I’m old enough that it was normal for me to walk/bike to elementary school about 2 miles away from my house, and routinely spend many hours unsupervised in local parks and streets. I suspect the level of risk HAS increased some, due to density and business of many ares. But there’s a HUGE safety improvement in that kids today can have cell phones and stay in touch or call for help much more easily.
I think the risk has decreased significantly since then. But the news has become worse, there are fewer kids and kids can be supervised continuously and parents have less experience. Even a second child makes you much more relaxed about real dangers.
Haha, yeah I really didn’t intend it to mean being relaxed because of having kids to spare but because of a more realistic expectation of what kids at each age are capable of or not.
On the other hand, having multiple kids must create some subconscious ease of mind in that regard. That became most clear to me in those moments when there was some real or imagined risk of losing them all at once e.g. when they were on a plane without me.
Probably about the same—I don’t remember clearly, but was probably bussed or driven (and that did happen later too, but biking was more free for post-school visiting friends and whatnot) most of the time earlier than 3rd or 4th grade. I had a paper route at age 8, so daily unsupervised neighborhood walks were normal by then. pro-tip for parents: don’t let your young kid have an income stream if you want to protect them from a deep amount of independence and “irresponsible” spending on games, toys, junk food, and entertainment.
I’m old enough that it was normal for me to walk/bike to elementary school about 2 miles away from my house, and routinely spend many hours unsupervised in local parks and streets. I suspect the level of risk HAS increased some, due to density and business of many ares. But there’s a HUGE safety improvement in that kids today can have cell phones and stay in touch or call for help much more easily.
I think the risk has decreased significantly since then. But the news has become worse, there are fewer kids and kids can be supervised continuously and parents have less experience. Even a second child makes you much more relaxed about real dangers.
Yeah, having redundancy makes one much more comfortable. (I know that’s not what you meant, but it struck me funny.)
Haha, yeah I really didn’t intend it to mean being relaxed because of having kids to spare but because of a more realistic expectation of what kids at each age are capable of or not.
On the other hand, having multiple kids must create some subconscious ease of mind in that regard. That became most clear to me in those moments when there was some real or imagined risk of losing them all at once e.g. when they were on a plane without me.
What grade?
I walked to school in elementary school as well, and also had unsupervised time around the neighborhood with friends, but not until ~3rd or 4th grade?
Probably about the same—I don’t remember clearly, but was probably bussed or driven (and that did happen later too, but biking was more free for post-school visiting friends and whatnot) most of the time earlier than 3rd or 4th grade. I had a paper route at age 8, so daily unsupervised neighborhood walks were normal by then. pro-tip for parents: don’t let your young kid have an income stream if you want to protect them from a deep amount of independence and “irresponsible” spending on games, toys, junk food, and entertainment.