Free-Range Children

[Aeson]

The most common hunting method is to bait a snare (like a van) with candy.

[Aeson]

My parents would have both got the death penalty. We roamed far and wide ... with only rattlesnakes, scorpions, feral cats, and heatstroke/frostbite for companions. Even our bus stop was a good mile away from the house from the time I was 5 to 10 (I was the eldest) and we usually made the trek there and back on our own.

Sometimes driving 3 or 4 wheelers ... or even snowmobiles! The first 3 wheeler I crashed was at 6 years of age, and I had to hike a couple miles to get my dad to come un-entangle it from the bumper of the farm truck I had crashed into. That long walk and the humiliation of having to tell my dad I had crashed taught me a valuable lesson about how to get a three wheeler unstuck/rightsideup ... and explain away scrapes, bruises, and twisted handlebars.

[History049]

The nanny state is really getting out of control.

It might have helped though if the parents hadn't labeled themselves as "free range". That sounds kooky and cultish.

Agreed, but the nanny state keeps the children safe.

[Alexander's Horse]

My Mum and all her sisters, who were all good mothers with large families, used to lock us out of the house and tell us to come back at mealtimes - a felony today probably, normal back then.

[Elok]

which is even stranger, kids are okay to walk down the street but cant be left alone in their home?

sounds like a burdensome tax on the poor, gotta have child care cuz lil johnny needs constant adult supervision

I actually kinda wonder, is the net effect of laws like this to make the streets less safe? A deserted street is much more dangerous than a bustling one. If somebody jumps you, or even does a hit-and-run accident with a car, on an empty street, there's nobody to come help, or yell for cops, or even be a witness. Hence people are much more scared of going down lonely alleys at night than passing through busy streets. A city or suburb with omnipresent kids playing is a city or suburb where help is always near. Lil' Johnny is much less likely to be dragged into a van if lil' Freddy and lil' Susy are nearby to text to their Mommies "OMG LIL JOHNNY GOT DRAGGED INTO A VAN LIKE RIGHT NOW ON MAPLE STREET." Much like the way vaccines have the net effect of making everyone less sick; everyone who opts out for fear of danger is ironically increasing the danger.

Also, fat-ass kids who don't get enough exercise. Pediatric diabetes probably hurts more kids at this point than random prowler pedophiles.

EDIT: Come to think of it, portable electronic devices make a huge difference too. The streets were probably much more dangerous when you weren't always within visual range of multiple people carrying cameras, video recorders, and phones in their pockets. Whatever skeezy crap you do can be reported to 911 literally within ten seconds of your doing it, and there'll be video evidence from three angles to show the cops. I hate those little gadgets, since I'm a substitute teacher, but I'm damned if they don't have their uses.

[Lorizael]

EDIT: Come to think of it, portable electronic devices make a huge difference too. The streets were probably much more dangerous when you weren't always within visual range of multiple people carrying cameras, video recorders, and phones in their pockets. Whatever skeezy crap you do can be reported to 911 literally within ten seconds of your doing it, and there'll be video evidence from three angles to show the cops. I hate those little gadgets, since I'm a substitute teacher, but I'm damned if they don't have their uses.

Crazy futurist types call this sousveillance. (Or at least, the crazy futurist types I read talk about sousveillance.)

[Dr Strangelove]

I guess paper routes are now totally out of the question.
Question, are kids now allowed to ride their bicycles on the street without adult supervision? How about waiting for the school bus? Playing basketball on the driveway? Oh, and to be effective shouldn't adult supervision mean "eyes on" and no distractions ( cellphone, conversations, housework, etc.)?

[Sava]

I'm pretty sure talking about children in any way makes one a pedophile.

[rah]

When we were that age, my mother would let us out in the morning and we'd only return to get fed.
She must have been a bad parent.

[Sava]

yup

By age 7, I was running around unattended almost all the time.

[rah]

Heck when I was a freshman in HS, our parents spent a month in Florida.. Today that would get you arrested.

[Sava]

I had to wait until I was 20 before I was able to get my own "month of fun"

[rah]

In all fairness Ming and I were honor students and considered very very responsible.
(boy, did we have them fooled.)

[Sava]

plus, everyone was scared of your twinmagic

[rah]

It was even funnier because our older brother was 18 months older but our parents expected us to keep him in line since he was the black sheep.
(but I'll take this opportunity to mention that he ended up very successful so early indiscretions are not necessarily a lifetime handicap)