OT: Spent some time in North Carolina...😳

[Knight Shift]

I phones and Tic Tok and adult supervised club sports. Nobody was worried about likes.

I gave you a like, in case you were worried about receiving one. Hope you got a small dopamine boost. 😜

 

[Knight Shift]

You're right that nobody cared about "likes" on social media, but of course kids cared about being liked. The difference was that once a kid was home, it was much harder to tease or bully them. Now it's round the clock.

Your post reminds me of a lyric from an artist who was a bit of a social misfit as a child. A good number of successful people were in this boat to differing degrees. I wonder if there has been a study correlating success later in life for the young bullies. My personal anecdotal observation is that degree of success is quite low.

Anyway, here is the lyric from Henry Rollins.

"You never were one of them, they could have never been your friends;
The best revenge is to always survive yourself."

 

[mdk01]

It's turned into this thread again?

If you think kids need to spend more time outside, make sure they spend more time outside. Plenty of others out there.

Sorry, childhood summers spent drinking out of hoses and avoiding the indoors because it felt like an oven weren't actually the be-all and end-all.

I'd much rather be a kid now, frankly.

Are they out there playing pick-up sports games or swimming at a pool (public not private) or are they sitting somewhere staring at their phones? There has been difficulty keeping phones out of classrooms (with some parents protesting) so free time must be even more difficult.

 

[retired711]

Your post reminds me of a lyric from an artist who was a bit of a social misfit as a child. A good number of successful people were in this boat to differing degrees. I wonder if there has been a study correlating success later in life for the young bullies. My personal anecdotal observation is that degree of success is quite low.

Anyway, here is the lyric from Henry Rollins.

"You never were one of them, they could have never been your friends;
The best revenge is to always survive yourself."

My anecdotal observation is the same as yours. If nothing else, I have outlived several of the people of whom I have the worst memories.

 

[T2Kplus20]

Have to "weigh in" on this. Been based on NC since '82. Sure, lots of fatties here. But no more than other environs with similar socio-economic dynamics. Inner-cities and rural settings across the USA all have similar dietary and lifestyle patterns. Sure, the South is known as the "stroke belt" with regional eats featuring an abundance of fried foods high on fats and carbs. Pork tops the food pyramid, still. The old adage rings true: "No part of the hog goes to waste. We use every part except the squeal." Even veggies are traditionally prepared overcooked with a hunk of piggy in the mix. Living "high on the hog" is still a thing.

What I have noticed, though, is NC has been inundated with transplants, mostly from the northeast and midwest, as well as FL "half backs." These folks are hardly the epitome of health, to a "large" extent. And they typically bring an appetite for traditional Southern fare, as well as their own regional specialties loaded with fat, carbs, sodium, etc.

What's the difference between a "Yankee" and a "Damn Yankee"? Yankees visit and then go back home. Damn Yankees stay. And then proceed to complain about their new state and try to make NC like the place they moved from. "That's not the way we do it up north.," they'll say. "Yeah. We know. So why are you here?" is a popular retort. LOL. )

As Chris Rock said.....wow, this is great fish, what kind is it? It's pork fish. :)

 

[fsg2]

Are they out there playing pick-up sports games or swimming at a pool (public not private) or are they sitting somewhere staring at their phones? There has been difficulty keeping phones out of classrooms (with some parents protesting) so free time must be even more difficult.

Local pools near me are generally packed throughout the week. Splash pads get crazy busy, too. Same for the skate park. Basketball courts are usually pretty loaded on weekends, and forget about finding a spot on some pickle ball courts.

 

[retired711]

Local pools near me are generally packed throughout the week. Splash pads get crazy busy, too. Same for the skate park. Basketball courts are usually pretty loaded on weekends, and forget about finding a spot on some pickle ball courts.

I live in a suburban neighborhood with quiet street and a lot of kids. It's *very* rare that I see kids outdoors playing.

 

[Knight Shift]

My anecdotal observation is the same as yours. If nothing else, I have outlived several of the people of whom I have the worst memories.

Some people outgrow being a bully. Some continue on and get worse in life. Just had a long conversation with a trusted colleague on this very same topic that one person in our volunteer organization life seems to be getting worse now that he is in in 50s. Without getting into specifics, we cannot just dump/run from the guy. We just find ways to work around him. Us leaving would make the situation work. More often than not, bullying stems from one or more of jealousy, insecurity or unhappiness. We work on highlighting his few positive attributes and around him. It's actually a useful and positive exercise.

 

[rucoe89]

Lived there for 2 1/2 years: Hush puppies. Fried okra. Fish fries (fish is meant to be grilled or broiled, not fried!). Boiled peanut stands.
Hush puppies are food of the gods.

It is a paradise for heart surgeons looking for patients (from someone in the medical community).

 

[Knight Shift]

It is a paradise for heart surgeons looking for patients (from someone in the medical community).

 

[fsg2]

I live in a suburban neighborhood with quiet street and a lot of kids. It's *very* rare that I see kids outdoors playing.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I live in a very outdoorsy area, and kids are out year round - on the trail, at the park, in the river, in the snow, etc etc. So are adults.

Don't think you're a parent of young children, but if you were, I'd suggest same as above: Encourage and/or make your children go outside. I suppose same could be said for grandchildren to the extent they're with the grandparent and/or their children value parenting advice.

My kids spend time outside evert day during the summer and most during the school year. Always have. And we make sure of it.

No idea why people here lament it as some kind of universal foregone conclusion that no kids are playing outside. Simply not correct.

 

[Knight Shift]

I'm sorry to hear that.

I live in a very outdoorsy area, and kids are out year round - on the trail, at the park, in the river, in the snow, etc etc. So are adults.

Don't think you're a parent of young children, but if you were, I'd suggest same as above: Encourage and/or make your children go outside. I suppose same could be said for grandchildren to the extent they're with the grandparent and/or their children value parenting advice.

My kids spend time outside evert day during the summer and most during the school year. Always have. And we make sure of it.

No idea why people here lament it as some kind of universal foregone conclusion that no kids are playing outside. Simply not correct.

I see a lot more younger people, and some teens on the trails in Sedona, AZ, but I RARELY see any teens or younger adults (20s) on the trails out in NJ.

 

[RUPete]

I checked out of this thread for a while. What is the conclusion? Is everyone still fat in North Carolina or do kids still go outside and play to give us some hope?

 

[Knight Shift]

I checked out of this thread for a while. What is the conclusion? Is everyone still fat in North Carolina or do kids still go outside and play to give us some hope?

TLDR summary- kids were seen running outside when they heard the ice cream truck.

 

[RUPete]

TLDR summary- kids were seen running outside when they heard the ice cream truck.

Defeats the purpose. I suppose if they stick to that push-up orange sherbet thing, it's not too bad.

 

[AntiG]

after seeing this thread, I decided to walk around Manhattan after work for about 30 mins and count the ratio of overweight to skinny/healthy body shape... approximately 2/3rds were overweight. We aren't much better up here LOL

 

[fsg2]

I see a lot more younger people, and some teens on the trails in Sedona, AZ, but I RARELY see any teens or younger adults (20s) on the trails out in NJ.

I could definitely see that, certainly more of a lifestyle out here. Which I think is what folks who want change should be paying attention to. How do you make it a lifestyle - scenic mountain, desert, beach .. communities have a leg up, but they also do a lot of work from there.

Sedona, which wasn't always an mtb hotspot, built itself into one of the country's premier mtb destinations. That's been a big thing for communities around UT the past few years, too - not necessarily the same scale as Sedona, but putting themselves on the map.

I think many communities around the country, including in NJ, have done some great things in that regard since my childhood. Kids sometimes just need a proverbial kick in the ass.

 

[Knight Shift]

From two great follows on X:

 

[Scarlet1984]

It's turned into this thread again?

If you think kids need to spend more time outside, make sure they spend more time outside. Plenty of others out there.

Sorry, childhood summers spent drinking out of hoses and avoiding the indoors because it felt like an oven weren't actually the be-all and end-all.

I'd much rather be a kid now, frankly.

You left out sleeping in 90+degree heat and trying anything to cool off - fan facing out, fan facing in, flip the pillow, shirt on, shirt off.

 

[NewJerseyGuy]

You left out sleeping in 90+degree heat and trying anything to cool off - fan facing out, fan facing in, flip the pillow, shirt on, shirt off.

My bedroom was basically the attic with no ac, which I shared with my brother.

On those nights, we would soak our heads and chests with cool water and argue ourselves to sleep over the angle of the cheap, inadequate, oscillating fan, demanding neither one of us enjoyed an second of life-giving, fan-blown air more than the other.

 

[bobzilla]

Go spend some time in europe, the only overwieght people are the American (some pale Brits) tourists. Everyone else is trim, its like a time warp back to the 70s.

 

[Scarlet1984]

My bedroom was basically the attic with no ac, which I shared with my brother.

On those nights, we would soak our heads and chests with cool water and argue ourselves to sleep over the angle of the cheap, inadequate, oscillating fan, demanding neither one of us enjoyed an second of life-giving, fan-blown air more than the other.

I had to look to make sure this wasn’t my brother posting 😊

 

[RUinPinehurst]

Not sure whether this will post correctly, but LOL....

 

[RUBOB72]

I bet it does .