Meals20 of Stoneham, ME We are raising a generation of children that have strong thumbs and zombie eyes. No longer are our children allowed to have unstructured play in the forest and outdoors. The globalization of the media scares parents into believing that everybody and anybody is after their children which is not the case. Yes the safety of our children should be held to the utmost concern. Almost gone are the days when groups of neighborhood children spend the better part of the day in the out of doors building forts, exploring the streams, forests and ditches of their town. Children are not often encouraged to “make their own fun” or go outside and play instead they are shuffled to the television or computer to sit without healthy interactions for hours. Not every town in Maine has sidewalks because most towns don’t even have a street light. We are blessed in this state with back yards, fields, healthy forests, rivers, lakes and streams that our children crave and need. Our children need to be reconnected to the natural world in which they live. Get outside, get dirty, muddy and wet. Find those salamanders, bugs and critters but make sure that we share it with the children of Maine.report abuse

reader of Boston, MA Check out the per capita of sex offenders in any Maine community. The rate of sex offenders in most Maine communities is as high as 1 out of every 200 Maine residents in a town. Cities? Bangor,33,000pop. now has 150 registered sex offenders. Do the math.

Then you have Maine roadways. Most roadways in Maine do not have sidewalks. Last year a Bangor Daily News letter to the editor spoke on how little kids on hot wheels were riding them in the breakdown lanes of a roadway with traffic going 45mph. Also over 50 kids have been hit(some fatalities) by vehicles in Maine since 2000. The Boston Globe once inquired with me as they were contemplating writing a story on the high numbers of kids being hit by vehicles in Maine. Especially the fact often times drivers were NOT charged for striking children.

Last but not last, ASK ANY KID in Maine that dared to take a walk in their OWN neighborhood, how 'nice' drivers when they had to cross the street, or forced to along the side of a street without sidewalks.


I say keep your Maine kids inside,lock the doors with steel plated plates,and put a moot around your home filled with alligators. Better yet, more out of state and raise your kids in another state, where they can talk a walk in the own neighborhood. I can not think of a single town in Massachusetts that does not have sidewalks in thier neighborhoods.report abuse

micilio of palermo, ME The reason is that we as a nation have turned into a bunch of pansies.Helmets,kneepads,armguards,sunscreen,hats ,gloves,and all the hundreds of scare tactics put into law keep our children indoors.What a pain in the butt it must be just to go for a bike ride.How can a child learn personal boundries if he/she is not allowed to get hurt.I can remember as a boy saying time and time again, guess I wont do that again.If you took me and 9 friends I grew up with and shaved our heads you would see the scars of growing up.Take ten children of this generation and do the same and I bet it would paint a different picture.I am not saying we need to let children go ape crazy outdoors but how can you teach kids that falling off your bike will hurt if we keep shrink-wrapping them before every ride.report abuse