My sister just sent me a box of Girl Scout cookies that one of her students sold her, and it got me thinking. When I was younger, 10 years ago or so, Girl Scouts sold their cookies door to door, the Boy Scouts did the same with their popcorn, the local little league baseball players sold their candy bars door to door, other kids sold wreaths door to door, and on Halloween we went to every house that had a pumpkin out front. But in the last 4-5 years, I haven't seen any kids peddling their goods door to door, and even the kids that do go out on Halloween, their parents drive them from house to house and go up to the door with them.
What has happened in the last few years for such the change? Has anybody else noticed a change or is it just me? Maybe it is just part of the trend of protecting kids 100% of the time. Would my parents be seen as unfit parents if they raised me today? What happens when I have kids?
Around here there seems to be some sort of a treaty between the various youth groups. The Girl Scouts sell door to door in their own neighborhoods; the Boy Scouts set up outside the big box stores; and the various school activities - sports teams, NJROTC, the robot builders - get the supermarkets. It's a far cry from when I was in the Boy Scouts and the band in high school and used to range the entire town - and as a Scout, the neighboring towns too. (The trick then was to wear a red Scout jacket over the uniform so the customers couldn't see the sleeve patches that said where your troop was from. Today, since the Scouts have gotten away from town patches in favor of Council insignia, it would be easier for an enterprising Scout selling door to door.)
I don't mind being importuned at the stores by the youth groups. What I object to is parents, especially executive parents, forcing their subordinates to buy their kids' stuff instead of making the kids sell it themselves to the people at their companies and offices. It's not sporting and it does defeat the purpose of the exercise.
The neighbor whos daughter sells GS cookies said they are not allowed to go door to door anymore. Too many risks of nutjobs. Some lil girl Scouts were attacked in some cities. Just another sad example of this world gone crazy.
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Around here it didn't really matter where you were from, first come first serve type of deal. But it seems the only way to get girl scout cookies now is to tell everybody you know, if they get the chance, get 10 extra boxes of Samoas, and you might get lucky. When I sold stuff for various reasons, I went everywhere, I would ride my bike 5 miles just to have the chance to make a sale. I never stayed within my own neighborhood and neither did anybody that I knew, which was everybody else that was selling stuff. It was all out war to outsell the other people. It seems like now you need to really know somebody just to get a chance to get some cookies or popcorn.
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The neighbor whos daughter sells GS cookies said they are not allowed to go door to door anymore. Too many risks of nutjobs. Some lil girl Scouts were attacked in some cities. Just another sad example of this world gone crazy.
With Pedifiles and down right sick bastards that want to do harm to our children it's not safe for our kids to go door to door or much less even play in there yards with out an adult watching over them.
It un-nerves me to see a child walking down a street alone because of all the sick (what i said above)
It's know longer safe.
I agree AH !! I see young (8-12 yr olds) walking around by themselves in a business district and wonder where the hell the parents are ?? I once followed what looked to be a 10 yr old girl that walked to a local store (about a mile or so) came out with groceries and walked all the way home by herself !! I followed her in my truck from a distance I was worried sick for her. Imagine, I probably could of been arrested for something myself !! I was never so happy on so many levels to see her walk into a house !!
__________________ I keep tellin ya Doc, I'm in pretty good shape considerin the shape I'm in !!
Around here the girl scouts and boy scouts jump on you when you walk into or out of just about any grocery store, hardware store, big box store, etc. Although I know some do still do some selling away from there because we buy at work from their parents. I never see anything except girl scouts and boy scouts, though, nothing for teams or anything like that. Halloween... no cars, the kids walk it all, although there are parents with them. And I'm completely fine with that... there are three registered sex offenders in our small town. So if I was a parent, you bet I'd be with the kids, too.
__________________ "Ruin a liberal's day; recite historical fact." - found on a bumper sticker
It is just that the statistics that I have seen have shown a decrease in violent crime and rape rates in that time frame. If I have this wrong, please direct me to your source. The more information the better. I am wondering if it is possibly just a perception that thing are worse because we have much more information available to us now than we did in the past.
as i recall, when i was a kid, there were housewives home all day long.... when you went door to door to sell stuff, there would be someone home at most houses.... this is no longer the case.... that may be the primary reason door to door sales have vanished.....
It is just that the statistics that I have seen have shown a decrease in violent crime and rape rates in that time frame. If I have this wrong, please direct me to your source. The more information the better. I am wondering if it is possibly just a perception that thing are worse because we have much more information available to us now than we did in the past.
If you check that decrease in crime,that is an FBI report on federal crimes.They don't cover state and local because they don't enforce them.That is another Oboma political trick to make you feel "BIG GOV" works.I am so dam* sick of their lies!Grrr. ,,,sam.
If you check that decrease in crime,that is an FBI report on federal crimes.They don't cover state and local because they don't enforce them.That is another Oboma political trick to make you feel "BIG GOV" works.I am so dam* sick of their lies!Grrr. ,,,sam.
What I read about the Uniform Crime Report is that the data is collected from local agencies about certain crimes reported (murder, forcible rape, robbery,aggravated assault, burglary) for statistics on general level of crimes.
What I read about the Uniform Crime Report is that the data is collected from local agencies about certain crimes reported (murder, forcible rape, robbery,aggravated assault, burglary) for statistics on general level of crimes.
And if the locals didn't "reclassify" crimes to fit the numbers they want to report it might be somewhat accurate...... I too am tired of being lied to and smiled at when I feel something "knocking at the back door"..... if you know what I mean.......
The area we live in has a lot of 30-somethings, meaning there are a lot of kids at that age. We get a number of kids selling stuff for school, cookies (GS) and other stuff pretty routinely, but most of them know our family. We even get some that we don't know, but it seems like parents are always shadowing them down the street in their mini van.
They all know my weakness, too... I generally can't turn down a kid selling something because I did it in school and knew how hard it was. I always buy something, even if it's useless to me. I'm pretty sure I'm on a list at the local schools!!
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"It doesn't matter how small you are if you have faith and a plan." - Some Commie
In our neighborhood, an older one, we have sidewalks and street lights. We still have kids at Halloween and others coming door to door with their school fundraisers. They walk to school still.They are out until dark playing, sometimes later which is rather noisy when you are trying to sleep and have the windows open. But then, we live in a small town of 300,000 in the Midwest and don't have the high crime rate of your "big" cities.
I occasionally see girls and their Mom selling the cookies at various big stores - the Grocery Store is always a good bet - the people coming in are hungry to begin with - 'easy marks'! I buy a couple boxes then.
Usually someone at work is taking orders too - my supervisor did it this year - I got my usual four boxes. Love thse chocomints!
