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Even less than that - I walked to elementary school by myself every day in the 1980s. For the busiest streets, 5th graders served as crossing guards for the you

by dave78 2y ago

Even less than that - I walked to elementary school by myself every day in the 1980s. For the busiest streets, 5th graders served as crossing guards for the younger kids, which something I also did. From what I can tell, the mentality of not allowing kids to get around on their own has really been in the past ~20 years or so. And (IMO) it is largely caused by some subset of people who freak out when they see kids alone unsupervised. Other parents (like me) would love to give our kids more freedom, but feel limited by the possibility that nosy neighbors will call child protective services if we allow too much.

bombcar 2y ago
The nosy neighbor is a big issue for those who even want to let kids have more freedom. You have to gauge the area/neighborhood and find out what's common - do you see ten year olds walking around? Twelve? Fifteen? And then you have to get to know the neighbors to reduce the risks, and then deal with all the other issues that may pop up.
- dave78 2y ago
  Agreed. My 9 year old has finally started getting comfortable riding their bike around the neighborhood and going to the park by themselves. I had to convince them to do this, because they didn't think it was OK. Luckily there's some other kids the same age who also have started venturing out alone too so I didn't feel like I was the only parent doing it, otherwise I would have been more apprehensive about the nosy neighbor possibility. My kids don't walk to school (I get to sit in the maligned drop-off lane) because our school is unfortunately at the intersection of two very busy roads. I still think my kids could manage it, but literally not a single other kid walks to school so it feels like having my kids do so might draw too much unwanted attention. The school doesn't even have a bike rack, which is appalling to me. My memories of elementary and middle school were of many bike racks stuffed full each day.
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H1Supreme 2y ago
While I didn't walk to school (too far), I did walk to the bus stop by myself (with siblings) in the 80's / 90's. There was a group of kids who did walk to school though. My friends and I did ride our bikes all over town though. To the swimming pool, to the basketball courts, to our friends houses on the other side of town, and everywhere in between. I had to leave my mother a note when I left, and be home when the street lights came one. Other than that, we were basically on our own riding around town and drinking water out of random garden hoses when we got thirsty.
01100011 2y ago
Yep. Born in '75 and raised in Seattle area suburbs. Walked miles every day to school in 5th grade, including crossing PCH which is a major street. Had my own knives, a dangerous chemistry set, and was more or less a latch key kid starting around 10. Even younger than that, I would walk miles to play alone in wild areas and hike down a steep hill to a raging river. I'm not going to be this permissive with my kid as some of it was too far, but I'm going to do my best to raise an independent child.
prmoustache 2y ago
Is the reason the nosy neighbors or the child protection services? I mean if you aren't doing anything wrong, child protection services won't do anything regardless of people calling them. Disclaimer: I am not in the USA nor have experience living there.
- dave78 2y ago
  > if you aren't doing anything wrong, child protection services won't do anything regardless of people calling them Sadly, this is not always the case in the US. There's plenty of stories out there of CPS taking kids away from parents for extremely questionable reasons. A lot of time there are vague laws that they can use to back up their actions. For example: > In Illinois, the law defines a neglected minor, in part, as “any minor under the age of 14 years whose parent or other person responsible for the minor’s welfare leaves the minor without supervision for an unreasonable period of time without regard for the mental or physical health, safety or welfare of that minor.” "Unreasonable" is poorly defined, and overzealous CPS officials can easily claim that letting a child ride around alone in a neighborhood represents a "health and safety risk". Unfortunately, these kinds of things have happened with CPS. I can't say how common it is, but the threat does exist.
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by dave78 2y ago

bombcar 2y ago

The nosy neighbor is a big issue for those who even want to let kids have more freedom. You have to gauge the area/neighborhood and find out what's common - do you see ten year olds walking around? Twelve? Fifteen? And then you have to get to know the neighbors to reduce the risks, and then deal with all the other issues that may pop up.

dave78 2y ago
Agreed. My 9 year old has finally started getting comfortable riding their bike around the neighborhood and going to the park by themselves. I had to convince them to do this, because they didn't think it was OK. Luckily there's some other kids the same age who also have started venturing out alone too so I didn't feel like I was the only parent doing it, otherwise I would have been more apprehensive about the nosy neighbor possibility. My kids don't walk to school (I get to sit in the maligned drop-off lane) because our school is unfortunately at the intersection of two very busy roads. I still think my kids could manage it, but literally not a single other kid walks to school so it feels like having my kids do so might draw too much unwanted attention. The school doesn't even have a bike rack, which is appalling to me. My memories of elementary and middle school were of many bike racks stuffed full each day.

deleted 2y ago

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H1Supreme 2y ago

While I didn't walk to school (too far), I did walk to the bus stop by myself (with siblings) in the 80's / 90's. There was a group of kids who did walk to school though. My friends and I did ride our bikes all over town though. To the swimming pool, to the basketball courts, to our friends houses on the other side of town, and everywhere in between. I had to leave my mother a note when I left, and be home when the street lights came one. Other than that, we were basically on our own riding around town and drinking water out of random garden hoses when we got thirsty.

01100011 2y ago

Yep. Born in '75 and raised in Seattle area suburbs. Walked miles every day to school in 5th grade, including crossing PCH which is a major street. Had my own knives, a dangerous chemistry set, and was more or less a latch key kid starting around 10. Even younger than that, I would walk miles to play alone in wild areas and hike down a steep hill to a raging river. I'm not going to be this permissive with my kid as some of it was too far, but I'm going to do my best to raise an independent child.

prmoustache 2y ago

Is the reason the nosy neighbors or the child protection services? I mean if you aren't doing anything wrong, child protection services won't do anything regardless of people calling them. Disclaimer: I am not in the USA nor have experience living there.

dave78 2y ago
> if you aren't doing anything wrong, child protection services won't do anything regardless of people calling them Sadly, this is not always the case in the US. There's plenty of stories out there of CPS taking kids away from parents for extremely questionable reasons. A lot of time there are vague laws that they can use to back up their actions. For example: > In Illinois, the law defines a neglected minor, in part, as “any minor under the age of 14 years whose parent or other person responsible for the minor’s welfare leaves the minor without supervision for an unreasonable period of time without regard for the mental or physical health, safety or welfare of that minor.” "Unreasonable" is poorly defined, and overzealous CPS officials can easily claim that letting a child ride around alone in a neighborhood represents a "health and safety risk". Unfortunately, these kinds of things have happened with CPS. I can't say how common it is, but the threat does exist.

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