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arizona
Citizen
Username: Arizona
Post Number: 132
Registered: 2-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 9:54 am: | 
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Soda: ROSEBUD |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2429
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 9:57 am: |
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mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 180
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:02 am: |
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This morning on Flood's Hill around 8:30, there was one woman with a toddler, riding down on a saucer together yipping and yelling, trudging back up, no one else there, lovely to see.
What's more joyful than sledding? |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2430
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:08 am: |
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Operative phrase: "No on else there"...
Lovely image at 8:30AM on a school day. Saturday afternoon with a hill fulla crazies: Not so Much... |
Bright Moments
Citizen
Username: Brightmoments
Post Number: 5
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:12 am: |
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As much as the Flexible Flyer appeals to my nostalgic side, it is perhaps the most dangerous sled at Flood's Hill. Check out the metal steering mechanism in the photo. When it plows into a shin, something has to give, and it often is the tibia or fibia or both. |
Bright Moments
Citizen
Username: Brightmoments
Post Number: 6
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:20 am: |
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Angus,
Go to Ridgewood Road this Saturday, say at 3 or 4, when crowds are at its peak and when the conditions should be especially slick.
Watch the parents send little Jill and Johnny, some barely out diapers, into the abyss below. And then tell me what motivates them. It's either stupidity or video game-induced invicibility. Take your pick.Or do you have a better explanation for parents throwing caution to the wind and their children into a danger zone? Pehaps nicotine-induced. I hadn't thought of that. |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2432
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:30 am: |
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Bright: Uh-uh. You STEER the sled. Meaning you AVOID other people. Result: NO injuries.
Think before buying your next sled. Or posting your next post.
-s.
BTW: It's spelled "fibula". |
Mayor McCheese
Citizen
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 104
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:47 am: |
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Soda, I don't get it, you try and make it so hard to agree with you. Unfortunately this time I do.
Bright Moments:
Drop the Video game thing. Kids have been sledding fast and doing stupid things on big hills long before video games. In fact, I am ready to believe that super hero invincibilit sledding has lead to video games.
Have you thought that mabe people are just trying to have fun? Sure, going too fast into the "abyss below" may be a little dangerous, but that danger is really a small price to pay for all that fun. Or, maybe everyone is stupid but you. |
dgm
Citizen
Username: Dgm
Post Number: 211
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:54 am: |
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Soda,
Apparently, parents do have to teach their kids how steer a flexible flyer, judging by what I have seen... It doesn't have a steering wheel or a joy stick... how do you make it steer? |
kevin
Supporter
Username: Kevin
Post Number: 418
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:55 am: |
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Not everyone is as deft at steering a Flexible Flyer as you, Soda.
We all know that you are a professional at everything.
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mjc
Citizen
Username: Mjc
Post Number: 181
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 11:06 am: |
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Soda, yes, "no one else there" was part of it, though with parent vigilance (and the parent sledding down with the little one) it could work most days.
Your Flexible Flyer is beautiful, and you're right about the steering, but is the kid sledding down head first (not so good)? And I think Bright has a point about the narrow metal and wood parts, 'cuz eventually the sled will get away from someone less skilled than you.
(drift: Growing up in L.A., some lucky kids had "Flexies" with wheels, if you can visualize zipping down a concrete driveway head first into the street, or making a sharp turn to avoid the street and flipping on the sidewalk. On the other hand, there was hardly any traffic, and no injuries beyond scrapes. I couldn't understand why my parents wouldn't get me one, but now it's clearer. ) |
mary032
Citizen
Username: Mary032
Post Number: 119
Registered: 8-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 11:25 am: |
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Well said, Angus McGuyver. So well, I have to repeat it:
How about you people CRAM IT, and CRAM IT GOOD!!!!!
Let your kids sled if you want them too!
Be responsible for your own kid for a change.
If you have no kids, and will be spending
no time on the hill, then find a topic that
applies to you.
Oh, but Angus, I have every right to
post here or on any other topic. SO DO I...
waaaahhh, i heard a kid ran into a tree,
wahhhhh, put up some colored cones,
waaaaaaaaahhh, what about bales of hey,
wahhhhhhh lawsuits, waaaahhhh potential
liability concerns....
ITS SNOW!! YOU PLAY IN IT, SHOVEL IT, MISS
WORK BY IT, MAKE COCOA BY IT & YOU SLED
DOWN HILLS IN IT.
WHY DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN A GOOD THING???????
© 2005 Angus McGuyver |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2434
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 2:52 pm: |
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dgm:
mjc: "Bellywopping" head-first is how all the kids in my neighborhood learned to do it (without any noticeable parental tutelage, BTW), and most of us (once we were big enough) actually started back from the crest of the hill, stood holding the sled at our sides, and took a running start, jumping down the hill with our sleds under us for added momentum. Were we stupid? Probably. Did anyone ever get rammed and injured by the front of somebody's sled? Rarely. Why? Because one had to quickly learn how to do it right or be ostracized from the hill. Or beaten up. Or yelled at by angry parents.
Maybe if really heavy padding were added to the front of the sled, accidents would be FUN!
kevin: I try.
-s.
BTW: I can't believe I had to do that diagram... |
Mayor McCheese
Citizen
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 109
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 3:09 pm: |
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Soda
You didn't have to do that diagram....you wanted to. |
Bright Moments
Citizen
Username: Brightmoments
Post Number: 7
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 3:12 pm: |
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Soda--
Take your head out of the dictionary and go to the hill and see what actually happens. There are literally 5- and 6-year-olds flying solo on your favorite childhood plaything, and they have no more idea how to steer than calculate a differential equation.
Ostracization on the hill? Forget about it. We are talking about adults sending their kids on a magical mystery tour. They are beyond reproach when it comes to their parenting abilities.
The teenagers and pre-teens may engage in ostracization, but they also have the strength and dexterity to steer, so it is largely unnecessary.
Out of curiosity, how many times have you hung out at the hill recently on a weekend afternoon? The ambulances come and go, rarely mentioning Michelangelo.
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Mayor McCheese
Citizen
Username: Mayor_mccheese
Post Number: 110
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 3:25 pm: |
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A "magical mystery tour?" Bright, it is a little hill. Kids go sledding, they have fun. You are a little paranoid. You know, using phrases like magical mystery tour, combined with your paranoid ranting.... have you been eating those "magical" mushrooms? |
marion cobretti
Citizen
Username: Marion_cobretti
Post Number: 15
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 3:30 pm: |
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no wonder time magazine ran an article about these kids that never leave home. you guys sound like the parents that blame everyone else for their child's actions except for the child themselves.kids get hurt! |
Dave
Moderator
Username: Dave
Post Number: 5096
Registered: 4-1998
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 3:32 pm: |
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Nice Prufrock reference. In a sledding thread, no less. |
Bright Moments
Citizen
Username: Brightmoments
Post Number: 8
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 5:09 pm: |
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I'm strictly a caffeine guy, and I suppose it may account for my "paranoia."
But enough, enough:
I am no prophet--and here's no great matter;
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Bobkat
Supporter
Username: Bobk
Post Number: 7354
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 5:55 pm: |
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No arguement that the Flexible Flyers, actually mine was a Western Flyer (from Western Auto), can be steered, but my recollection is they weren't exactly Ferraris in the handling department.
A friend of mine, Dingy Wilkes, actually lost the tip of a finger when one of the Shinerer sisters (there were seven or eight of them) ran over his hand. Those runners were lethal.
Our favorite sledding place was on the grounds of the Albany Country Club. To a seven or eight year old the hill looked like it was about 60 degrees.
Since someone may ask how Dingy got his name, I found out later, much later, that his parents had conceived him in a rowboat. I guess nicknaming him Dingy was better than rowboat. |
Soda
Supporter
Username: Soda
Post Number: 2435
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:38 pm: |
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Mr. Mayor: "It doesn't have a steering wheel or a joy stick... how do you make it steer?" literally cries out for a diagram. But yeah...
Bright: Flood's Hill is at the bottom of my street. I don't hang out there much any more(unlike me, my own kids are too old and way too cool for sledding), but walk there nearly every day, and I'm always agog with the poor judgement I see there whenever snow flies.
And not to put too fine a point on this, but steering mechanisms are, when sleds are new, stiff and tight. Liberal application of 3-in-1 oil, lock-eze, or even PAM, on the pivot points, in conjunction with actual USE of those steering mechanisms over time, loosens 'em up and provides a degree of steering precision which would amaze even Bobbestk.
-s.
BTW: Jerry Verga, a kid I new in high school was killed instantaneously when the inner tube he was riding ran fullspeed into a tree trunk. Was it his own fault? Yup. But once again, common sense!
Parents sending young kids to the hill without proper safety instruction or even a modicum of supervision are certainly NOT beyond reproach. You sled at your own risk. It's clearly posted. Little guys should stick to the gentler slope, and if they need Mom or Dad aboard to assure a safe run, so be it. I have no tolerance for parents too unconcerned, too busy, or too inept to keep their little kids safe on Flood's Hill, and neither should anyone else. |
mwoodwalk
Citizen
Username: Mwoodwalk
Post Number: 282
Registered: 9-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 25, 2005 - 10:48 pm: |
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I sent my four year old down the hill by himself 4 or 5 times---with no incident. I had the sense to monitor the hill, wait till it was clear, and then push him down and run after him. To those of you who say this was irresponsible, I say, baldergash. It was a blast for him, and put noone in danger (other than my son---who asked to go down by himself after the two of us rode together a couple of times; and he even asked to go again by himself after one run where he fell off the sled towards the bottom of the hill). Loosen up people, like many others have said, its supposed to be fun---and a way to learn how to take care of yourself.
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Matt Foley
Citizen
Username: Mattfoley
Post Number: 75
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 1:24 am: |
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kudos Dave on your "Love Song for J. Alfred Proofrock" post. I thought that one might have been lost.
As far as the HILL.... I was sledding there with mom and dad 30 years ago, and we did not have a care in the world. Back then there were no bales 'o hay, no sno-guards, a large tree in the hill, big kids at the steep part, little kids by the pedestrian path, and we all had a grand time.
Maybe it was a different world in the late 70's. Dad pulled us on a Flexi-Flyer with back seat and tow rope all the way to Floods. Mom carried the alt-sled (saucer,or little plastic tobogan). We had a thermos for hot-choc. and parents always held our hand up the hill. Dad usually on top by Ridgewood giving us important post launch instructions, and Mom hugging and suppressing tears after hellatious wipeouts. I miss the days of SUPERVISED sledding. I cannot wait to do it for my kids. |
woodstock
Citizen
Username: Woodstock
Post Number: 882
Registered: 9-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 3:43 am: |
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The world was a much different place, it seems, when some of us were growing up. I used to sled in the street (yes, a street!) by my parents' house in Queens. It was a block-long, relatively-steep hill that ended at a road only slightly less busy than Ridgewood. We rode on Flexible Flyers (or the equivalent). We ran, then jumped onto the sleds. No parents around - they trusted our judgement (how scary is that?). Occasionally someone would get hurt, but that was rare. If the street had been plowed, all the better. They never got the last layer of snow, and things would get packed down nice and hard (packed powder), which is the ideal sledding surface for a FF.
A couple of observations, though.
-We were much older than some of the kids being sent down alone by their parents. I was at least 7 or 8.
-There were a lot fewer of us on the street. Maybe part of the problem at Flood's Hill is the aggregation of people there. We used to sled on our own block, not on a central hill in the town. So there were, maybe, 10 of us at a time sledding. It's much easier to keep track of 9 friends than 50 random people.
-There were no parents. I hate to say it, but for kids over 6, having parents around is probably a real downer.
I have two kids, both under 4. We pull them around the yard. The older one was at Flood's Hill last year, but she only went down twice, both times with me on the sled, too. I can't imagine my folks talking me sledding when I was anywhere near that young. |
dgm
Citizen
Username: Dgm
Post Number: 212
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 1:31 pm: |
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good points woodstock. On Sunday afternoon the crowd was as thick as it is the 4th of July fireworks. No convenient parking. |
chocoholic
Citizen
Username: Shrink
Post Number: 250
Registered: 2-2003
| | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 4:23 pm: |
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I'm not sure where Floods Hill is. Is it the the small, gentle hill on Ridgewood Rd. across from the Tennis Club where I took my 5 and 6 year old sledding last weekend? If so, I fail to see what all the consternation is about. My Gosh, the hill is miniscule. Me thinks that the people titering about children going down this hill and not being able to steer are true city people. I don't mean to be insulting but-you haven't seen a real sledding hill if you think that the hills around here are dangerous. I grew up in New England, where sledding is as common as people biking around here in the Spring. I had a 2-3 person tobaggon. You had to wax it once or twice a season to make sure it would go FAST.
We would sled down real Hills, what some of you fearful types might consider hills that people ski down. I can't imagine what the person who was sweating about a 6 year old going down the gentle slope on Ridgewood Road would think about 3 kids on a tobaggon going down a hill so steep that it took about 20-25 minutes minutes ( at a fast, breaking a sweat pace) to walk up to the top. On a real Hill, you have to know how to steer, or at least how get off the sled while it was moving. But , Man, you had some fun! |
Bright Moments
Citizen
Username: Brightmoments
Post Number: 9
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 6:33 pm: |
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chocoholic--
the issue is not the size of the hill. it's crowded, and out of control sledders run into inattentive pedestrians walking up the hill or hanging down at the bottom.
in your quaint new england village, how many times did ambulances visit your sledding spots in a season? Triple that figure and you will get the idea of how many visits EMS makes on a snowy weekend DAY.
i have no problem with video-crazed parents and their kids putting themselves in harm's way when nobody is around.
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