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I remember biking around town when I was 8. My son is 6, I find it hard to imagine that in two years I (and others) would let him bike around freely. I wonder
by Joeri 9y ago
I remember biking around town when I was 8. My son is 6, I find it hard to imagine that in two years I (and others) would let him bike around freely.
I wonder why this changed. Is it that people have become more aware of dangers? Or perhaps parents are having fewer children and being more protective?
- cubano 9y agoYou should let him ride his bike freely and not give into your fear-based biases. I'll bet if you look up crime statistics, your town is probably safer now then it was then. So why would you keep him from exploring and learning how to take care of himself alone and with friends?
- danmaz74 9y agoMore aware of dangers? More likely, more afraid of perceived dangers which are actually very small - and I admit that the same happens to me, even if rationally I know that I should be less worried.
- bsder 9y agoCar density plays into this a bit. I know that my hometown has a LOT more cars than it did when I was growing up in spite of the fact that the population has actually declined. And car accidents is probably one of the statistics that hasn't declined.
- smelendez 9y agoDefinitely. Car injuries have stayed roughly the same per capita. And it seems like many communities have quietly lost pedestrians (it seems like baby boomers are atypically car-dependent compared to the generations before and after them but they're a huge generation and the biggest one in many places).
- isostatic 9y agoAnd now they're in their 70s are far more likely to be involved in in-town crashes (while highway crashes may be weighted towards young men at high speed, residential crashes tend to be old people pressing Gas rather than Brake, or Reverse rather Forward)
- secabeen 9y ago6 is different than 8. My 8 year old rides to the library.
- sudouser 9y agoit’s because from internet you immediately and constantly get bombarded with millions and millions of news every single day about what happened in far away places
- tracker1 9y agoMore news sensationalisation.
- Paperweight 9y agoIt seems to be a common occurrence for people who grew up in a denser, more kid-friendly post-war suburb next to a walkable downtown, but are now raising kids in a new, barren, sprawling suburb surrounded by stroads and next to a 7-11.