Wondering

[were_gopher]

What is wrong with this world that makes me even slightly nervous that I've let a 12YO and a 9YO go to the park at the end of our road on their own for an hour. Ok the 12YO isn't as savy as most kids his age but it's still something I don't think our parents would have thought twice about in the 60s or 70s.

Comments

[coth.livejournal.com]

I went out to play and to school on the train or bus from about 9 years of age in the Sixties. And my 9-y-o daughter is allowed out alone, though she doesn't take that much advantage of the license. But last year I got told off by a local woman who thought a 13-year old (Bohemiancoast's daughter) was too young to supervise an 8-year old in the local park. The general rule seems to be that primary school kids are not allowed out without an adult, and a fair few families keep the rule for secondary school kids for at least another couple of years.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Was bohemiancoast present? If so, I would really have liked to have been there...

[coth.livejournal.com]

No - in fact, the woman told me off at a later date when the kids weren't around - she'd seen them in the park together, and my daughter up a tree as is her wont.

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

And stuck her nose in where she had no right to stick it.

[were-gopher.livejournal.com]

That was one of the things I was most concerned about. the kids have been going to the corner shop, where they have both been known since infancy, on their own ever since we moved to this house in 2003 (before it would have meant crossing a busy road which at that point had no crossing) and the park is across that same busy road. They are now old enough to trust to cross the recently installed (about 6 years ago) zebra and cynical enough to not believe the car coming is going to stop until it does (which quite often it does not).

If you look at the link you can see how far it is to the corner shop. The play area is in the middle of the park and the school is to the left of it. we used to live in Hilton Place.

http://bit.ly/cqZz3H

[occams_pyramid]

Ah, so she's spying on little children in the park is she? Obviously one of those perverts. Better report her to the police straight away, you can't be too careful these days!!!!!!!

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Wow! I didn't know this. My only serious concerns for kids out on their own are twofold:

-- cars and road crossing (we're quite careful about this, and their ranging is limited by busy roads)
-- that so many people are heartless or busybodies these days that they won't help children in distress, so that if things go wrong it's hard for kids to get help.

[were-gopher.livejournal.com]

It's not always heartlessness. I knew one man who saw a kid slip it's mothers hand and start into traffic. He grabbed the kid before it went under a bus, went to give it back to it's mother and got a mouthfull of abuse and an accusation of being a kiddy fiddler in return for having the temerity to touch her kids. He said afterwards it was the last time he was ever going to do something like that because it just wasn't worth the risk of getting branded unjustly and risking his job (he worked in the hotel trade).