sounds like we were neighbors in different states
Posted on 03/31/2018 3:33:48 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
I haven’t lived in a city or neighborhood where you couldn’t let your kids outside to play, I lived in Simi for over 30 years where I raised my child, but most cities are real sh^tholes and I would never even consider it in most parts of Los Angeles
We had a child molester in our small town when I was a kid in the 50’s. Every child was warned if he was walking on one side of the road, you were to cross to the other side. If he talked to you, You were to keep going. He was scorned, chastised, talked about and shamed. Can’t do that these days.
A governmental order is necessary to allow children to be children. Sad.
“It will be blood and guilt on their hands should something happen to their kids. Kids are not “free range” animals.”
Blood and guilt? I hope that you’re kidding.
Helicopter parents create kids that need safe spaces in college.
Kids have to roam and explore-—and parents know when they are ready to do it.
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Free range.
In the 60’s we never gave it a thought. Bikes gave us massive mobility all over the east side of the valley.
Interesting responses to my comment by a number of folks. I don’t watch my kids 24x7 and they can do things, are responsible, etc. But the extremes—the idiot parents that send a 6 year old to a park supervised by a 10 year old is ludicrous. Skip the BS about what we did or were allowed to do as kids ourselves decades ago. WOULD YOU ALLOW THIS OF YOUR KIDS TODAY? Or your grand- or great-grand kids. I see no one touching that. Nice to muse on what we did or didn’t do as kids decades ago, but today is not the same place.
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We used to wander miles down a creek to a place where rope swings were hung from a railroad trestle that spanned a lagoon full of carp and bullfrog tadpoles, and get our clothes soaked wading out to grab the ropes.
Always got scolded when we got home, but we always got home!
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It all depends on the place and the kid Reno.
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When I was growing up, we put people who threatened little kids in INSTITUTIONS - now we’ve closed those places let them openly ‘marry’. Like it or not, they wore us down, and when we needed to fight, we said (collectively) “why bother”. So now if there are 5 kids at a school bus stop, there are also 4 parents there. If one of those parents decides to ‘free-range’ her kids, they become a mark for the ‘de-institutionalized’ types...whether we like it or not.
Bottom line: If you want to ‘free-range’ your kids, move to Japan, or a handful of other countries (mostly in Asia), where it is actually still safe for little guys to be out among adults at any time of day.
One other difference back then: There was no SECTION 8 (of the ‘Housing Code’), so people who could not afford to live in a ‘civilized’ neighborhood, simply did not live there. Instead they lived in the now-blasted-away public housing projects. In addition - Illegals were not coddled by EITHER POLITICAL PARTY - the relatively few who caused trouble back then were simply sent home - rather than being called ‘Dreamers’ and put on some kind of public pedestal.
Obviously we no longer live in that world.
I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. All 4 of us are pretty independent & able to take care of ourselves- and we were when we were kids. Our parents didn’t hover. All of us have been self employed—3 of us with employees.
A kid being raised today doesn’t learn to think past their nose, as Dad used to say.
When I was a kid on summer vacation from school, I disappeared for the entire day riding my bike miles from my home. During school, I walked a mile or so, by myself, to my ELEMENTARY school, in all types of weather. Once we had an early release because of a snow storm. Walked home in knee deep snow by myself and enjoyed every minute of it.
sounds like we were neighbors in different states
That such a law is necessary is a shame. I grew up in the ‘burbs, not in the country. I was on my bike and away from the house all day every day during the summer months, in the days before cell phones. I usually had a little change in my pocket so I could have called from a pay phone if necessary, but there were no pay phones on the ballfields and playgrounds where I was. Only time I ran into trouble was once when my bike tire went flat and I was miles from home. A friendly tow truck driver saw me walking my bike and took me and my bike home.
When I was in the third grade, I used to go to a lake about 3 miles from my house. USUALLY with some friends. There was a canoe tied up there which was used by anyone who came. No parents hovering around. Had to be back when the street lights came on. That was in Alabama in the 60s.
I’d just like to point out that you do not seem to be representing Reno very well to the FR community.
A popular bumper sticker here states “We DO NOT CARE how they do it in California!”
Utah “gets it” better than you do, it seems.
Yo - snowflake...when I was a kid, we would walk or ride our bikes to a park about 2-1/2 miles from the house to ‘explore” by the river or use the public pool - kids learn a little about growing up by not having constant babysitters ....
“Bikes gave us massive mobility all over the east side of the valley.”
Oh, you bet! Living on cement in Milwaukee, we kids were always looking for ‘green.’ Milwaukee, for all of its other faults, has a beautiful park system and we spent a lot of time in the local parks, playing in the creek, and just being kids.
Why, it’s almost as if green spaces were MEANT for recreation and a break from City Life!
(Re: Central Park, NYC)
*SMIRK*
Different environments make for different decisions, I'm sure, but You may be aghast, and I don't blame you if you've always live in particularly dicey neighborhoods. But parents can judge their own neighborhoods and the competence of their own children.
I raised my own boys similarly.
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