That snake was absolutely disgusting. There are venomous snakes in every single of the continental United States, most of them are rattlesnakes, and the remainder can be difficult to identify.
I’m part of the “latchkey” generation. My parents owned one of maybe 6 restaurants in our small town and my siblings and I spent A LOT of unsupervised time doing all sorts of reckless things and as they say “we turned out just fine”. We put ladders up the side of our multistory barn and scaled the roof, climbed as high as we could in pine trees, spent countless hours in the woods and on four wheelers, walked through cornfields that grew over the top of our heads
, swimming in “watering holes”, etc. I guess the difference is my parents also put us in swimming lessons every summer, we were all boy/girl scouts, and my dad was constantly reminding us of all the ways we could potentially die (lol). I can’t tell you how many times he scared us shitless with little anecdotes that were meant to keep us safe. We knew to watch for old barbwire fence rows because such and such snowmobiled into one an nearly decapitated himself, not to go into a grain bin because such and such suffocated themselves after falling in, and that it was even possible to be electrocuted after a bad storm if there was a downed wire in standing water because his cousin died when he was 5 years old while puddle jumping. 
We were little survivalists. Thinking back on my childhood, as a parent and as someone who watches parts of the Knorpp’s life unfold, is conflicting.I think sometimes we get so caught up in our worry about our children, compounded by the influx of terrible news and horror stories from around the world, that we shield them from the very experiences they crave and require to become a well rounded individual. Our lizard brains literally cannot comprehend that a news story we are reading out of the middle of BF nowhere isn’t happening right next door. Enter: helicopter parenting. I think we have to be conscious of the risks, determine what our children are capable of doing on their own, and making sure we provide the training needed to equip them for real world situations that are pertinent to them. The balance between complete neglect and smothering them is different for every family and probably every region of the world, as each child is different and each environment has different dangers. For example, I don’t need to warn my children about, say, drive-by shootings because we don’t live in an area where that ever happens, but they do need to be able to identify black widow and brown recluse spiders, 6 venomous snakes, and not to wander off with anyone for any reason including puppies.
NOW, because there’s a pandemic there is another layer of irresponsibility on top of them not already knowing what kind of snakes are in their area. I mean, the kids have been exploring the woods down there for as long as they’ve lived there... but anyway! We are supposed to be STAYING INSIDE. There’s a difference between going for a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood for exercise and gallivanting through the woods wielding broken tools and clearing woodland. The snake aside, we are supposed to be decreasing the chance we end up in the Emergency Room. Not. To. Mention! They’ve had a potential exposure to the virus. Those woods are a SHARED space. They’re not the only ones out there walking the paths. She even mentioned she could see neighbors working on their little connecting path to the trails. Their kids are out there with their grimy little hands, coughing and sneezing, etc. and this virus survives in aerosols for up to 3 hours. So! They especially should not be outside putting themselves and others at even more risk.
They’re unbelievable. The United States response to this whole thing and so many people’s disregard for the vulnerable among us is unbelievable. The Knorpps should be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating the idea that any of us is invulnerable on their platform. Who even knows what kind of ripple effect they’re creating with their platform.
content. There’s no way they wouldn’t show that!
content. There’s no way they wouldn’t show that!
