131–140 of 388 posts
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That, and just let kids walk home. It's good for their muscles.
Literally addressed in the article. 80% of kids live too far away for walking to be feasible.
My mom walked me to school until I was in 4th grade. She was a single mom and needed to work, so she decided to let me walk to and from school from then on. I made friends on that walk. 30+ years later, I am still friends with many of them even though we live hours away from each other. I'm not a parent, so I don't know what I don't know; but, I've observed so many kids being shuffled between school, events, "play da…
> I understand that we live in a different world Do we, though? Kidnappings have been dropping steadily for decades, though maybe it's because kids are indoors more often now. Though FWIW, most kidnappings are from an insane relative, not the random guy promising candy in his van. I was allowed to play outside unsupervised when I was only 9 years old in 1991, though maybe being on the Keflavik, Iceland US Navy base p…
Yes we do, and it's covered in the article.
It's not kidnappers. It's distance to school.
80% of kids live too far to walk. It's not that their parents are afraid of kidnappers, it's that they literally cannot feasibly walk to and from school every day.
What about the people that report parents to the police for endangering their children by allowing them to walk/bike to school?
Well that headline sums it up. After 10 years of dealing with it and wondering "how the f did we get to this point", it's satisfying to hear it called what it is. A small win in our family was in my son's final year of elementary school when he finally decided to try walking home 1.5 miles; that Spring was a delight for him. He was properly decompressed and had logged a minimum amount of physical activity for good sl…
Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough! . 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html
My son's school was about 250 meters from his mom's house. Due to the NIMBY way the neighborhoods were built, he would have had to ride his bike or walk 2.5 miles on busy roads w/o bike lanes to get to his mom's house. The direct route was 2 dead end roads that should have connected the neighborhoods together. But instead, there was ~30m of dense forest marked with "no trespassing" signs.
This meant that me and his mom had to wait in the school line rather than him being able to walk/bike to and from school. Even when I had custody, I would have much rather picked him up from his mom's house than school because the line was miserable.
I was so happy when he got his license and was able to drive himself.
If you let your kid out roaming, walking home from school, and the child causes a minor issue, you get the wrath of "Why aren't you watching your kid?"???
So we've developed this culture around ensuring that the child is accounted for at all hours of the day. Drop off, pickup from school, included.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Everyone here should watch the Japanese TV series, Old Enough! . 2-4 year olds are sent out on their own to run errands, etc. Yes, really, 2-4 years old. And they succeed and are fine. https://www.ntv.co.jp/english/pc/2011/02/old-enough.html
Ngl if the price for that is a Japanese level of social control, conformity, and their mad justice system... I'll take a car line.
Push this out thirty years. One set of kids was navigating the real world since they were 4. The other has been mollycoddled with overparenting and screen time. Which cohort do you think will be happier, better adjusted and better off?
Then realise that it's not uncommon to see grade schoolers taking the subway to and from school in New York.
The best part is, you won't have to subject your children to marxists and people that look like literal clowns that fell face-first into a tackle box.
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"he decided" is probably one of the issues here. back in the day it would have been "this is what your doing now kid"
That kind of upbringing worked out really well for the boomers, we are in this mess because of that. Kids should have agency and independence, but also a feeling of safety, trust, and security. You cannot force a kid to work against their own safety instinct because of your own selfish comfort.
I got this kind of reaction from my son for all kinds of things I made him do by himself that made him uncomfortable. Now that he's 18, he thanks me for it and wonders why all his friends are so entirely unable to do almost anything out in public without help.