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I'm not saying put a chain on the kid, but you can't deny a lot of bad things happen and children need adequate supervison. And I do think things are worse than decades ago in many ways, society has become morally vacant.
How would you feel if your 11 year old kid was walking home from school and some perv forces the child in the car? Most likely one would not be wanting junior to walk home alone anymore. Luckily in this recent South Carolina case, the child was able to escape and found an adult. They have identified a suspect in this incident. Certainly there is a fine line between being too over protective and letting the kid have a normal amount of freedom and parents have to balance that with common sense and good judgement.
I think 10 and 6 is too young to be walking alone.
Once I started first grade I was allowed to wander the neighborhood unsupervised after school as long as I was home for dinner. Once dinner was finished, I was allowed to go back outside unsupervised until dusk. Those privileges remained in effect until homework became a greater concern in the later school years, then scheduling was changed to ensure homework was satisfactorily completed.
I believe unsupervised time is beneficial for human beings to develop a connection with the world at large. I will not be surprised if American society has problems with the current crop of children in the future as adults due to over-supervision.
It is sad that what we did as kids can no longer be done?
I walked to and from school.
Left home with only the admonition from Mom to be home for dinner
Played cops and robbers, cowboys and indians with "God forbid" real cap guns
Played with BB Guns
Made rockets out of clothes-hanger tubes and match heads
Times have changed in 60 years
If it is any consolation, I had a very similar childhood to what you describe here and that was into the 1980's. It is only the last 20-25 years where paranoia-based parenting has taken a stronghold in American society.
What is all this nonsense about kidnapping other people's children? Such events were rare thirty years ago and are still rare today. If anything the media gives these kinds of events more attention but that does not mean the frequency has gone up. Crime rates have actually gone down.
Look at it this way, if other people's children were desirable enough for kidnapping then wouldn't single mothers and single fathers also be the most sought after dating demographic? The reality is they are not ... on both subjects.
Walked/bicycled to school from age 6 and up. Spent my days outside of school roaming the neighborhood and woods with playmates building forts, playing army, cowboys, explorers, and playing in the creek looking for tadpoles and minnows. Lived in Germany as an Army brat and on Saturdays I and my friends would hike up into the mountains ouside Heidelberg with a brown bag lunch, gone all day. We were around 12 then. My childhood was filled with such outdoor adventure, from all day bike trips to all day horseback rides. All with peers. There was no joy so sweet as the arrival of summer, when we were outside all day and late into the evening, shooting hoops and catching fireflies in a jar or just sitting out with our friends in the backyard talking.
Now many places are taking summer vacation away from kids, not to mention recess and PT.
Anyway, we knew how to be alert and what not to do. This was the 60s and 70s. Like many I am SO glad I grew up in those times. Life was sweet and so much fun. Just being a kid, happy and carefree. I am sad for kids today.
See, in order to follow this story, you would have to read or watch (shudder) Fox News. And if we have all learned one thing around here it's that Fox News isn't really news.
Authorities investigate Maryland parents who let kids walk home alone | Fox News
Isn't it amazing, that someone would post such a statement about Fox News. They just brought it to peoples attention faster than other medians did.
Quote:
Video Archive Player | WUSA 9
Video | NBC4 Washington
Search - The Washington Post
Especially since Fox News is the most watched News for over 10 years in a row. They are a little slanted to the right, but not nearly as much as the other news channels are slanted to the left.
If they were not a respected news channel with about as down the middle reporting as it is possible to do today, they would not be the most watched TV news channel in the country year after year.
Grade school kids should not be out on the streets facing danger, they should be safe in their room eating Doritos, drinking Mountain Dew, and shouting "F- you, N-!!!" to their multiplayer online game playmates when not watching animated Japanese torture porn like a normal 21st century child.
I've said this before, and will probably say this again, on various threads on this topic. (Funny how stories like this keep popping up with ever-increasing frequency, no?) I think parents often get the blame for "not giving their precious snowflakes enough freedom" and "coddling their children" - etc. I think many parents would LOVE to give their kids more responsibility. Sure, there might be some over-protective parents out there, but the majority opinion seems to be that "the good old days are gone, they should come back, etc." But who can blame parents for falling into line when authorities come and threaten to remove their kids? I'd rather drive my perfectly capable child to school while shaking my head at the nonsense all the way, or drag him into a store when I feel he would be perfectly fine in the car for the two minutes it took for me to pick up milk... but it's risk assessment. What's a bigger hassle, driving him to school in the morning, or possibly having to mount a legal battle to retain custody? =/
^^^^ This ^^^^
My boys are ages 9 and 10 and begging me to walk home from school in our upper middle class suburban neighborhood. The walk is less than 1 mile. I think they are ready and know they would be absolutely fine but I feel like I cannot let them do it because some crazy parent or well meaning neighbor will call authorities or cause us grief.
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