#adult supervision

[airjemsfandump]

I mean... yeah.

I went into this game head first thinking that it's just another SN-esque dress up game.

Oh boy.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A battle over LGBTQ+ books in a Virginia county may cost teenagers their right to visit the public library.

The chair of the Board of Supervisors in rural Botetourt County has decided the best way to ensure “parental rights” in the tiny rural area, pop. 34,000, is to send parents to the library with their kids.

Acting on a campaign pledge made in June before a primary election, board chair Donald “Mac” Scothorn (R) announced a proposal at the board’s July 31 meeting to prohibit anyone under 18 from visiting the county library without adult supervision.

It’s the board chair’s solution to a long-simmering dispute over LGBTQ+ content in the county’s four public libraries, pitting Botetourt County residents associated with groups like Moms for Liberty against free speech advocates.

The “parents’ rights” activists have pursued their book-banning agenda at school board meetings, filing removal request forms at the libraries and publicizing what they believe is inappropriate content for minors on a website likely available to minors.

For their part, the Board of Supervisors has issued two resolutions declaring “unwavering” support for the library system and staff, including one issued at the same meeting where Scothorn announced his proposal.

Scothorn’s idea came as a surprise to Marlene Preston, chair of the Botetourt County Library Board of Trustees, which has the ultimate say over library policy.

“The Library Board hasn’t endorsed or even discussed any changes to our policies regarding teens in the library,” Preston told Cardinal News. “For now, we’re pleased that the Board of Supervisors has formally supported the library and its staff.”

County Supervisor Steve Clinton, who also serves on the library board, agreed a change to the libraries’ supervision policy is not on the agenda, and called Scothorn’s recommendation a “news flash” he’s not in favor of. The Library Board’s next meeting is scheduled for Aug. 16.

Current policy in Botetourt County libraries requires children 13 and under to be supervised by adults, which has more to do with behavioral considerations than what kids may be reading, according to library director Julie Phillips.

She’s concerned how teenagers would interact with the public library under more restrictive parental guidance rules. Programming for teenagers at the four libraries includes a chess club and special programs like improv theater classes.

Attendance policies for minors vary by jurisdiction around the state. In Franklin County, children 10 and younger require supervision by an adult or another child 14 or older. In Rockbridge County, children under 8 must be accompanied by an adult 18 or older.

Until August 2020, the unattended child policy in Botetourt County was even less restrictive, reading, “Children under the age of seven, or who have emotional or social difficulty, must be attended by a parent or other responsible caregiver at all times.”

Scothorn’s campaign promise, published with another supervisorial candidate in a local county newspaper, read in part: “We pledge to bring before the Board of Supervisors of Botetourt County a proposal to raise the age of required parental consent for access to graphic sexually explicit materials to the age of 18.”

Doing so would “ultimately give the decision on access to such materials to the parents, where we believe that decision belongs,” the statement read.

Scothorn and Miller wrote they based their idea on H.B. 1379, passed by the Virginia House of Delegates early in 2023, which would have allowed parents to restrict their children’s access to any item in a school library catalog that was considered to have “graphic sexual content.”

While that bill failed to pass the state senate and didn’t make it into law, the pair wrote, “We believe its intent can inform local library policy considerations.”

[atvbikeindia]

Making ATV Riding Safer: New Ways to Protect Riders and Prevent Accidents

ATVs (All-Terrain Vehicles) are super fun to ride, especially in India where many people love outdoor adventures. But it's important to stay safe, especially when kids are riding ATVs. This blog will talk about how ATV makers are improving safety features to keep riders safe and prevent accidents, especially for kids who want to ride ATV in India.

ATV Bikes in India

In India, lots of people enjoy riding ATVs for fun or for going off-road. ATV makers here are working hard to make sure their bikes can handle tough terrain and keep riders safe.

ATV Bikes for Kids

When it comes to kids riding ATVs, safety is the most important thing. ATV bikes for kids have special features to make sure they can have fun while staying safe. These features include things like speed limits, controls that parents can adjust, and switches that can turn off the ATV from a distance. Kids also need to wear safety gear like helmets, gloves, and pads to protect themselves.

New Safety Features

ATVs now come with cool safety features to keep riders safe:

Roll cages and strong frames: These protect riders if the ATV tips over or crashes.

Seat belts and straps: These keep riders securely in place, especially on bumpy rides.

Materials that absorb impacts: These materials are used in the ATV's body to reduce injuries in accidents.

Stickers and signs: These show important safety tips and rules for riding safely.

Preventing Accidents

Besides safety features, ATV makers are also doing these things to prevent accidents:

Teaching and training: They offer safety classes to teach riders how to ride safely.

Checking the ATV regularly: Regular checks make sure the ATV is working well and safe to ride.

Knowing the terrain: Riders learn about different types of terrain and how to ride safely on each one.

Adults watching kids: Kids should always have an adult watching them when they ride ATVs to avoid accidents.

Conclusion

The owner of ATV Bike India emphasized that while ATVs offer thrilling adventures, prioritizing safety is extremely crucial.. ATV makers are adding new safety features and teaching people how to ride safely. Whether you're a kid or an adult, remember to wear your safety gear and follow the rules for a fun and safe ATV ride!

[gravitascivics]

“MILIEU” AS A COMMONPLACE, IV

Continuing this blog’s commentary on William Schubert’s commonplaces of curriculum,[1] this posting addresses youth culture, an element of the last of the commonplaces, milieu.  Historically, this element was a fairly stable aspect of American life until the years after World War II.  Since the 1950s, there have been severe changes in the milieu of the typical American school. 

Primarily, the nation’s shift to a natural rights view – one that promotes the central message that everyone has the right to behave in whatever manner a person chooses as long as the behavior does not interfere with others having the same rights – was instituted.  But that general shift was context to other developments that prove to have extensive effects.

Large migration patterns, for example, which saw large numbers of African Americans and Hispanics moving into the northeast and Midwest areas of the country, caused profound social changes.  These changes included the desegregation of schools and the proliferation of large comprehensive schools which replaced small community schools. 

Schools became less homogeneous.[2]  They were characterized as serving populations that were a mixture of races, classes, and ethnicity.  These diverse students varied in the social and academic expectations of the schools they attended.  Society, at large, began to expect schools to accommodate this diversity by being more tolerant, less authoritative, and more democratic. 

Adult supervision became less assertive with little agreement as to what the nature of adult responsibilities should be.  A student culture was allowed to grow and flourish.  School officials began losing their confidence as to their appropriate roles and became uncertain about their mission. 

With a lack of direction there seemed to be a loss of respect among students for their schools and professional staff and a general lessening of the moral authority those schools once enjoyed.  Students did not, to a larger degree, see schools as worthwhile as they once did, or at least commentary at the turn of the century reflected this tendency.[3]

The elements of this disfavor have changed through the years.  Jessica Dicker reports on more recent research that indicates students questioning the value of higher education, disheartened by rising costs of colleges with the associated student loan amounts.  These disincentives are strongly in place despite the judgment that earning college degrees is almost always worth the costs involved.[4]

          The youth culture that arose in the 1960s expressed itself in its music, clothes, hairstyles, and attitudes.  In general, the cultural message that the younger generation expressed was antagonistic to traditional adult values.  As this movement separated itself from the older generation – “the generation gap” – it found legitimacy in the prevailing natural rights perspective.[5] 

The result was an unprecedented delegation of rights to the members of this adolescent age group.  Schools relinquished their loco parentis role to ascribe and enforce duties and responsibilities to the students under their charge.  Rights were at times granted to these youths under the formal auspices of court rulings.[6]

          Youth generally began developing attitudes that held lower levels of legitimacy for school functions, authority, rules, and punishments.  Students held with less respect the notions of doing their best on schoolwork.  Communities were increasingly shut out as the youth culture at schools became less supportive of school ceremonies and rituals, which not only had encouraged school allegiance but community inclusion.  

Of course, these trends vary around the country; fewer urban areas retain a lot of traditional views of local schools but overall, compared to earlier years, these trends are present.  This blogger lives in a city of nearly 200,000 people and notes that local high school football coverage is extensive on local television stations.

Despite reported claims of a return to traditional values in the 1980s (coinciding with Ronald Reagan’s administration), the problems documented earlier in this blog of the current conditions involving the incivility of youth and their general problems bring into question any such claim.  Of more recent vintage, the effects of social media have taken center stage in promoting this incivility.[7] 

The message of this account is that adults, while being sensitive to the expectations of youth, must regain the necessary order that the youth need.  As Philip Selznick describes when he writes about the difference between participatory and repressive socialization, there is a balancing concern:  the aim is to both encourage self-initiative and self-motivation and to also insure a stable and stimulating environment for the development of youth.[8] 

Government and civic instruction should be directed toward encouraging these youth to participate in communal settings in which they feel and know, with familiarity, those involved.  Such instructional strategy should probably begin with political challenges that are found near their surroundings, i.e., local political conflicts or problems.  This does two things:  (a) it provides case studies that might impinge directly on their milieu, and (b) would engage them with people they are more likely to know.

          The liberated federalism approach has the potential of bringing diverse groups together with a shared sense of mission.  That mission can provide the sense of direction that schools seem to be missing.  Adult supervision can take on a collaborative role as was explained earlier in this blog’s description of constructivism approach[9] and is sensitive to the balance Selznick seeks.

[1] William H. Schubert, Curriculum:  Perspective, Paradigm, and Possibility (New York, NY:  MacMillan Publishing Company, 1986).  The commonplaces can be defined as follows:

The subject matter refers to the academic content presented in the curriculum. 

The teacher is the professional instructor authorized to present and supervise curricular activities within the classroom setting. 

Learners are defined as those individuals attending school for the purpose of acquiring the education entailed in a particular curriculum.

Milieu refers to the general cultural setting and ambiance within the varied social settings found at the school site.

Upon reflection, these commonplaces prove to be helpful in asking insightful questions.

[2] See for example Deborah Blagg, “Decoding Youth Culture and School Success,” Harvard Graduate School of Education (February 19, 2010), accessed November 1, 2023, URL:  https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/10/02/decoding-youth-culture-and-school-success.

[3] Christopher J. Hurn, The Limits and Possibilities of Schooling:  An Introduction to the Sociology of Education (Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon, 1993).

[4] Jessica Dicker, “College Is Still Worth It, Research Finds – Although Students Are Growing Skeptical,” CNBC (March 1, 2023), accessed November 1, 2023, URL:  https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/01/is-college-worth-it-what-the-research-shows.html.

[5] For a granular account of this development, generation to generation, see Jean M. Twenge, Generations:  The Real Differences between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents – and What They Mean for America’s Future (New York, NY:  Atria Books, 2023).

[6] “In Loco Parentis,” Wikipedia (n.d.), accessed November 1, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_loco_parentis#:~:text=Though%20in%20loco%20parentis%20continues,restrictions%20on%20their%20private%20lives AND Hurn, The Limits and Possibilities of Schooling.

[7] Qiusi Sun, Magdalena, and Sam Davidson, “Over-Time Trends in Incivility on Social Media:  Evidence from Political, Non-Political, and Mixed Sub-Reddits over Eleven Years,” Frontiers in Political Science (November 2, 2021), accessed November 1, 2023, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpos.2021.741605/full.

[8] Philip Selznick, The Moral Commonwealth:  Social Theory and the Promise of Community (Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press, 1992).

[9] For example, in terms of constructivism, see posting, “‘Student’ As a Commonplace, VII,” October 6, 2023.

[madgirlwithanxbox]

Chocolate Chip Graham Balls Even young children can participate and assist you in making these no-bake chocolate chip graham balls.

[tfblovesmusic]

Better yet - HIRE MORE ORGANISTS! Install a WERSI OAX machine and have it alternatively play alongside the Wurlie theater organ...

Kinda like this...

OH, and we need 2 MORE adult sessions weekly with JUST the two organs alternatively playing a la Blackpool Tower Ballroom. I appreciate the pop music, but I'm also ALL for opening up this and future generations' ears to other genres, and organ music in rinks.

[gravity3ff3ct]

I just started rewatching gravity falls, and relaized something stranges. Dipper and Mabel took a bus to Gravity Falls.

A bus,

A car ride from califronia to oregan is about 10 and half hours, a bus would have takes much longer. What if they gotten off on the wrong stop? Gotten on the wrong bus? Did they take a plane, and the bus drive them from the airport? What sane adult allow their pretreen to travel alone.

[doodledrag]

Recipe for Campfire Banana Splits Excellent for backyard camping trips and sleepovers. marshmallows, chocolate chips, and bananas baked in foil. In the absence of a grill or campfire, you could even bake these. Other toppings like maraschino cherries, peanut butter chips, coconut, butterscotch morsels, or caramel allow you to get creative. 1 package miniature marshmallows, 6 large bananas unpeeled stems removed, 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

[sapphicagenda]

This is why I came home from the aquarium with a stuffed axolotl the last time I went there on a date with my wife...

being an adult with no oversight is so dangerous. you really can just buy a stuffed animal at any moment

[lunisoular]

a child that learns from observation

[qiuing]

Lana's (no good, very bad) homecoming

[somber-cryptid]

Cale in the future, having become a god entirely against his own will, if not by accident: damn, should've just been the prime minister

[ghostbsuter]

We're all aware Damian was in hell for a short moment yes?

.・゜-: ✧ :-

"Constantine! Stop flirting and run faster!" They were simply walking around, trying to figure out where they were in the realm of abyss.

Fortunately for Damian and Danny, they had a walking map.

Unfortunately, said a walking map is a disaster bi who had a few too many exes in said abyss.

Damian was in the front, following the orders from the man who's dragged by Danny, left turn, right, right, sharp left.

"Curse you, constantine."

"Been there done that."

Danny whacks the man for that.

(Well, if they conquere hell during their adventure, that's for them to know and the inhabitants of hell to follow.)

[padfoot-lupin77]

Percy: mom, this year i’ll make my birthday cake with Grover and Annabeth, no help, just the three of us

Sally, smiling: okay Percy

*3 minutes into cake making*

Percy: Mooooooom what’s 200 grams as cups?

Annabeth: Sallyyyy how much vanilla extract is too much vanilla extract?

Grover: Miss Sallyyyy is there such a thing as too much food coloring?

Percy: moooom does the oven really need to be preheated? Like is it bad if we forgot to preheat it?

Annabeth: Sallyyyy can you confirm that Percy isn’t allowed to eat extra sugar cause he’s already too hyperactive?

Grover: miss Sallyyy do you have a fire extinguisher in the apartment?

[phoenixyfriend]

Something something """canon""" age difference, modern AU where Rex actually is a decade younger than Anakin

And for Reasons, 34yo Anakin and 39yo Padme have decided to invite this Hot Young 24yo Who Just Exited The Military into their bed for a quick romp that turns into something of a longterm relationship that is sortakinda sugaring

………….just realized this makes Rex only [checks math] twelve or thirteen years older than the twins.

Which is very funny to me. These tweens are so unimpressed by the GI Bill college guy their parents are wooing. Is this supposed to be their new babysitter? A nanny? Wait, he's your boyfriend??? EW.

Such a weird age difference to have with your sorta stepkids

[mischievous-thunder]

Logan: *Is feeling sleepy earlier than usual*

Wade: *Decides that it's the perfect time to loudly watch a video titled "40 creepiest facts about ghosts and spirits to deprive anyone of sleep"*