Am I the only one who saw my neighbor's kid get a pass for ding-dong-ditching but I got yelled at for it back in '08?

Last week, I'm out walking my dog in my neighborhood in Cleveland, and I see this 12-year-old kid ring a doorbell and run. The homeowner came out laughing and just waved. When I was his age in 2008, I did the same thing and the guy chased me down the street and called my parents. Seems like adults are cool with kids doing stuff now that they'd punish us for back then. Has anyone else noticed this shift in how kids get treated for minor crap?

3 comments

3 Comments

stella221d ago

My jaw dropped reading that part about the guy laughing and waving. In 2008 adults acted like ding-dong-ditching was a criminal offense worth ruining your whole summer over. Definitely feels like parents got softer about the small stuff over the years.

brooket431d ago

And it's not just the ding-dong-ditching stuff either. I remember in maybe 2009 or 2010 a kid in my neighborhood got caught throwing a few crabapples at a car and the parents on the block acted like he was a hardened criminal. They called the cops and everything. The kid was like nine. My own experience with stuff like that is that adults back then were way quicker to assume the worst about kids. Now parents seem to have more of a "kids will be kids" mindset unless something actually dangerous happens. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live though. Some places still have that old school hardline attitude. It's just weird how much the vibe shifted over maybe ten or fifteen years.

eva_moore20h ago

I read a study that said parents today are more focused on keeping kids happy than strict rules.