I stumbled down the Reddit rabbit hole again & my oh my, the kids these days are so precious This time the internet wants to know if parents in the '80s really allowed their kids to disappear for hours without supervision?
Ah, the 80s, a time when kids were handed a bike, a bag of chips, and a “be home by dark” curfew. No GPS, no cell phones, just pure trust that they’d avoid kidnappers and quicksand (which, let’s be real, seemed way more common in 80s media than in actual life).
It makes me think: Have we overcorrected with our hyper-connected lives, or are we just nostalgic for a time when the only tracking device was your mom yelling from the porch? Let’s discuss!
“Crowdsourcing” in the 80s and earlier could be defined as parents looking out their kitchen windows at neighbors’ kids and using landline telephones to let a parent know when his or her child was not living up to the “community standards” of the neighborhood.
My brother and I started riding push bikes to school when I was knee high to a grasshopper - about 8 years old. The trip took about 30 mins each way, carrying a heavy backpack of books and wearing a bucket style ultra UN-cool helmet. I was more worried about getting teased about the helmet than meeting a stranger on the way…
We had adventures over the ensuing years of bike riding, not all pleasant but I learned independance in a way that has served me well in this life, and not to fear going out into our little town, but to be aware of what was around us and avoid situations or people who felt wrong.
Perhaps kids intuition is being underrated these days by certain parenting control techniques.
I recall being in Cambodia years ago and observing a little girl, perhaps 4 years old, riding a huge full size adult bicycle, pumping her little legs and balancing beautifully while her whole body rode up and down on the bike since she was too little to sit on the seat… in the middle of the countryside, on a long stretch of heavily pockholed dirt road, adeptly avoiding those huge pockholes. No helmet, no shoes, no hat, just a girl in her dress on a bike, clearly having fun. Such a different life to many kids these days!
Very interesting news segment about an incident in Georgia that has sparked a nationwide debate on free-range parenting and children’s independence.
The video discusses the case of Britney Patterson, a mother arrested for reckless conduct after her nearly 11-year-old son walked into town alone. Patterson left her son at home while she took another child to a doctor’s appointment, during which her son walked less than a mile to a Dollar General. A concerned resident called the police, leading to Patterson’s arrest, fingerprinting, and mugshot.
She is being asked (but she’s refusing to sign) a proposed safety plan that included GPS tracking of her children to keep this from happening again.
Exactly my experience with all the kids in my street. I remember hot summers outside on our bikes and skateboards, going down the park or into the local woods. Parents didn’t have a clue where we were but we always came back.
I am looking forward to watching this video when I get home from work.
I was one of those free-range 80s kids. Rode my bike for miles (sometimes around 8-10 miles in a day) by myself. Was never kidnapped, though I got myself into some dangerous positions, in hindsight. To be fair, there was a kid my same age kidnapped and murdered while on his paper route. I had a paper route at the same time. So for a couple of weeks, my mom followed me in the car while I walked the route, until the killer was caught. After that, it was back to business as usual. Be back when the streetlights come on!
The clip you shared is distressing. My kids are all grown up now, but I can’t imagine if my daughter was arrested because our grandson or granddaughter wandered off into town. That’s absolute overkill. She could feasibly sue the police department for this, but it probably won’t get her anywhere.
Yes, less crime and corruption ment more freedom for kids. You are out. You have to come back by dark. No GPRS, no cell. See ya with few bumps and bruises!
I did not mean legally obliged. For clarity, I should have written “morally and socially obliged”; that “concerned resident” was not concerned enough to engage that child directly and instead chose the totalitarian-state approach.
The fear of being reported to child protective services on you is real. I debated over whether to let my 10yo walk 3 minutes to the library after an after school activity (without a phone), or whether to let my 8yo ride her bike alone to the mailboxes half a mile away. I felt silly that it’s something I was concerned about because I really believe children should have some independence. I trusted my kids but not others, as we personally know people who were reported for letting their children out unsupervised. There are states that have laws to protect childhood independence; ours is not one of them.
This time the internet wants to know if parents in the '80s really allowed their kids to disappear for hours without supervision?
