WHERE ARE THE YOUNG PEOPLE?

[epackage]

ORIGINAL: slag pile digger

I'd like to share a story...My wife myself & our daughter were at a party & the host's mother took the children down to the lake swimming, when they got to the lake, the water was filled with what the mother said were "tadpoles" & the children wouldn't go in the water, that is when my 5 yr old girl walked in the water and scooped up the' tadpoles" & said "They are baby catfish, they wont hurt you!" & began swimming, followed by the other kids, some of which were much older. She doesn't come digging or exploring with me like she did when she was younger,but she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

This story makes me smile....[]

 

[bostaurus]

I think you are right about the changes in the way kids are raised and play. There is just so much they can do inside now...not for the better in my humble opinion.
Folks looked at me funny sometimes when they found out we did not have a game system...My son just got one himself a couple years ago at age 19.
I did let him have a knife at around 8-9. At 4 years old I gave him a saw and let him destroy the Christmas tree when we took it down. He was also allowed to pee in the backyard as long as he did it in the corner...that made him the envy of the other little boys in the neighborhood. They would actually ask if they could do it too...the dad usually were okay with it and the moms horrified. One of my friends would not give her sons ( 10 and 11) permission to go play paintball with my son (11) because they might get bruises from the paintballs. You could see the disappointment in their entire bodies. By that age Josh had broken a couple bones and had stitches a few times.
I zero in on the boys because I think the majority of bottle collectors are guys and why that would be is another topic.
Being a mom I feel safe to say that moms can be one of the biggest problems for boys. We sometimes don't understand that boys need to be boys. They need to get dirty, do dangerous things in measure to their age, they need adventure, they need to be bad at times and be a hero sometimes, they need to discover and explore. They need some outlet like a hobby. They may stick with it or may not but they need the chance. They don't get that sitting in front of the game box. Sometimes we are afraid to say " no, go outside". Actually it takes more than that. Go with them. that is how I got started. My folks encouraged my collecting at age 12.
Most of the folks I have met have gone the extra yard to help young collectors. Many, if not most, of the new collectors will loose interest and drop along the wayside.

 

[RICKJJ59W]

I am not going to write a long drawn out comment on this subject .If you look back in time on ABN you will find a thread I started called "Whats it worth" that didn't go well.[]

I am into bottle digging for the history, the fun,the excitement and the commerardary ,I could give 2 craps about money generated from bottles,that is why I HAVE A JOB.
But that's just me, I speak for no one else.

As to the youth in this hobby,they are all around us you just have to look in the holes.[]

 

[NYCFlasks]

I, like so many others here, in my childhood my mother would tell us "Get out of the house, go play outside". Now I do not know if this was so that she would have peace and quiet.........
My folks even encouraged my hobby early on, my mom suggested some spots to look for bottles (the woods, the creek down the street), and my dad one day took me all the way out to Wading River to a bottle shop! He even brought me one time to a bottle show in Amityville, which just happened to be a few blocks from his parents (my grandparents).
Early in the hobby, I had the very good fortune to meet Art Kottman, an insulator collector from Blue Point who would pick me up and take me to bottle club meetings, he would never take even gas money (I was too young to drive at the time).
I also early on had the good fortune to be friends with Don and Jean Garrison, and Jean (what a sweetheart she was) convinced me to become not just a member of the FOHBC, but to take the plunge and become a Life Member (I did and still am).
Another local fellow, Don Weinhardt, showed me the ways of researching and local bottle collecting and when he move to Massachusetts I purchased some of his vast local collection (still have it) and have added to it.
I also have had the immense pleasure and good fortune to have both meet and count as friends some of the best and most advanced collectors in the hobby, John Feldmann (bitters bottles) and Donald Matties (local stoneware and redware), Tommy Kaler (stoneware) and Bill Hyland (digging in Brooklyn).
I now have 40 years in the bottle hobby, and I do my honest best to befriend and encourage any and all new collectors and those with an interest in bottles.
I do not fret too much about the hobby future, as there is a great deal of interest in local bottles, by people in the community, while not really collectors like ourselves, they will very willingly snap up locals and they desire to learn about them.
The most important thing we can do is to help and encourage others in this wonderful hobby.

 

[Wheelah23]

ORIGINAL: Plumbata

Nice post.

The answer to "where are all the young people?" is pretty simple; they're glued to the TV, internet, cell phones, and their precious video games. They're too caught-up with the hive-mind mentality to get out and do something independent and "weird". Alot of people nowadays are scared to go in the woods and get dirty, and parents shield their children from nature and dirt because they think they may get sick. The reason I almost never get sick is precisely because i tempered my immune system by getting dirty all the time! People nowadays think that if you cut a tree root the tree will die, or that they will burst into flames if they get too close to a fire. Environmental irrationality is supported by a lack of early, experiential education. It's a societal issue, not so much a problem with collectors. Society, and the people subject to it are changing and people are becoming more physically isolated from the world around them, no longer needing to engage with the reality beyond one's desk or computer in order to feel satisfied. Also, a proficiency in or love of history is not what western society demands of the youth; rather it's about focusing on maths and the sciences, or socially, a proficiency in vapid pop-culture and similar fluff.

I think Plumbata hit it on the head here. I was exactly as he described before I got into bottles specifically. As a little kid (probably around 7-10 years or something), I used to play outside all the time. I would always look under rocks to find bugs, which I knew all the names of. It was like a little safari out there in my backyard. That obviously necessitated getting dirty, so I have had no problem with dirtiness! But then around 7th grade I got an Xbox. I'm not going to make the machine out to be some kind of monster, but I must say I was addicted. It's the general disattachment that it provides which I think characterizes our society as a whole. We are taught not to think, and that our unthinking majority's way of life should be the ideal life. However, if you just think, you realize how shallow and voyeur-ish society is. Don't get me wrong, it's always been this way. There's always been visionaries who refuse to obey these norms though.

I'm not making bottle collectors out to be noble defenders of free will or anything like that, but people who fully engage themselves and their minds in an intense hobby like bottle collecting definitely do deserve praise. The constant activity and effort, plus a certain level of aptitude, that is required to be a bottle digger will continue to turn away most people. The effortless stimulation provided by mass media and collectivist technology will draw in the majority of people in, and never let them free to pursue the limits of their own potential. The few of us with functioning minds, of which most bottle collectors are undoubtedly representative, will continue to watch from the outside as society, in my opinion, degenerates. It's my hope that we can draw people out of their numb existence, as I was, and into a mentally engrossing hobby like bottle collecting. Unfortunately, I believe that will become harder and harder, as all the good dig sites are used up.

 

[OsiaBoyce]

Face it, some people just are not into it..................not all people like the same things.

Let us not forget how we try to keep the hobby a secret, I refer to the possible TV bottle digging show that stuck fear into the hearts of so many.

https://www.antique-bottles.net/forum/m-376600/mpage-1/key-/tm.htm

Which for some reason is still at the 'TOP' and has not had a post made on it in two months..............that Charlie is really on top of it.

 

[cyberdigger]

Are you saying I am neglecting my duties? I oughta had cut it loose by now?

Just for this, I'm leaving it stuck up top for 2 more months, punk..

 

[andy volkerts]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

Are you saying I am neglecting my duties? I oughta had cut it loose by now?

Just for this, I'm leaving it stuck up top for 2 more months, punk..

[] Hey Cyb Ya know Andy wouldnt let ya have any bullets for ya piece, for fear of ya shootin yaself right!!!!!

 

[OsiaBoyce]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

Are you saying I am neglecting my duties? I oughta had cut it loose by now?

Just for this, I'm leaving it stuck up top for 2 more months, punk..

Punk? Come on Charlie you can't be more original than that?

What ya gonna do, ban me?

Wait I forgot it's 'Never Had an Original Thought Charlie, I Need A Life' eg. 'Lobeys Brick'-----'Secret Santa' Lobeys idea I'll remind ya of, and that calander that someone else thought of.


As far as leaving it up.....hell I don't care. I know it's not your site, your just 'a mop and bucket boy'

Now if I can just remember what I said when you went begging to Roger to be a mod...............now that's a punk.

If ya feel the need to drop out again...........please feel free[][][][]

 

[carobran]

ORIGINAL: cyberdigger

UH-OH.........TIME TO DUCK AND COVER.[][8D]