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Kids in the U.S. tend to be escorted from supervised activity to supervised activity (sports, etc.) or friend's house to friend's house by their parents. By the time they are teenagers they usually have a friend or older sibling drive them or (if old enough) drive themselves. When I'm out on my bike in the evening, I rarely see kids or adolescents riding bikes on the sidewalks or roads (much less walking, though distances are big out here), even though I see a lot of adults in the evening. Few kids rode bikes when I was in high school, even for exercise, because they had cars, and probably not many more rode them as young teenagers / pre-adolescents, excepts perhaps within the confines of their subdivisions.
In my mom and dad's childhood (1970's) this was not the case, though.
I agree, Spain is a place where you don't see many kids, although the teenage crowd tears up the cities at night on the weekends.
In eastern Germany I noticed an absence of children around despite really good playground facilities - quite a few schools have been closed or amalgamated because of low numbers. I spent a summer working in Weimar and it often felt like I was virtually the only person there under 40. When I first moved to London I noticed the lack of children and retired people around too, though it depends on the neighbourhood.
Not sure what is this thread about - countries with a low birth rate or countries where the kids are not visible outdoors ( which has nothing to do with the birth rate ).
Not sure what is this thread about - countries with a low birth rate or countries where the kids are not visible outdoors ( which has nothing to do with the birth rate ).
Good point. This needs clarification.
In the US there are tons of children, but like another poster noted, most of them, at least those in the middle-class families, are scheduled and micro-managed to a T. This makes parents' life ...a ...well, they don't have one. Your adult life is pretty much over once you have children - unless you're one of those who mange to self-brainwash and accept that they absolutely enjoy their life when sitting at their children's activities on the side. "It is what we do as a family and we enjoy it to death!".
It is work + children supervision. This is the life of a married person with children.
There is also a very special little video made especially for suburban American fathers. Every time I see it, I absolutely crack up. It never gets old because it is painfully true. You can't even begin to describe what this state of affairs has done to the American male's testicles...
In many European countries, not only are children fewer in absolute numbers, but those who do exist are often left in the care of grandparents (in the evenings, week-end-s, or even most of the time) and who may keep them in the house, as they do not have the energy to ride the city with the grandparents.
In the meantime, parents get to have a little life after work.
Even in their low birth rate, I saw a lot of Japanese school children outdoors during my visit in Tokyo and Hiroshima.
Probly far more than I'll ever see here in Chicago.
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