Posted on 06/22/2007 11:43:38 AM PDT by fgoodwin
I roamed everywhere when I was a kid. My kids didn’t get to do that.
It happened in one generation.
I roam on FR...
I remember heading out to the woods to build forts with my friends. I was about 8 years old. My daughter is 9. I am terrified if she is out of sight for even a few minutes without adult supervision.
You think that the media has something to do with your fear?
It's my understanding that crimes like child kidnapping etc are no higher today then in the past. Just nationally reported these days.
Being born in 64 I had a great deal of freedom as a kid. Up until is was about 8 years old we lived in one of those patches of private property in the middle of some state land. When I was 6 I got bit by a small massasauga rattlesnake when I was looking under rocks and logs.
When we did move to town it was just a tiny village where all the kids ran wild. From town I walked the 4 miles down the old railroad bed to the lake for fishing. When I was about 10, myself and a few of the other kids my age would go camping in the woods outside town by ourselves.
Probably we do know more about crimes against children because of the media reports, but I really suspect there are more people who would commit such crimes than there were in past also. It strikes me that their behavior is fueled by the ready availability of child pornography. Certainly there is a connection between the two right here in our (otherwise very crime-free) little town. The police do a regular sting operation that lures child predators here. Many of those apprehended have been regarded as respectable citizens, but most have been found to have been accessing child porn on their computers.
People drive into their garages, go inside from the garage, and rarely stray outside after that. And if they do, the only place for them to go is their fenced-off back yards.
As a result, many subdivision-dwellers don't know their neighbors.
And, of course, there's the "ninny state" effect at work, too. Parents want to protect their kids from all sorts of monsters -- some that are real, of course, but many that are not.
Lol!
Todays y'ut doesn't WANT to roam; would rather sit inside and become big flat fannys with two blood-shot eyeballs...
I have in my neighborhood 8 convicted sexual predators. There have been two drive-by shootings since I have lived here. No way do I allow my kids out.The perception is pretty much based on reality here.
My youth up till age 12 was spent in New Orleans. Used to roam the west bank river levee with my friends from Algiers to Belle Chase. We’d also ride our bikes to the ferry and hit the French Quarter for the day. A couple of eleven year olds on Bourbon street was quite an educational experience in the early 70’s.
Yes, there’s a lot of truth in what you said. Another reason might be that people are having fewer kids these days, and “helicopter-ing” over them a lot more.
My interpretation is that they were always pervs. Now they are busted pervs thanks to the internet.
Remember that many of the cases of child molestation by priests/preachers etc occurred during times that we remember as being 'safe'. Turns out they were not so much safe as covered up. Respectable citizens indeed.
You don't know as their was no way to find out at the time.
Remember that frightened people are easy to manipulate. Their are groups of people that like you scared all the time.
Absolutely...
My great grandmother once told me about a child rapist / murderer caught near where she lived in northern michigan in the early part of the last century. She made a cryptic comment about some of the local fathers taking him on a tour of the steel mill in the middle of the night and he never came back to town.
In comparison to my mom I am more overprotective. My kids aren't embarrassed by it, since I don't go around announcing it to their friends.
Honestly, I don’t want to know my particular neighbors. We have a chain link fence in our backyard. My next door neighbor is always asking, “Why aren’t you out more?” Just because I’m not out on his schedule does not mean I’m not out.
The towns folks caught him and set him on fire.
He came back in the dreams of their children"....One two Freddys comin for you..three four better shut your door...five six grab a crucifix...seven eight gonna stay up late...nine ten never sleep again.."
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