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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 10:59 PM
Original message
Do parents still send kids to the store?
I was thinking earlier about how we lived on our bikes when we were kids and because of that, our parents weren't always driving us places like they do now. Then I remembered my mom asking me many times to ride my bike to the store to get something for her, and I wondered if parents still do that.

I don't think kids ride bikes nearly as much as we did, anyway. What say you?

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SeattleGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:03 PM
Response to Original message
1. I think it depends on the neighborhood, but it was that way when
I was a kid, too.

We always lived in neighborhoods with lots of kids, lots of bikes, and usually a store fairly close by.
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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:12 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Yeah, I guess that had a lot to do with it
Where I grew up, there were two little stores nearby. Daily Market was two blocks away (and had a great butcher counter) and Quality Market (where I first bought cigarettes) was three blocks. Two blocks in another direction was Monte Mart, a big Target-like store before chain stores existed, except for Safeway and Lucky. We rode our bikes to one or the other pretty much every day.

I guess we don't have that luxury anymore. "The store" is probably in a mall a couple miles away. :(
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Lyric Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:05 PM
Response to Original message
2. Brendan rides his bike a lot
But never outside of our mobile home park. I've seen too many irresponsible drivers out there to feel comfortable with my little boy on the "main road" quite yet.

Maybe when he's 10... :hi:
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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:18 PM
Response to Reply #2
5. Yeah, at 7, I don't think I was crossing big streets, either
Two of the aforementioned stores required crossing four-lane arteries. I doubt I graduated to that until I was 10 or 11.

Although... I remember my sister and I riding bikes to McDonald's when it opened in 1964 (I was 8), and we had to cross the Big Street to do that. But it was at a major intersection with lights, so...




Note also that a burger, fries and a Coke at McDonald's then was 47 cents.
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:20 PM
Response to Reply #5
6. Also note...
That the burger, fries and a Coke of yesteryear are today's Happy Meal, sizewise.
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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:23 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. I dunno from a Happy Meal
I know of them, but I've no idea what's in 'em or how much they cost. :shrug:
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Left Is Write Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:31 PM
Response to Reply #8
9. The "standard" Happy Meal is a regular burger or cheeseburger, small fries, and a small drink.
That used to be the regular adult meal before everything started getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
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Maddy McCall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:09 PM
Response to Original message
3. When we're in town at my parents' house, we'll send him to the store...
if he's got a friend with him. I don't send him alone, and he'd probably not want to go alone.

The store is about three blocks from home, so he and whatever friend is available usually like to go, if there's an ice cream or Coke in it for them.
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Oeditpus Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-22-07 11:21 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. That was one of the best parts
Mom would give me 50 cents for a pound of hamburger. With the change, which was about eight cents, I could get bubble gum. :D
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Maddy McCall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 12:24 AM
Response to Reply #7
10. When we were kids...
Mom would give us each two dollars on Saturday morning.

We'd walk down to the diner in town, each get a cheeseburger, fries, and a coke. We'd play Jimmy Buffett on the jukebox, and buy a pack of mint-flavored toothpicks to gnaw on during the walk home. And have a little change in our pockets, to save for the next week.

Wonderful memories.
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SeattleGirl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 12:26 AM
Response to Reply #10
11. Ah, Maddy, those were the days!
Though the song on the jukebox would probably gave been by the Supremes, or The Four Tops, or The Temptations, or some other Motown group.
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Maddy McCall Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 12:50 AM
Response to Reply #11
12. Yes, wonderful memories.
Now the diner's gone, and the building sits empty.

I wonder if you can still get those little packs of mint toothpicks, though. :)
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Critters2 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 12:58 AM
Response to Original message
13. We used to walk or bike to the Royal Blue
But neighborhoods are so different now. No neighborhood markets, and around here many neighborhoods don't even have sidewalks. There seems to be an assumption that we do everything by car.

A real loss.
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MonkeyFunk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 01:05 AM
Response to Original message
14. hehe
I remember Mom or other neighbors sending us to the store to buy cigarettes!

Times have changed.
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NJCher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 03:24 AM
Response to Original message
15. not only the store but
I remember my brothers both had regular lawn mowing jobs. They would walk the mower around the neighborhood and do the lawns for people who didn't have time to do their own.

Now 45-year old guys in huge pickup trucks and trailers trawl around NJ, doing lawn, leaf blowing, weed-wacking, etc. I never see kids around here mowing the lawn. Huge waste of gas.



Cher
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fizzgig Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 03:32 AM
Response to Original message
16. i'm sure my mother would have
had we lived close enough to a store to do so. the closest grocery store was about two miles away, but the road was not the safest for bikes. once i was old enough to drive, i was sent on a lot of grocery runs
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Neoma Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 04:55 AM
Response to Original message
17. Nope.
Not for my parents anyways.
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Connonym Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 05:10 AM
Response to Original message
18. to the 7/11 for a gallon of milk
Edited on Mon Jul-23-07 05:11 AM by Connonym
or some bread but that's about the extent of it but not on a bike, I'd make them walk. My town is too hilly and the streets are nutso (not to mention nobody pays attention to bikes). Pretty much the only biking they do is on bike trails. We happen to have a fabulous system of bike trails though.

ETA: I'm personally terrified of my bicycle. Man, do I have issues!
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Mutley Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jul-23-07 07:10 AM
Response to Original message
19. Oh yeah.
Happens all the time.
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