I don't subscribe to the whole "precious gems" ideology.
But then, I don't have any children, so it's probably easier for me to feel that way.
I have a son, grown now, and he's very precious to me, but like I said, he needed to know what the choices are, in order to make good ones. I always tried to protect him from a child's ignorance (kids don't always realize they're cold, or hungry, or tired, which is why they sometimes whine, and why they need parents who are PAYING ATTENTION!), and from "bad people," (you know the ones I mean, the ones who prey on children), but I also tried to let him be a kid, make some of his own choices, and then become acquainted with the consequences of those choices -- it's the only way some kids can learn anything (we're a whole family of "hard headed" who only learn the "hard way"!).
I also don't believe in the government protecting us from ourselves.
In fact, I'd go a bit further in that I don't always believe in protecting myself from myself.
I wish I could protect myself from myself, sometimes.
But the only thing that can never be protected against is one's own self; people in general don't seem to realize this. I think the gov't is correct in trying to protect us against bad choices like not using seatbelts, for example. Most folks don't really have much grasp of elementary physics -- if the vehicle you're in comes to a sudden stop, and you're not somehow "attached" to the thing that came to a sudden stop, guess what, you keep going forward -- into or through the windshield (my purse hits the footwell with *great* force, when I sometimes have to brake suddenly! It needs a seatbelt, too!). Maybe they're really protecting us from having to see the results of that bad choice spread all over the pavement.
But in general I'm about fed up with "Big Nanny."
I am a germ collector.
There is probably no other way to put it.
I do not recognize the "30 second rule" for food that hit the ground.
I'll eat it if I think it looks tasty, no matter how long it was on the ground.
ROFL! I think it depends on the floor -- in my mom's house, no problem, you could eat off her floor with no worries! In my house? Into the trash with it!
I collect germs, rather than avoiding them, because I think it makes my immune system stronger.
If a cockroach can survive the apocalypse, then maybe I can too.
You're completely correct; I rant about "hand sanitizers" on a regular basis, along with anti-bacterial soaps; the only time I will use them is if I'm about to handle raw meat that I'm freezing. When I had my son, in 1988, my mom was appalled that I didn't need to sterilize everything that would come in contact with him, but medicine has apparently learned that kids NEED to encounter a certain amount of germs, to develop their immune systems! Those who never encounter any microbes will never develop the ability to deal with those microbes -- that's how immunization works! The reason why the native population was so decimated by "European" diseases was because they had never encountered them.
Another really good example: our son had the misfortune to view just a bit of our lunacy at the end of our drinking; he was 4 1/2 when we quit; now, although he will have an occasional beer, he seldom finishes it, and he rarely drinks enough to become even slightly intoxicated -- because he has SEEN how alcohol can become extremely destructive -- in some fashion, he's become "immunized," and I doubt he'll ever become an alcoholic, despite his DNA legacy. And although he did start smoking at one point, he managed to quit before it really got claws into him, and if he ever reconsidered it, I think he'd choose vaping -- probably with 0 nic. So he's a pretty smart "kid" (he's actually 25 now, not really a kid!), despite -- or maybe because of! -- his insane parents! They can't make really GOOD choices, if they don't even know what the choices ARE.
Just my own
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Andria
