Over at the NYTimes there's a little screed about adults riding scooters

[conuly]

Apparently they shouldn't because Mr. Aaboe has arbitrarily decided it is childish.

There are comments agreeing with him. It's "No self respecting adult would ever sleep with someone who rides a child’s toy instead of walking or biking like a normal person" and "Even better is when I see an adult riding a Razor scooter while wearing a helmet. I can’t help but think, “Oh, honey, the brain damage has already been done”" and "anyone over 15 who rides a skateboard or razor looks incredibly stupid."

The irony of these people making nasty gossip about others, people they don't even know, while proclaiming themselves to be oh-so-mature is staggering. Of course, what really upsets them is that all their snide little opinions will not cause these incredibly immature people on scooters to stop having fun. (How mean of them!)

Critics who treat adult as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.

Comments

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

I've always thought that Razor scooters were ideal commute vehicles - ride it to your stop, fold it and carry it on your bus or train. So much more convenient than a bike for that.

[conuly]

But they're... childish!

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

This is what we thought they would be used for. Kind of the 21st century equivalent of the Jetsons' moving sidewalks, only better because they go anywhere.

[xianghua.livejournal.com]

Some people have absolutely NO idea how to have fun. :)

[conuly]

And it pains them to see anybody else enjoying themselves.

[redbird]

A partner of mine uses the word "adult" approvingly in some contexts, but it's in terms of things like taking responsibility for actions and thinking about decisions and possible consequences, not disapproval of "childish" or silly things.

An adult, in their usage, might ride a scooter, but they'd pay attention to where they were going and not knock people over, and put it away somewhere safe/out of the way without being reminded.

[conuly]

That's perfectly sensible.

[siderea]

A partner of mine uses the word "adult" approvingly in some contexts, but it's in terms of things like taking responsibility for actions and thinking about decisions and possible consequences, not disapproval of "childish" or silly things.

Hear, hear. That's how I use it. It bothers the heck out of me that "adult" is used by some people not to mean "responsible and contributory" but "uptight and neurotically conformist".

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

I've never understood the whole thing of supposedly once you're an adult you're supposed to not be into 'kid' things anymore, not because they're harmful, but just because they're 'kid' things.

That quote by CS Lewis makes me feel much better about myself. I'm an adult in the proper sense of the word in that I take responsibility for my actions. But I like many things that are considered childish, such as stuffed animals and manga.

[lady-angelina.livejournal.com]

This.

I just got finished squeeing over many of the pictures in this post (http://thechive.com/2010/07/02/awesome-brought-to-you-by-my-childhood-50-photos/) someone linked a bunch of us to, and now, I already feel somewhat ashamed of it because my reactions probably aren't... erm, should I say, age-appropriate. XD; And I KNOW I shouldn't feel ashamed just because of how someone might perceive my reactions (and no one said or anything disapproving), but... yeah. XD;

[chaos-by-design.livejournal.com]

OMG! Zelda! Reeboks! Walkman!

A cloudcuckoolander is above such petty concerns as 'what other people think'. :)

[leora.livejournal.com]

While I find the viewpoint unreasonable, I am less upset since it was specifically non-motorized scooters. I was going to say - hey, I ride a scooter for good reason! I can't walk or ride a bike or drive a car, and my scooter is one of the few vehicles I can legally and safely use. But it's not actually bashing people like me.

However, I just don't see a reason to pick on someone else's transportation choice if it isn't harming anyone. Especially without knowing any of the details. As to the father and kids, my initial reaction was: how sweet, his kids seem to be into using the scooters and he's trying to share this activity with them or make it so they can use the scooters and he can better keep up. But we're all just guessing at motives and the situation.