Hodgepodge To Go

1. What's a word that describes your life? A word you wish described your life?  

Mundane or lonely could both be applied to my life a lot of the time.  Mundane because it is usually the same old, same old. My husband works so much and has such long commutes to get to project sites that we rarely make plans to do anything or get together with friends because it is likely when the time comes either he will be too tired or he'll get stuck in traffic and not make it home in time.  That's also why lonely often applies.  When he is home, he spends most of the time sleeping.

I'd like it to be more active, I guess.  More filled with all those things I mentioned above that we don't do.

2. Back in my day we___________________________________?

Never sat around like today's kids do. We played outside all day every day and we were rarely bored. Even the kids who were lucky enough to have an Attari game system only played it a little. It was way more fun to go out and run around with our friends. We worked hard, too. In my family it was the huge garden my dad planted every year that kept me busy. It was a given that during the gardening season I had to help in the garden every night after supper. When that was done I could catch up with my friends again. Plus, many afternoons were spent snapping beans or shelling peas. And my friends, they were the kids in my neighborhood...parents didn't drive kids all over the countryside to play with friends. That didn't happen until we could drive ourselves.

3. When it comes to takeout are you more likely to opt for Italian, Mexican, or Chinese food? Does a typical week at your house include takeout?

We are most likely to get Chinese, unless you count pizza as Italian. I love Mexican, but my hubby isn't a big fan. I'd say we get takeout twice a week during the school year when I am working, too. Less often during the summer.

4. Think about the people you most respect. What is it about them that earned your respect?

Whether or not they have integrity and whether or not I can trust them. Those are the two biggest factors for me.

5. What's something your friends might see and say is 'so you'?

I don't know. Anything to do with books or gardening, I guess.  Anything pumpkin-y. Anything in autumn colors. Anything antique. Maybe something unique because I have a quirky sense of humor.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

So, the story that caught my eye on social media yesterday was that Utah is now the first state to pass a law legalizing "free range" parenting. I had to read up on it to find out what it was. 

Free range parenting is parenting that decides a child is old enough or responsible enough to do certain things unsupervised...like walk to school or play in the park, or even stay home alone.  The first thing that popped into my head was "When did it become illegal to allow your child to do such things?"

I don't have an answer to that last question, but it had to have been in the last 15 years or less.  Going back up to question #2, back in my day ALL the parents would have ended up in jail if it was illegal to run around unsupervised. We ran all over the neighborhood all day long. By the time we were preteens we were allowed to walk or ride our bikes downtown by ourselves. Even when my own kids were growing up, all the neighborhood kids had the freedom to run around the neighborhood all day.

I get that we have to protect the kids who are born to common senseless/uneducated/drug addicted parents, but thankfully, most parents don't fall into those categories so why did we start taking parenting away from the parents?

Thanks for visiting me today! I've linked up

with Joyce @ From This Side of the Pond

for the Wednesday Hodgepodge.

Stop by and pay her a visit and find

links to all the other Hodgepodgers!