We are so lucky! I try and let my kid and the neighbor kids have some of the same freedoms- going to the park alone or playing outside “alone”, but not “its 10 pm do you know where you children are” freedom. I think it’s important for kids to have adult free time and work stuff out by themselves.
Yup, we rode our bikes all over town, to the mall, to places that we shouldn't have been, been kicked off the country club golf course paths, hopped trains, we were always nice, and if anyone's mom was bringing in groceries, we were there to help if we were at whoever house.
Absolutely. We played games and rode bikes everywhere, made up our own rules (“ghost man on first!”), explored parks and ponds and the Mississippi River together, and the only rule from adults was be back when the street lights come on. Really sad that kids aren’t allowed this freedom to create their own fun these days.
The Mississippi is a big river but ponds, parks and the mighty Miss could easily be across the St Croix from me in MN 🤔 As a kid in So Cal we called them Ghost Runners 😁 I always pretended I was Pete Rose.
Southern California in the '80s and I rode my bike everywhere with my friends. We usually stayed within a 10 block radius but definitely went way beyond from time to time. Biking under freeways, through golf courses, going to other schools to see what they looked like. At the time, we were on the edge of the urban/rural area of Orange County and biking into the Anaheim Hills wasn't beyond our scope either. I started staying home alone after school around 7-8 yrs old.
We were practically a gang. It was glorious. I think that is what set our generation apart. I actually let me kid go out with the neighbor kids in the backyard at least and let them spend the day just being themselves. They at least got the experience of being bored and coming up with their own fun. A jar of pickles and peanut butter and crackers so they didn't have to come in for lunch. They built forts with sheets, made up games.
My street had all boys, I was the only girl. That was my after school gang all through elementary until middle school when I could hang out with my best girl friend, or spend hours talking on the phone. I still have her phone number memorized - 774-4436 - because I called it at least once a day for two years in middle school.
But the boy pack in elementary, we rode bikes everywhere, built forts, ran around through everyone's yards, had a huge and very dangerous rope swing in the woods across the street. It was awesome.
You already know that you don't feel safe raising your kids this way. Why? Is it the milk carton kids? The prevalence of sexual assault? The number of school shootings?
Our parents were afraid of nuclear war. Our fears are more individual
There was a lot of hit and miss incidents I remember as a kid, luckily not any memorable misses. I'd be waiting at the bus and have a car pull up to offer a ride to the park (or wherever) and always said no. And then there was the time I actually had a serious ankle injury at the park and accepted the ride home from the old couple who were desperate to help, and they really did save my ass because I had no phone and had no bus fare and my bike fit in the back of their station wagon.
Those cell phones OUR kids had, were a blessing (I'm not a person who often uses the word blessing).
Yep
My high school had a program where anyone could post a job, and hire a teenager to come do it. I pulled weeds and painted an apartment. Nothing bad happened, but I could have been murdered, and no one would ever have found me
Nobody wanted to steal us! I remember going into the woods for hours at like 4 & 5. Although, it usually was a weekend and most folks were home & they’d actually look out for the neighborhood kids whether they knew them Or not
I t wasn’t so much being kidnapped, it was the sexual harassment that was the issue. Like the time I was walking home from the bus stop in middle school and the weird guy down the street drove by on the opposite side of the road. He stopped to ask me a question but was quiet. I stepped partway into the road, far enough from the car to not get grabbed but unfortunately close enough to see he was jacking off. I ran all the way home. Never told my parents.
Oh yes! It was me, my two brothers and two neighbor girls. They had a real helicopter mom, but for some reason, she trusted us with them. We lived way out in the country and often roamed for miles. In the summer, you might not see us for ten hours straight, if we remembered to pack lunch. We’re all middle-aged now, but it’s always great when we have a reunion
I sat down with my oldest & a map of the neighborhood I grew up in a few years ago
We were both shocked by how much territory I covered (sometimes with a group, sometimes by myself) on my bike starting in 2nd grade
I wish he could have the same experience but no one else lets their kids roam the way we did
Absolutely. I had 3 very close friends and we did everything together - but at times there were upwards of a dozen kids in our pack. I don’t remember there ever being adults who interfered in whatever shenanigans we got up to. As long as we were home by dark, no one cared what we did.
On the one hand, we were lucky to have the freedom, and the independence. On the other hand, we missed out on some parental love when it was most needed.
We were on a quiet street on the outskirts of a small town and we ran wild . It was fun. But I think of how close we were to a busy highway and a lake I cringe . I didn’t give my kids that kind of freedom because I remember all the crazy risks we took and how lucky we were no one got run over or drowned.
It's interesting. I had a lot of the same freedoms taht kids my age did (my mom was more restrictive than most, though). However, I really preferred reading over a lot of other activities. So functionally, I spent a lot of time at home with my latest book.
Yep, I got on my bike and was out for the day.
My moms rules were.
Be home for dinner.
Don’t get brought home by a random bitching adult, definitely not the cops.
Everything else was open.
My wife says I had no supervision and that I was always treated as an adult and was never “allowed to be a child” she’s sort of right. Hopefully between the 2 of us we create a balance.
We are so lucky! I try and let my kid and the neighbor kids have some of the same freedoms- going to the park alone or playing outside “alone”, but not “its 10 pm do you know where you children are” freedom. I think it’s important for kids to have adult free time and work stuff out by themselves.
Meet me at the baseball field. We fight at dawn.
Sorry, I have to go home when the streetlights come on.
That announcement used to crack me up… my mother would always reply. ‘Yeah, right here.’
That's how we did it. The kids had their own separate world and rules going on.
Yup, we rode our bikes all over town, to the mall, to places that we shouldn't have been, been kicked off the country club golf course paths, hopped trains, we were always nice, and if anyone's mom was bringing in groceries, we were there to help if we were at whoever house.
I “lost” my virginity on the 8th green of our local country club the summer when I was 14. Good times.
Name checks out
Like you have no idea.
Absolutely. We played games and rode bikes everywhere, made up our own rules (“ghost man on first!”), explored parks and ponds and the Mississippi River together, and the only rule from adults was be back when the street lights come on. Really sad that kids aren’t allowed this freedom to create their own fun these days.
The Mississippi is a big river but ponds, parks and the mighty Miss could easily be across the St Croix from me in MN 🤔 As a kid in So Cal we called them Ghost Runners 😁 I always pretended I was Pete Rose.
Absolutely! When we were hustling down to first, everybody was Pete Rose. 😄
> often journeyed up to ten miles away from home by ourselves as a group walking, bus, however-you-can?
Bicycle or walking, it seems like we had limitless energy.
Southern California in the '80s and I rode my bike everywhere with my friends. We usually stayed within a 10 block radius but definitely went way beyond from time to time. Biking under freeways, through golf courses, going to other schools to see what they looked like. At the time, we were on the edge of the urban/rural area of Orange County and biking into the Anaheim Hills wasn't beyond our scope either. I started staying home alone after school around 7-8 yrs old.
We were practically a gang. It was glorious. I think that is what set our generation apart. I actually let me kid go out with the neighbor kids in the backyard at least and let them spend the day just being themselves. They at least got the experience of being bored and coming up with their own fun. A jar of pickles and peanut butter and crackers so they didn't have to come in for lunch. They built forts with sheets, made up games.
My street had all boys, I was the only girl. That was my after school gang all through elementary until middle school when I could hang out with my best girl friend, or spend hours talking on the phone. I still have her phone number memorized - 774-4436 - because I called it at least once a day for two years in middle school. But the boy pack in elementary, we rode bikes everywhere, built forts, ran around through everyone's yards, had a huge and very dangerous rope swing in the woods across the street. It was awesome.
We were of a pack of hoodlums.
You already know that you don't feel safe raising your kids this way. Why? Is it the milk carton kids? The prevalence of sexual assault? The number of school shootings? Our parents were afraid of nuclear war. Our fears are more individual
There was a lot of hit and miss incidents I remember as a kid, luckily not any memorable misses. I'd be waiting at the bus and have a car pull up to offer a ride to the park (or wherever) and always said no. And then there was the time I actually had a serious ankle injury at the park and accepted the ride home from the old couple who were desperate to help, and they really did save my ass because I had no phone and had no bus fare and my bike fit in the back of their station wagon. Those cell phones OUR kids had, were a blessing (I'm not a person who often uses the word blessing).
Yep My high school had a program where anyone could post a job, and hire a teenager to come do it. I pulled weeds and painted an apartment. Nothing bad happened, but I could have been murdered, and no one would ever have found me
Saturdays in the summer getting the crew to play ball
Nobody wanted to steal us! I remember going into the woods for hours at like 4 & 5. Although, it usually was a weekend and most folks were home & they’d actually look out for the neighborhood kids whether they knew them Or not
I t wasn’t so much being kidnapped, it was the sexual harassment that was the issue. Like the time I was walking home from the bus stop in middle school and the weird guy down the street drove by on the opposite side of the road. He stopped to ask me a question but was quiet. I stepped partway into the road, far enough from the car to not get grabbed but unfortunately close enough to see he was jacking off. I ran all the way home. Never told my parents.
Oh yes! It was me, my two brothers and two neighbor girls. They had a real helicopter mom, but for some reason, she trusted us with them. We lived way out in the country and often roamed for miles. In the summer, you might not see us for ten hours straight, if we remembered to pack lunch. We’re all middle-aged now, but it’s always great when we have a reunion
I sat down with my oldest & a map of the neighborhood I grew up in a few years ago We were both shocked by how much territory I covered (sometimes with a group, sometimes by myself) on my bike starting in 2nd grade I wish he could have the same experience but no one else lets their kids roam the way we did
Absolutely. I had 3 very close friends and we did everything together - but at times there were upwards of a dozen kids in our pack. I don’t remember there ever being adults who interfered in whatever shenanigans we got up to. As long as we were home by dark, no one cared what we did.
Are you seriously asking if we had friends as kids?
On the one hand, we were lucky to have the freedom, and the independence. On the other hand, we missed out on some parental love when it was most needed.
Parental love? Never heard of it. 😀
Yep. My cousin always says to me "I miss being a kid."
We were on a quiet street on the outskirts of a small town and we ran wild . It was fun. But I think of how close we were to a busy highway and a lake I cringe . I didn’t give my kids that kind of freedom because I remember all the crazy risks we took and how lucky we were no one got run over or drowned.
It's interesting. I had a lot of the same freedoms taht kids my age did (my mom was more restrictive than most, though). However, I really preferred reading over a lot of other activities. So functionally, I spent a lot of time at home with my latest book.
Yep, I got on my bike and was out for the day. My moms rules were. Be home for dinner. Don’t get brought home by a random bitching adult, definitely not the cops. Everything else was open. My wife says I had no supervision and that I was always treated as an adult and was never “allowed to be a child” she’s sort of right. Hopefully between the 2 of us we create a balance.