[fatnotlazy]

My brother and I weren't latchkey. In our day, we had relatives nearby. So if our parents weren't at home, we had instructions to go to one or another of the relatives. If they weren't available, we had neighbors who had kids our age. They were only too happy to take us in.

Back then, fewer women worked outside the home, so there were always adults around to look after the kids.

Today, families are scattered. And who knows their neighbors? I don't. Most of mine look so shady, I wouldn't want to know them, and I surely wouldn't trust my kids with them.

I really wish we could go back to the 50s when people knew each other and looked after others’ children ax if they were there own. Sadly, those days are gone. Now all we have our government busy bodies raising our kids for us.

[cripplecreek]

That’s true. I had 2 sets of grandparents within a few blocks.

[Zeneta]

I really wish we could go back to the 50s when people knew each other and looked after others

---

Even in the 60’s and 70’s we had neighbors we could count on.

I was a Latchkey kid during that time. Free range would be an understatement.

At some point in the mid to later 1970’s as I hit my teens I relied less and less on the neighbors and my friends parents as they were working more and more. There was a time when we would walk into each others homes like we lived there. And were welcomed.

There is really something empowering for a young kid to be left to their own devises. Left to figure things out on their own.

We were fearless, but we knew who to stay away from and why.

We developed our own instincts.