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Snark aside, your point is valid. If a parent has time to take their child to the local park regularly (i.e., at the same phase of a periodic cycle, e.g. from
by wizzwizz4 3y ago
Snark aside, your point is valid.
If a parent has time to take their child to the local park regularly (i.e., at the same phase of a periodic cycle, e.g. from 13:00 to 14:00 on Wednesdays), that can act as a Schelling point for other parents in the area.
In places that are not large cities and do not have stroads, it can be safe for children to play outside in groups, largely unsupervised. However, I don't think this will be common again (per capita) for at least another 50 years: even just cars are getting more dangerous for children.
- theothermelissa 3y agoAgreed. A lot of convos about kids playing outside point to human dangers -- predators, bullying, kidnapping -- as the "reason" many parents don't let their kids play outside unsupervised, but imo the actual deciding factor is usually traffic. It seems like a neighborhood design problem to me, at least in the newish suburbs I'm most familiar with. By optimizing for easy-to-drive neighborhoods with large driveways, more of the available space is dedicated specifically to car traffic, leaving less for open or common space. Fenced yards are fun to play in IF you already have playmates -- but without a common place to meet new kids, that can be much more challenging.