Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

npr.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

331–340 of 552 posts

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#331

Post by CalRobert »

jtbayly wrote: post #292
dionidium wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Recently I drove by that school, and the bike racks were gone. This is the thing: the bike racks are gone because so are the kids walking/biking to school. If you let your kid do it, they'll be the only one. I walked to school in the 80s and there were lots of kids in my neighborhood walking to school at the same time. That's a very different experience. I also lived in a neighborhood that was laid out in the early…

> You can't combat this enormous societal change by making an individual effort to let your kids do more by themselves. Sure you can. Might not make much cultural difference, but it will make a big difference for your kids.

I do not feel safe letting my kids walk on roads in their current state.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#332

Post by wolverine876 »

abrahamepton wrote: post #296
freyr wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would you send your 5 year old self down the streets of San Francisco or Seattle No. And I would avoid raising my kids there to begin with. Those two cities in particular have done everything within their means to alienate families. I get that some parents believe that exposing their kids to people living in squalor on the street due to mental illness or addiction is an enriching cultural experience, and maybe it i…

Lol. I live in Seattle, with a kid, on a block with tons of kids, in a neighborhood with tons of kids. It's fine. Seriously. It's great, actually. WTF are you talking about.

In my experience, the people with the horror stories and most extreme opinions are the people with the least experience. (Same thing with race.)

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#333

Post by wolverine876 »

throwaway-blaze wrote: post #257
fnordpiglet wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A major difference between when I grew up and now is the prevalence of the severely mentally ill living on city streets. Would you send your 5 year old self down the streets of San Francisco or Seattle? As a 45 year old I’m frightened often enough - I can’t imagine my daughter being forced to navigate those situations alone. The assault and murder rates due to the untreated mentally ill in the cities I’ve lived in is…

(Using throwaway, because people can't have rational discussions anymore). 47yr old with 12yr old twins. Live in a million dollar neighborhood in Capitol Hill Seattle. Kids go to private school about a mile south of home. When the school year started, they wanted to walk to and from school alone. We had to stop this in the last month and accompany them on the walks. My daughter saw multiple fentanyl od's on the stree…

> I grew up in the 80s in NYC and took the subway from Queens to Manhattan for HS (Stuyvesant). Plenty of homeless but mostly alcoholics, occasional mentally ill.

You didn't see drug users in 1980s NYC? And when did crack show up there?

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#334

Post by lumost »

dionidium wrote: post #200
beej71 wrote: post #47

I don't have any kids, so I don't really feel comfortable telling folks how to raise theirs. But I will tell you my perspective. As someone who grew up in the "be back home in time for supper" 1970s, today's world seems completely foreign. When I started kindergarten, Mom walked me to school on the first day so that I'd know the route. And after that I walked to school on my own until I learned to ride a bike. I rode…

> Recently I drove by that school, and the bike racks were gone. This is the thing: the bike racks are gone because so are the kids walking/biking to school. If you let your kid do it, they'll be the only one. I walked to school in the 80s and there were lots of kids in my neighborhood walking to school at the same time. That's a very different experience. I also lived in a neighborhood that was laid out in the early…

This is pretty much it. I'm a parent now, but I recall my parents telling me to walk to get to appointments and activities when I was in school back in the 90s and 00s. I never did, because it was 5+ miles through car centric roads.

In the city, I see kids walking places on their own. Most places they would go are within a quarter to half mile, all of the schools that they could go to from age 3-18 are within a third of a mile.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#335

Post by obelos »

wahern wrote: post #174
robonerd wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is the main reason. It fails to explain why neighborhoods that kids played freely in decades ago now keep their kids inside. I'm talking about suburban neighborhoods in modest towns that haven't seen population growth or urban development. I used to walk to school frequently, every time I missed the bus it was a two mile walk down country roads. If the weather was nice, sometimes I'd choose to walk…

> The only thing that changed was people became more fearful. People absolutely drive considerably faster. There are many reasons for that, but they do. When I was a kid roaming around on my own in the 1980s and 1990s, the roads simply weren't as dangerous as they are now. People not only drive faster, but driver visibility is much worse--because A frames, because SUVs, etc. I agree fear has grown considerably. But n…

Yep. More drivers driving more miles faster.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#336

Post by wolverine876 »

tpoacher wrote: post #220
beej71 wrote: post #47

I don't have any kids, so I don't really feel comfortable telling folks how to raise theirs. But I will tell you my perspective. As someone who grew up in the "be back home in time for supper" 1970s, today's world seems completely foreign. When I started kindergarten, Mom walked me to school on the first day so that I'd know the route. And after that I walked to school on my own until I learned to ride a bike. I rode…

When I was a kid, people would leave the engine running on the car with the keys on, while they popped in the convenience store to buy a quick item. We used to leave the doors and windows wide open at home while taking a nap, to "air the house". Different times.

I see that in major cities. One person I know lives in a major US city and always leaves their keys on the floor of their car.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#337

Post by monetus »

trophycase wrote: post #284
dionidium wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These societal changes extend far beyond the cohort that will attend Ivy League schools.

I think the point was more about it being an arms race where nobody ends up better off but just has to work harder and is more stressed.

And Stanford is the metaphorical dragon everyone is chasing.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#338

Post by Spooky23 »

godelski wrote: post #307
uranium wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Would you send your 5 year old self down the streets of San Francisco or Seattle?" Yes. We live in San Francisco, and our kids went to a daycare in the Civic Center. We walked [with the kids] by many homeless people every weekday for years. Our interactions with them were almost universally positive; they'd clear the sidewalk to let kids through, try to keep kids from seeing drug use, chat and share candy, etc. On c…

> Every assault makes the news, but cities are safer than they've ever been Reminds me of one of my favorite pieces of data.[0] Pew tracks both crime rates and perception of crime rates. There's been an overwhelming declining trend crime (especially violent) in the past 30 years. But if you look at perceptions of crime, people think year over year it is on the rise. There's even a bias that it is on the rise more nat…

Crime stats are a difficult thing to make comparisons with between jurisdictions and over time. I grew up in 1980s NYC. They flat out didn’t respond to take reports for certain types of crime, and may deliver a beat down to some weirdo following kids around.

Unless it’s a clearly serious felony like a murder or burglary, you aren’t really getting any information.

I would say that what people worry about is random freakshow people and the petty crime form other kids or teens. Folks are more aware of the freaks, and the evidence of in front of them that there are consequences for most petty crime.

We walked to school about 12 blocks in those days. It was fine. I live in a small city today; my kid won’t bike to school alone until about 12, mostly due to traffic issues and idiots riding ATVs in the afternoon.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#339

Post by kevin_thibedeau »

CalRobert wrote: post #329
beej71 wrote: post #47

I don't have any kids, so I don't really feel comfortable telling folks how to raise theirs. But I will tell you my perspective. As someone who grew up in the "be back home in time for supper" 1970s, today's world seems completely foreign. When I started kindergarten, Mom walked me to school on the first day so that I'd know the route. And after that I walked to school on my own until I learned to ride a bike. I rode…

Where can I do this without drivers who will kill my kid? Cars (or SUV's and trucks, really) are faster, heavier, taller, more numerous, and driven far more miles now. They are why my kid can't walk/cycle to school.

A place where crossing guards are used to protect kids on their way to a neighborhood school.

Re: A 4-year-old can run errands alone and not just on reality TV

#340

Post by function_seven »

bitwize wrote: post #125
function_seven wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference between "the occasional errand is fun for kids" and "becomes a chore, an obligation" cannot be emphasized enough! I vividly remember watching my dad mow the front lawn one afternoon. I was 11 I think? It looked so fun pushing this loud machine over the messy grass and leaving a path of perfectly neat turf behind. I asked him if I could try it out. He hesitated for a bit, then said, "Sure." So I did, an…

What are kids for but to serve as extra hands for all the necessary work in the house? :)

I was literally in a Dickens novel. Might as well have been dropped down the chimney to scrub it!
Post reply on HN