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Is it any more dangerous now? Crime rates are generally down per capita I believe, hopefully car accidents too. I'm not sure this story about Japan is particula

Is it any more dangerous now? Crime rates are generally down per capita I believe, hopefully car accidents too. I'm not sure this story about Japan is particularly unusual or odd in much of the world. I ran around London on my own from about 7 fwiw

Mz 11y ago
You mean in the U.S.? I honestly don't know if it more dangerous now than when I was a kid. I do know that kids are generally less free to roam around their own hometown without parental supervision than they used to be, something multiple other people have remarked upon elsewhere in this same discussion. I used to play in the patch of woods behind my house. So did all the neighbor kids. Sometimes, a bunch of kids would get together and build an earthen dam across the creek. My dad would call us home using a hunting horn. I went where I wanted in my neighborhood. My parents knew where I was, generally, but that didn't mean they could readily physically locate me. So they called us home with the horn, which we could hear anywhere in the woods. That kind of thing would get social services called on you today.
- duderific 11y ago
  I am roughly the same age as you, and experienced the same thing as kid. At age 8 or 9, in the summer, we were outside all day playing with other kids. If I wasn't home when the streetlights went on (signaling darkness), my Mom would come out and whistle loudly, the signal to get home. We roamed for miles on our BMX bikes (no helmets, mind you) and somehow we survived ok. Now I have a 1 year old son of my own, and I'm truly saddened that he probably will never experience that type of youthful freedom. I am resolved not to become that helicopter parent, but it's hard to battle against the social pressure.
  - Mz 11y ago
    When I was a kid, Halloween was basically a block party. The younger kids went out with a parent early in the evening, then came home and helped give out candy and got to stay up late. The okder kids went where the hell they wanted until midnight. Houses did their best to not merely decorate for the occasion but to really participate in giving visitors the Haunted House experience. My sons are 28 and 25. They never got to experience that. I took them once and only once to the mamba at the mall. As often as possdible, I arranged to take them to a party on Halloween and then bought them any candy they chose the day after when it was half price. As much as possible, I refused to participate in what Halloween has become -- some commmercial piece of crap unrelated to what I grew up with. I also ended up homeschooling and have made other choices that helped shield my kids from the watered down version of life that so many kids today get. Best of luck. Fight the good fight. Also, if you are intersted, I have a private blog, subrtitled "memoirs of a mom", about raising my two sons. Shoot me an email with a gmail address and I will be happy to send you an invite.

Mz 11y ago

You mean in the U.S.? I honestly don't know if it more dangerous now than when I was a kid. I do know that kids are generally less free to roam around their own hometown without parental supervision than they used to be, something multiple other people have remarked upon elsewhere in this same discussion. I used to play in the patch of woods behind my house. So did all the neighbor kids. Sometimes, a bunch of kids would get together and build an earthen dam across the creek. My dad would call us home using a hunting horn. I went where I wanted in my neighborhood. My parents knew where I was, generally, but that didn't mean they could readily physically locate me. So they called us home with the horn, which we could hear anywhere in the woods. That kind of thing would get social services called on you today.

duderific 11y ago
I am roughly the same age as you, and experienced the same thing as kid. At age 8 or 9, in the summer, we were outside all day playing with other kids. If I wasn't home when the streetlights went on (signaling darkness), my Mom would come out and whistle loudly, the signal to get home. We roamed for miles on our BMX bikes (no helmets, mind you) and somehow we survived ok. Now I have a 1 year old son of my own, and I'm truly saddened that he probably will never experience that type of youthful freedom. I am resolved not to become that helicopter parent, but it's hard to battle against the social pressure.
- Mz 11y ago
  When I was a kid, Halloween was basically a block party. The younger kids went out with a parent early in the evening, then came home and helped give out candy and got to stay up late. The okder kids went where the hell they wanted until midnight. Houses did their best to not merely decorate for the occasion but to really participate in giving visitors the Haunted House experience. My sons are 28 and 25. They never got to experience that. I took them once and only once to the mamba at the mall. As often as possdible, I arranged to take them to a party on Halloween and then bought them any candy they chose the day after when it was half price. As much as possible, I refused to participate in what Halloween has become -- some commmercial piece of crap unrelated to what I grew up with. I also ended up homeschooling and have made other choices that helped shield my kids from the watered down version of life that so many kids today get. Best of luck. Fight the good fight. Also, if you are intersted, I have a private blog, subrtitled "memoirs of a mom", about raising my two sons. Shoot me an email with a gmail address and I will be happy to send you an invite.