Growing up in Yonkers, if I did my homework, I was expected to be home for dinner. Between 3:30 and 6:30 P.M. my friends and I had free roam of the neighborhood. Never had a problem. (If you don’t count the bicycle damage to the golf course)
Now, as parents, we are constantly trying to balance freedom and safety for our kids. Part of the problem is that middle school aged children are not as innocent as we were. Thirteen year-olds are getting into things that I was clueless about at 16.
Growing up in Yonkers I was not allowed to leave the block alone. What a kook this one is. I live in rural PA now and I don't let me 13 year old go anywhere alone. We have a running list of Sexual Offenders in the area.America is now the third world. I won't raise children in the states.Tokyo, Seoul or Singapore are examples of places where you can still let your kids walk on their own. America doesn't have to be this way.
“I live in rural PA now and I don’t let me 13 year old go anywhere alone.”
You gotta let go sometime. We live in a city and my son was going places in the neighborhood (up to a mile or so away) by himself at 13.