

 

[DrEntropy]

It's been my opinion for years that us "Boomers", having been raised by the Greatest Generation who grew up at the end of the Depression, survived the war, had 2.3 kids, made certain their kids would want for nothing. Some of us had parents who believed in self-reliance and personal responsibility, but a large percentage were indulged beyond reason. Those kids have now had their own and societal changes (remember the '60's?) saw that generation's offspring in many cases raised by grandparents and two-income parents, with a further deterioration of self-reliance as a result. The "Millennials" are the recipients of the first of the participation trophies, their kids now take that as a given. As Mike has said; kudo's for breathing, manna from heaven. Too many of the latest two generations have never experienced any hardship, failure has been rewarded. They haven't needed to work for success, it's a given. Expected.

Bah. Just my tuppence-worth. I'm entitled to my own opinion! :smirk:

 

[NutmegCT]

I think I was just lucky (?). The year I graduated from high school, my dad lost his job of 25 years. Also lost 25 years of pension contributions. Had to start over at 55. A rotten time, and we learned to scrimp by. Clothes came from Good Will; breakfast of corn flakes, lunch of peanut butter and jelly, dinner of Swanson frozen chicken pot pies. No one indulged us kids, or made life easy for us - and that's the way we've taught our own foster kids.

Neither my brother or I ever inherited anything, or married into money. Slugging it out to live, strengthens our mettle. No mcmansion, no ocean cruises, no summer homes, no travel trailers, nada.

Frugal Tom

 

[DrEntropy]

Respect and admiration, Tom.

Mine was charmed by comparison. Dad was able to retire in the late '70's from the steel industry, after 43 years (war service was counted). We had a middle-class existence. Mum was the typical '50's stay-at-home housewife. But we were disciplined, made to consider consequence of action, responsibility for outcome. Learned respect for money as a tool, work as a way to acquire it. Many contemporaries confused me with their irrational decisions, range-of-the-moment thinking. As an adolescent on through my teen years most of the people I considered friends were older, usually adults. People I could learn from.

 

[mikephillips]

What so many are now missing as they raise kids or provide education, is that youth is the time to allow some failures. Learn to deal with the fact that noone will success at everything they touch, and that's not the end of the world. So let, within reason, kids make bad decisions. Want to shave half your head, then half your peers laugh at you?? Go ahead, may make a kid say the next time that perhaps they should think more. Flunk a class?? Welll most of us have had school subject we just weren't good at when young, and yet here we all are having gotten over it.

The real disservice is protecting kids from learning that life can be tough and sometimes the world will dump on you so get back up and keeping plugging at life.

 

[NutmegCT]

"The real disservice is protecting kids from learning that life can be tough and sometimes the world will dump on you so get back up and keeping plugging at life."

No kidding!

 

[John Turney]

What we can do here if we have a bad neighbor, especially if they're a renter, is get a bunch of the neighbors together and individually sue the property owner in small claims court. At, IIRC, $10K each, it adds up. But that only works if you have one bad apple, not a bushelful.

 

[NutmegCT]

John - thanks for that.

I'm no legal beagle, but what are you actually suing them for?

Unsupervised kids, screeching of tires, ATVs riding in circle for hours, revving car engines at all hours - doesn't seem like things to file suit against.

Funny, but as *all* the neighbors are the ones causing the problems ... they obviously don't seem to mind it! And getting them to sue each other ... not going to happen. I'm the odd man out - not them!

oy

 

[John Turney]

The suits are for being a public nuisance. It's often used for drug cases here when the police won't act.

I know it won't happen in your case, but I thought I'd throw that out there. You're in a tough spot.

 

[AngliaGT]

You also have to be careful not to do anything they might
retaliate for.

 

[pdplot]

Tom - the time has come to move. There are many places where houses and rents are reasonable and neighborhoods are better - not filled with you-know whats. CT is a high-priced area. So is most of the Northeast except for VT and parts of Maine and NH. You might consider moving south or west. I'm amazed to hear that our fair state harbors such neighbors. Then again, I'm not familiar with anything northeast of New Haven.

 

[John Turney]

One thing that 7-11 franchises do to keep the rowdies from staying too long is to play classical music.

 

[AngliaGT]

If Tom did that,they'd probably play redneck music even LOUDER.

 

[GregW]

If Tom did that,they'd probably play redneck music even LOUDER.

If that happens, I have a Crown amp for Tom to use. That and some 18" woofers will do the job.

 

[NutmegCT]

Durn young'ns! I don't need some fancy dancy modern amplifier gizmo - I've got my trusty 1917 Magnavox! Here's my grand daughter singing to a NYC crowd a few years ago.