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You don't have to go back to the 19th century to make your point things are different today. Just go back to the 20th century - what did the Boomers do? - They

You don't have to go back to the 19th century to make your point things are different today. Just go back to the 20th century - what did the Boomers do? - They had latchkey children - no daycare required! - "Free range" children was a thing and nobody got arrested for it! - There were such things as "Block Parents", people in the neighborhood who looked out for all the kids. Obviously this was before "stranger danger." - Everybody looked after everybody else's kids, even in tenement buildings. - People lived close to where the grew up and generally had relatives nearby to help out when all of the above failed. Nowadays, most of this is gone. In short, in just a mere 40 to 50 years, the cost of having children has skyrocketed. Add in the cost-of-living expenses have skyrocketed for younger people and you get the result that fewer people are having children and those who are having children are having them much later.

jimt1234 2y ago
Totally agree with this. I grew up in the 70s & 80s; myself, along with every other kid I knew, learned to exist without any supervision starting around 3rd grade. I think that might be difficult to believe for younger people today, but it's true. During the summer, all the kids in the neighborhood would get on our bikes in the morning and ride all day long, not returning home until dinner time. No parents. No cell phones. We had injuries all the time (one kid got shot in the leg by a hunter, another kid broke both his legs jumping into a shallow creek), but we all somehow survived. People weren't so protective of children back then. The attitude was basically, "They're kids. They're tough. They can take it." My sister has kids, and she's a total helicopter parent. I've asked her why, considering how we were raised. She simply said, "That's just how it is now. That's how everyone parents." So yeah, there is certainly a cultural element to this. But I wonder if that cultural change has been created or amplified by cost. In other words, the dumb-ass kid that jumped off a bridge into a shallow creek (it was on a bet, naturally), would his parents have to file for bankruptcy these days because of the high medical costs?
- D13Fd 2y ago
  I had this even in the 1990s. But now it really is different. Last week, I let my 7 year old go by herself to a Dollar Tree store by herself while I was with her siblings at another store in the same shopping center. A bit later, I went in to the Dollar Tree after her, and got a real talking to from the cashier about how unsafe it was for me to let her go to the store by herself. She said the world isn't safe any more and I'm putting her at risk. The cashier was an elderly woman! I would think she was raised in a time where kids were allowed to leave the house on their own. I try to teach my kiddos independence. I send them out on their in ways that I think are safe. But the amount of judgment I get is just crazy. And I fear that one day I'll have child protective services knocking on my door.
  - jimt1234 2y ago
    My Boomer mother is the same way. She sits around the house watching cable news and browsing the Neighborhood website - "This area is going to hell. Did you see someone had their bicycle stolen 2 weeks ago?! And someone's dog pooped on my lawn! I got them on my Ring cam!" The real kicker is the "sex offender" websites - "OMG! The kids can't go outside! There's 2 sex offenders in this area!"
tonymet 2y ago
I wholeheartedly agree. The real reasons are cultural like this, but that's way more complicated to explain than "it's more expensive". The short answer is cultural fragmentation and soft paternalism.
klipklop 2y ago
Yeah it's easy for younger people to forget that those that grew up the 70s/80s/90s were largely unsupervised most of the day once they got to grade school. Almost all kids I knew had no child care by grade 2. I was in a after school program until grade 3 and was teased how I was still a baby. I would be miles away from home doing whatever and nobody would know. Now parents freak out if their kids leave their sight for more than a few seconds. One thing that is really interesting is that many of the "free range" children don't follow that same parenting technique even though things are as safe or safer than when I was a child. I think this is mostly from the media putting fear into them that their children are going to be abducted. I really feel for kids now in the US. How they grow up I would not really consider a childhood. It's just preparation to sit in an office all day until they die of old age.
- taylodl 2y ago
  Nowadays the police will be bringing your children home and you'll be paid a visit by child protective services. It's insane what we're doing to children - and their parents.

jimt1234 2y ago

Totally agree with this. I grew up in the 70s & 80s; myself, along with every other kid I knew, learned to exist without any supervision starting around 3rd grade. I think that might be difficult to believe for younger people today, but it's true. During the summer, all the kids in the neighborhood would get on our bikes in the morning and ride all day long, not returning home until dinner time. No parents. No cell phones. We had injuries all the time (one kid got shot in the leg by a hunter, another kid broke both his legs jumping into a shallow creek), but we all somehow survived. People weren't so protective of children back then. The attitude was basically, "They're kids. They're tough. They can take it." My sister has kids, and she's a total helicopter parent. I've asked her why, considering how we were raised. She simply said, "That's just how it is now. That's how everyone parents." So yeah, there is certainly a cultural element to this. But I wonder if that cultural change has been created or amplified by cost. In other words, the dumb-ass kid that jumped off a bridge into a shallow creek (it was on a bet, naturally), would his parents have to file for bankruptcy these days because of the high medical costs?

D13Fd 2y ago
I had this even in the 1990s. But now it really is different. Last week, I let my 7 year old go by herself to a Dollar Tree store by herself while I was with her siblings at another store in the same shopping center. A bit later, I went in to the Dollar Tree after her, and got a real talking to from the cashier about how unsafe it was for me to let her go to the store by herself. She said the world isn't safe any more and I'm putting her at risk. The cashier was an elderly woman! I would think she was raised in a time where kids were allowed to leave the house on their own. I try to teach my kiddos independence. I send them out on their in ways that I think are safe. But the amount of judgment I get is just crazy. And I fear that one day I'll have child protective services knocking on my door.
- jimt1234 2y ago
  My Boomer mother is the same way. She sits around the house watching cable news and browsing the Neighborhood website - "This area is going to hell. Did you see someone had their bicycle stolen 2 weeks ago?! And someone's dog pooped on my lawn! I got them on my Ring cam!" The real kicker is the "sex offender" websites - "OMG! The kids can't go outside! There's 2 sex offenders in this area!"

tonymet 2y ago

I wholeheartedly agree. The real reasons are cultural like this, but that's way more complicated to explain than "it's more expensive". The short answer is cultural fragmentation and soft paternalism.

klipklop 2y ago

Yeah it's easy for younger people to forget that those that grew up the 70s/80s/90s were largely unsupervised most of the day once they got to grade school. Almost all kids I knew had no child care by grade 2. I was in a after school program until grade 3 and was teased how I was still a baby. I would be miles away from home doing whatever and nobody would know. Now parents freak out if their kids leave their sight for more than a few seconds. One thing that is really interesting is that many of the "free range" children don't follow that same parenting technique even though things are as safe or safer than when I was a child. I think this is mostly from the media putting fear into them that their children are going to be abducted. I really feel for kids now in the US. How they grow up I would not really consider a childhood. It's just preparation to sit in an office all day until they die of old age.

taylodl 2y ago
Nowadays the police will be bringing your children home and you'll be paid a visit by child protective services. It's insane what we're doing to children - and their parents.