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It was safe for we kids to be playing on the block (until dusk) from the time we were school age. Of course that's also when the nuclear family was still intact. There were always other parents around so it was quite safe. Now... not so much. The parent(s) are at work leaving the children with a wide gap of free time to burn after school.
Isn't government partly to blame for the lack of parenting in the first place? Now we need laws telling parents to actually be parents?
What has changed is that many more mothers are working today than in the past.
When I grew up, nearly every home had a mother there during the day. If someone fell out of a tree and broke an arm it was easy to run in and get help. If someone was tormenting a child, some mother would come out and yell, "Stop that."
By the time our kids were growing up, I was often the only mother home in the neighborhood if the schools let out early for bad weather.
It was safe for we kids to be playing on the block (until dusk) from the time we were school age. Of course that's also when the nuclear family was still intact. There were always other parents around so it was quite safe. Now... not so much. The parent(s) are at work leaving the children with a wide gap of free time to burn after school.
Isn't government partly to blame for the lack of parenting in the first place? Now we need laws telling parents to actually be parents?
In my experience most parents are home well before dusk now. One is generally home when the kids get off the school bus.
Even in the day when mom was home she didn't really have a clue as to where we were after a certain age and as long as the younger kids were with the older kids there were no worries. She knew the general whereabouts, sometimes, friends house, riding bikes, at the school yard, store, etc. We just knew we better be back at dark. In that regard there was less parenting than today with the cell phones and having to check in every 15 minutes.
My grandparents lived on top of a 300 foot gorge. When we were visiting, us kids would go off down the rocks in the woods exploring bluffs and caves and creeks. Grandma would say watch out for those snakes and stay away from such and such bluff, bobcats den there. When I grew up I moved into her old house and raised my kids there. That gorge was their backyard. Now parents cant let their kid out in their own fenced little yard unsupervised. I cant comprehend it.
The reason you may not be able to comprehend this brouhaha is that it isn't true.
Kids roam around our neighborhood all the time. They walk home from school every day. Ride their bikes around on weekends. Play in the playgrounds by themselves.
Kids raised in the country roam about all the time.
There have been a couple instances in the news where adults have noticed kids unsupervised for long periods of time and called it in. Couple parents have been charged and then the charges dropped.
I'm not aware of any law that demands the "helicopter parenting" that so many seem concerned about.
I live In a small city (8,000) in rural Missouri. Kids here run all over town by themselves. I guess most of this hovering over kids never hit here. Missouri has no age law on when kids can be left alone. I guess they realize that most parents know which kids are mature enough.
On the "back in my day" thing, I think the thing that gets left out is that we ALL were like that. I grew up in/around DC in the 70s, and yeah, I was a standard "be home at dark" kid, but so was every kid. That's the difference. Back then, it wasn't one or a few kids running around, it was an entire neighborhood full of kids running around. I didn't walk/ride bike to school by myself, I did it alongside like 300 other kids.
These days, for every one free range aprent, there are 99 not_so_free helicopter parents, so the free range kid doesn't enjoy the same strength/safety in numbers benefits we all had when we were kids. Make no mistake, I am absolutely, 100% behind free range, get_out_of_my_business parenting, but keep the numbers thing in mind when criticizing modern parents who are not so open minded. Their kids do not enjoy the same societal and numbers advantages that we all had when we were kids.
The other thing that made it different was adults in a neighborhood tended to know each other better than they do now, so you had more than one set of adult eyes on you throughout the day. Growing up in a city, my dad had cronies here and there, I knew them, they knew me, so I had an extended network of adults who provided a kind of background safety net of sorts. And the people in that network were some characters that most parents would be horrified for a kid to be anywhere near, but to me there were all just people looking out. City kids grow up different than suburb/country kids. But again, it's about numbers and socializing, which is way different now than it was then.
I am free range all the way, but I can see why people might be hesitant on that score. It's a less friendly and social world.
I emailed two friends who live outside of Salt Lake. Both said same thing there.
What is this all about exactly?
The article referred to a couple instances in other states where parents were charged and the charges were dropped. Didn't seem to be a problem in Utah.
I think the issue is nosy neighbors calling the police or social services if they see some unaccompanied minors walking down the street and getting their parents in trouble. When I was growing up and wanted to go to the movies on Friday or Saturday night, I would ride my bicycle 8 miles to the outside of town, hide it behind a tree so it would not get stolen, and then walk the remaining 3 miles to the theater. I would not get home until after 10:00pm. I was 13 years old.
What has changed is that many more mothers are working today than in the past.
When I grew up, nearly every home had a mother there during the day. If someone fell out of a tree and broke an arm it was easy to run in and get help. If someone was tormenting a child, some mother would come out and yell, "Stop that."
By the time our kids were growing up, I was often the only mother home in the neighborhood if the schools let out early for bad weather.
What has changed is that some overprotective parents are no longer satisfied with helicoptering their own children; they want everyone else's kids to be hovered over, too.
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