Do you ever just sit and ponder how the world has changed?

[jodifla]

I don't think the world has changed. I think parents have changed. I think TV news has changed.

Bad things happened to kids in the 60s and 70s, but it wasn't broadcast all over the world immediately. Parents today have a different barometer. They'll accept no risk. They read about something happening in Milwaukee, and immediately extrapoliate it happening to them in Wichita.

The other thing that factors in is that most or many moms aren't home all day anymore, changing the face of the neighborhood. Most kids are at school or daycare all day.

In our neighborhood, there are kids all over riding their bikes, sans parents. Our particular area is about 900 homes, and the parents tend to know each other. Is a very neighborhoody kind of neighborhood.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

But the other thing I always think about is how we also didn't use car seats. I am the 2nd oldest of 6. My dad drove a sedan--not a station wagon. My brothers sat in the front seat with my dad, my mom & the 4 girls sat in the back--well actually, mom & 3 of us sat, my youngest sister sat on mom's lap or stretch across all of us! (this was in the early 70's). We didn't take long car rides, thank goodness!

Absolutely, in the good old days, you had to EARN adulthood! I used to ride standing up on the front seat. To this day, my parents fling out their right arms whenever they come to a sudden stop to keep the mythical me from flying through the windshield.

My grandparents drove a panel van that my grandfather used for construction jobs. It didn't have any seats in the back. Whenever they took me out in the van, I sat in a folding chair in the back. Grandpa would take a sharp turn or curve and I'd go flying. This was followed with a round of laughs and "Ha ha, you got sandwiched!"

Aaaah. The good old days.

Now, of course, the law will require me to wrap my firstborn in Nerf until his 22nd birthday.

 

[Planogirl]

I remember riding all over the neighborhood on my bike and exploring the woods and other places with my dog when we lived in the country. I also went to the local pool by myself. We were just always out and people kind of watched out for other people's kids. It was no big deal to fuss at someone ele's kids back then.

Where we live now, we rarely see a kid at all and then it's usually because that kid is walking between a car and their house. Kids rarely go outside here. It's a shame because it's so much harder to make friends nowadays.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

I'm pretty sure many people think I'm a horrible mother because I:

Let my DD10 ride her bike TWO blocks to and from school. She even walks sometimes.

Let her stay home alone for short periods of time, and even occasionally watch her two younger brothers while I run to the grocery store.

I've let her play unattended (but with other kids on our street) in our front yard since she was about 7. Now when I say unattended, that means without me sitting on the porch watching her like a hawk. I still checked on her often! We live in a cul-de-sac now, and I even let my DS3 and DS4 play outside with the other kids, and I don't constantly hover over them. I usually just say to to my DD10 - "Keep an eye on your brothers!" I usually use this opportunity to clean my house without kids in it.

If my kids injure themselves, and it's because they're goofing off or doing something they aren't supposed to be doing, and they're screaming their heads off and there's really no injury, I'll be the first to say "Knock if off, you're fine! That's why we tell you not to (insert whatever they shouldn't have been doing here)". I don't baby every little minor scrape and owie.

I wouldn't let my kids swim by themselves at a public pool though. If the pool was in our backyard and I was there, I'd let my 10 year old swim by herself. I don't see any issue with that, as long as your sure that your kid is a good swimmer.

I refuse to raise my children to fear the world and everyone in it. I suppose it can also depend on the area you live in, but I think we're in a pretty safe neighborhood so I feel comfortable doing the things that I do. I do think "helicopter parenting" has gone way overboard.

 

[Mike.Wazowski]

Yuppers

that is why we spoil our kids rotten
to keep them at home!

it really stinks!

Our local pool had lifegaurds but i would walk to it when I was 10-11 and spend ALL Day there torturing said lifeguards...

Unfortunately you can't always trust other kids anymore either!
I worry more about my oldest getting 'to old for her own good to fast'
some of her friends myspace pages SCARE me! we talk about those subjects but i still get nervous

 

[lovmy2girls]

Yeah, I remember during summer days, I would be out of the house early in the a.m. and wouldn't return till I heard my name being yelled out the front door, not for dinner, but because it was getting dark outside.

I don't even let my kids out of our yard. I'm overprotective, I admit it. But who can you trust these days? Hubby built a huge playground swing set in our backyard, so the kids would come to our house and play. Now I get the kids who come over early in the a.m. and leave only when they hear their names being called at dark.

 

[goofygirl]

When I was a kid in the 70's, I'd go alone door-to-door selling Girl Scout cookies.

There's NO WAY I'd do that now!

I didn't know what "molestation" meant, I didn't know of any kidnappings. Everyone married, and then had childen. I never heard of a pregnant teen or teen mom/dad. I didn't know what drugs were. All I knew was that rock stars did drugs, but I had no clue what drugs really were. The only kind of "drug" I saw everywhere were cigarettes. EVERYBODY smoked, and they smoked everywhere and anywhere.

I must say that on my street, there is a group of kids who play ball and ride bikes. So kids playing outside is not a thing of the past- yet.

 

[DznyFan]

To answer the question posed by the title of the thread: yes. All the time.

Our kids are growing up to fast, the teenagers are doing things that we didn't even hardly *discuss* at their age, more and more are unsupervised and left to do whatever they want because either mom & dad don't care, or single mom has to work 24/7 to make ends meet. My neighbor's teenage boys decided to have a fireworks/pool party at 4:00 in the morning on this past Saturday morning. Their oldest is the same age as my DD... no WAY in heck I'd let her ever pull a stunt like that.

I grew up in the foothills of Calif, and would spend hours upon hours out horseback riding when I was 10, 11, 12, 13... either by myself or with friends. A few years ago when we were living in the country and DD was starting middle school, I wouldn't even let her walk less than 1/4 from the bus stop. The bus picked her up and dropped her off in front of our house.

Then, look at society as a whole - the lack of respect from [many, not all] teens to their parents, the lack of customer service in any industry, the lack of manners and morals... it's sad.

 

[VampHeartless]

My friend and I both have pregnant wives, and we were talking the other day, how our kids are going to ask us what life with a VCR was like, cassette tapes, no computers, etc. It's wierd how much has changed just in my young lifetime.

 

[mickeyfan2]

The world is no more dangerous now then it was when I was growing up. What has changed is knowing about what happens all over the world instead of only in your town, (faster reporting of events, the internet news, 24 hour news) and our overreacting to this new information.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I wonder if this has to do with where you live? I am not a parent, but have tons of kids on my block. They are out all day running around (they play hide and go seek on the whole block), or they bike to the park, play baseball in the street.

There are always kids at my door alone - selling cookies, candy, raffle tickets, etc.

I live in the city of Chicago, in a family neighborhood. I cannot imagine childhood without a few freedoms.

My cousin is 9 and walks 5 blocks to school alone. The pool I go to has kids just dropped off by a parent. Kids walk up to the ice cream store.

I am concerned by what some people talk about- is it really so alarming where you live? Considering a child is most likely to be molested by a family member/friend, are we taking caution too far?

Frequent babysitter for all my cousins kids, and so far they are all alive!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I'm pretty sure many people think I'm a horrible mother because I:

Let my DD10 ride her bike TWO blocks to and from school. She even walks sometimes.

Let her stay home alone for short periods of time, and even occasionally watch her two younger brothers while I run to the grocery store.

I've let her play unattended (but with other kids on our street) in our front yard since she was about 7. Now when I say unattended, that means without me sitting on the porch watching her like a hawk. I still checked on her often! We live in a cul-de-sac now, and I even let my DS3 and DS4 play outside with the other kids, and I don't constantly hover over them. I usually just say to to my DD10 - "Keep an eye on your brothers!" I usually use this opportunity to clean my house without kids in it.

If my kids injure themselves, and it's because they're goofing off or doing something they aren't supposed to be doing, and they're screaming their heads off and there's really no injury, I'll be the first to say "Knock if off, you're fine! That's why we tell you not to (insert whatever they shouldn't have been doing here)". I don't baby every little minor scrape and owie.

I wouldn't let my kids swim by themselves at a public pool though. If the pool was in our backyard and I was there, I'd let my 10 year old swim by herself. I don't see any issue with that, as long as your sure that your kid is a good swimmer.

I refuse to raise my children to fear the world and everyone in it. I suppose it can also depend on the area you live in, but I think we're in a pretty safe neighborhood so I feel comfortable doing the things that I do. I do think "helicopter parenting" has gone way overboard.

Sheph,
I agree with you. Your kids will be very well adjusted and capable of entering the big bad world when they grow up. Nothing like having your kids never leave because the world it too scary.

 

[paigevz]

My big regret is that my child can't take his dog out to run and chase his bike, etc. When I was growing up, I had two dogs, one when I was very young and one closer to the end of elementary school.........both my full time companions when I wasn't in school. They weren't house dogs and we didn't have fenced yards. They'd stay close to home, though. Anywhere I went in the neighborhood, there my dogs went.

My son has to take his dog out on a lead, which makes it hard to run and play, bike, throw the football or the frisbee (there are no dog parks around here). We have allowed to take him just across the street to get the mail, and they have such fun doing that.........Chewey so looks forward to his "mail time"! But even then, I have to worry that we could get into trouble for that........................


Just edited to say that there are a ton of kids who play in our neighborhood, and even preschool-aged ones. I don't allow my preschool aged child to play out front alone..........I've seen those kids run right out in front of cars...........now, they've not been hit, but it just takes once! My older son has been able to play out front with friends from age 7, alone from age 9. He's been allowed to ride his bike alone since age 8 in the nearer streets (something about the mobility of a bike made me more comfortable than him on foot). I will say that at age 6, he was writing with sidewalk chalk on the front walk, and I was about to join him, just putting my shoes on in the hall. A man came by on a bike, did a Uturn to come back to speak to my son. Just then I came out, he looked up and saw me, immediately turned his bike back around and whizzed off. That made me nervous! Why would he leave when he saw me? That's one reason why I didn't let him play alone until a couple more years, but he could play in a group.

Most of these neighborhood kids walk to and from school...............

 

[paigevz]

See, now I went back and read the rest of the responses and isn't it funny? Some posts say kids aren't allowed to go out and run around without the parents hovering and others say kids aren't supervised enough!

It's one of those "happy medium" kind of things, I suppose.................

 

[Laurajean1014]

Remember, to our kids - this is the good ole days.....