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+1 He earns freedom by proving he can be trusted. Some freedoms are trivial. He has free access to the pantry and can choose what he wants to eat whenever he wants - even the bucket of candy. He has earned this by proving he can make appropriate choices, and I keep an eye on his food an always know what he had chosen to eat. Some freedoms are still beaing earned. He has his own computer and ipod, but the computer is in the living room and his ipod/email are set up in a way we can monitor his activity/emails (remember he's 8, not 16). Some freedoms can be fatal if granted too early and it is MY responsibility (not anybody else's on this forum) to keep him safe and not let him make a dedly mistake. He does not get the mail from the mailbox because that requires his to cross a road that people travel at 75mph, and has a deceptive dip just north of us so you have to look north for 4 seconds solid to be sure there's not a car coming. He started riding with me on the bike at 7 - and that was after trying him out with shorter rides aorund the property etc. I needed him to prove that he could be trusted to sit on the bike, hold on, not lean over and fall off etc. After months of slow exposure we finally went on his first ride on a public road. By then I was fully confident that he was mature enough to be safe. (as safe as any of us can be on two wheels) By the same token you wouldn't to allow a toddler free access to the gun safe, but what about a 6yo? 8yo? 14? 18? Every parent and child has their own comfort level based upon maturity levels and training. I'm still trying to figure out at what age I should buy my son his first gun, or when/if I can store it in a way that he can get it out if he wants - and I need to know how he handles himself around guns when (he thinks) I'm not watching. I also need to correct any bad habits or behaviors early enough to make a difference. As it happens, he didn't play with it. Great. That's one more piece of information I'll use when I have decide how much exposure he should be allowed to guns.

Things have just been so boring without Ringo.

30', not 300'. If my 8yo has to run outside into 12" snow at 20F in his pyjamas then he coudl be dead from cold before the fire department finds him - especially if they are focused on the fire at the front of the house.

30', not 300'. That would be like going next door if you lived in a subdivision.

...and stand further to the right so I can get all of you in shot.

Someone needs to develop an app that correlates vehicle speed data with the road the cars are on and produce a realtime map of effective speed of cars - and make that data available to the GPS routing algorithm. People can be rerouted within minutes of a road closure, even if they won't be at the accident location for 30 minutes... Early enough to make a difference.

They will use an algorithm to mine the data for correlation. Some cars will avoid the pot hole, some will hit it. Some will trigger when there is no pothole, but those cars will lead to spurious results that can be filtered out of the pot hole candidates reports.

... in which you were agreeing with the post who was criticizing an overly-strict parenting style...

You think he's driving MY car? Heck no.

I'm doing the same thing.

My parents were strict too. And I didn't rebel. They started strict and became more liberal as I proved myself trustworthy. Especially when it came to things that could kill me. Everyone is different. How does making sure my kid won't play with a found gun "not enjoying his childhood?"

You're reading waaay too much into it.

Do you have kids? If they only start to read at age 7 then you're doing something wrong. My boy started reading at 4...

So, who has a fire escape plan? Our escape plan had the three of us agreeing to meet at the jungle jim in the back yard, but I'm worried that if my sone flees from the house at night during winter then he'll be in just as much risk running out into 12" of snow at 20F with only his pyjamas on. I was thinking of changing the meetup to the workshop that is seperate from the the house (about 30' away). It has a heater, we can store spare clothes and blankets there and has it's own phone line for 911. We also have an alarm panel that we can use to summon help. I can also store spare keys for the cars and get into the attached garage from the outside using the keypad and rescue one of the cars (instant shelter and warmth) My wife is concerned that 30' from the house is not far enough and is likely to also catch on fire. Thoughts? If you have a fire escape plan, what do you plan to do if it's a foot deep in snow and you have to get out before you can get dressed?

I wanted him to notice. I thought he didn't see it. He just chose to ignore it.

This kid is smarter than me. I placed it in the corner of a room then asked him to clean that room. After 5 mins he left the room to take stuff upstairs and didn't mention the rifle so I thoguht he hadn't seen it. I moved it to another place in the room. 5 minutes later, when he left hte room again I moved it again. And then a third time. Finally I went in there and asked him about the rifle. He saw it as soon as he went into the room - and figured I did it on purpose. He didn't touch it. When I moved it closer to where he was working he knew I'd moved it and continue to ignore it. Each time I moved he he noticed and figured I was up to something. "I saw in int he corner, then I saw it move to the sofa, thent ot he floor, then on top of the papers you asked me to move..." Says he didn't tell me because he knew I was doing something on purpose so I was already aware. So test pass in that he didn't touch it, but fail in that he didn't tell me he found it. He got a polite reminder to report a found gun to the adult in charge... "And I found the camera too..." (Whoops!)

Chill out. You don't know me and have never spoken to me so have no basis to comment on how clearly I speak. My accent is mild enough that Americans have little trouble understanding it. Ask someone who has spoken with me. Kawi, c-bus, MT etc. They make joke about it, but they never had to ask me to repeat myself. The confusion he has was not that he couldn't understand me, but that he didn't know the name of the language he speaks.

It's about being foreign. Many American girls go to jelly over a British accent. The same proportion of British girls react the same way to American accents. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

Well, the test is over now.

That's my thought pattern. He's 8, and at a VERY curious age. Even thought I keep my guns in a safe he may visit a friend's house who keeps them out in the open. I need to drill into his brain NOW the habits and behaviors that will keep him safe. Same with him riding ont he back of the bike - he is being brainwashed ATGATT. If I keep my guns sequestered off all the time then I will never know how he will react to finding one. I watched a report where older kids were given a gun safety class and the intructor "forgot" one of the guns. Parents got to see their kids lining up to pretend-shoot each other. Too late for those kids - Hollywood's portrayal of the "coolness" of guns got to them too soon and they couldn't help themselves. It's a mistake that some kids only make once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtAh8sDrT8Y http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/Boy_4_Finds_Gun_Shoots_Self_133464623.html http://www.fox59.com/news/wxin-children-find-9mm-glock-and-accidentally-fire-it-20110324,0,6742024.story

That's why you don't understand. Children are individual people with their own brains and thought processes. They constantly surprise you by doing things you don't expect.

He's soon going to be at an age where I'm going to trust him to have access to his own rifle. I have to know he can be trusted.

My son is being tested. He doesn't know it yet. He knows I am a gun owner, and he has been shooting with me on a few occasions. He also knows all my guns are stored in safes. He further knows that he can look at them whenever he wants by *ASKING ME*. Finally, he is under the most strict instruction that should he ever find a gun, anywhere, that he SHALL NOT TOUCH IT and go directly to the nearest adult who is in charge (mom/dad, friend's mom/dad if at friend's house, teacher etc) and report it. So he is being tested. I took one of my rifles, rendered it safe (removed the bolt and magazine) and left it in a room that I know he will be in alone. I left a camera running pointed at it so I can show him touching it if he denies it.

Disaster Recovery Team?? For when Prod is Dead Right There.