"We have nothing to fear but fear itself"

[eliskimo]

fpb's post linking to a new Harry Potter fan fic which begins with the Wesley twins when they were seven elicted a comment from me that I will expand upon here

Comments

[aryanhwy]

One thing I've notice about the Netherlands, or at least the neighborhoods in which I live and in which my office is located, is that the vast majority of the children that I see playing outdoors are unsupervised, and there are kids that I'd put at early grade school age, so 7ish or older. I don't know how big their ranges are, or how much what I see is affected by the fact that my apartment building is bounded on one side by a pedestrian street + canal and on the other with a little square, and the streets running parallel have very little car traffic, and the fact that the street our office is on is a one-way street with little traffic. But my bet is, not much.

[elski]

I can't speak to danger or paranoia, but what you're describing sounds like a fairy tale setting - completely implausible. When I was about eight, My Mum let me take my younger siblings to the park on my own once. We got a bit lost on the way home, and by the time we got back - I think we were something like twenty minutes late - she'd panicked, gone looking for us, and came within two minutes of calling the cops. I absolutely cannot comprehend the sort of freedom described in your post. When we played out front, Mum sat on the porch to watch us. In the backyard, she watched from the window at a minimum. Later, we could bike around out block if we told her exactly where we were going and checked in regularly. I think I was something like ten before my friends and I could go alone to the park down the street. This was the norm among my friends, and we lived in Kitchener, not Toronto.

[sandra_sk]

I don't know whether the world is a worse place or not, but I do think we have more information about the terrible things that do go on. Hence we tend to _think_ the world has gone to hell in a handbasket when it really hasn't necessarily done so.

One thing that is different now vs then - when I got to roam around the neighborhood, there were many, many more moms at home who could kind of keep an eye on what was going on around the neighborhood. And people spent more time outside (less TV, fewer air conditioners)- the community had a better sense of what was going on, who belonged there and who didn't. Now most people spend much of their time indoors, if they're not away from the house because of work. Hence less people to keep an informal eye on little eliskimo as she roams around her 100 acre woods.

[forest_lady]

Yes. But somehow I can't help it - it takes real discipline to let the kids just go a bit!

[larmer]

We need to talk more about growing up. I lived the same way - in Etobicoke - south of Burnhamthorpe. My Mother had many of the same rules.

IMHO things are not as dangerous now as they were back in 1960s. We just think they are. Violent crime is dropping in our society. Stranger kidnapping is rare. Now we educate our children on dealing with strangers. That was not done when I was a child. Still as a parent it is hard to let your kids go out into the world. I am not too sure how much freedom I will give L'lyn especially as we live near a fast flowing river.

[eliskimo]

Before we moved to Etobicoke, we lived in a small town beside a fair sized river. Six year old me (who had at the time boundardies that comprised a four block area - with a two block extension weekday mornings and afternoons to walk to school and back) was allowed to go as far St. Clair River Drive (one block away from our house), but NOT across it. There was a park and then the river on the other side.

[fox_sejant]

You were allowed to go to Saint Clair River drive? Your two years of seniority gave you such freedom! I could only go as far as the church. Come to think of it, crossing the street was a pretty big deal.

[eliskimo]

The church fronted onto to St. Clair River Dr. I couldn't cross the street, so I could only go as far as the front yard of the church.

Remember I said my boundaries included four blocks? They were: the block were we lived, the block the church was (immediately east), the block where DeeDee lived (immediately north), and the block where Jonanthan (? - mostly your friend) lived (immediately south).