that is fucking ridiculous and insane. I played outside on my street that had a pond from age 5 onward, I was rarely inside during the day in the summers. Even the mentally handicapped boy who lived on my street played on our street without adult supervision.
I had a seasonal wetlands behind my house. Just sort of as the back yard. Not all that deep, but I doubt a 'pond' in a planned community was natural, let alone deep. I was out there unsupervised most non-school days.
(Also- the (elementary!) school said I couldn't get a ride on the school bus because I was under a mile from the building. All I'd have had to do would be to walk three quarters of a mile along a state highway/trucking/commuter route with no crosswalks or sidewalks, lined with trees that bore the scars of cars who'd gone off the road! Piece of cake!)
The 90s were absolutely a different environment as far as expected child supervision went.
My sister and I used to walk for sandwiches and candy to the corner deli. We were both under 10. Idk why people think kids shouldn't have ANY independence. As long as its reasonable just let kids wander and explore.
In the seventies my mom sent my five year old ass to the grocery store for milk eggs and bread with the money in an envelope with a note to sell her smokes to me as well. This was a weekly occurrence. Virginia Slims 100s. I would pull my radio flyer wagon through the store and put the stuff in and go to the checkout. 4 blocks each way down a fairly busy street.
My mom did masters degree in the U.S. and we lived in her university’s dormitory. She left me with the first friends I made afterschool in the playground and neighbourhood (I was 6 and barely spoke any English in the first month) until neighbours warned her that she might get into trouble for leaving her kids unattended. The said friends dad was still doing his med degree and also lives in the dormitory complex with his entire family of 4. when my mom asked him about it he said oh he’s not under any financial pressure so it doesn’t hurt to further pursue his studies. Really show how good the welfare and economy was back then in the U.S. (early 2000s, Boston
Maybe it's just my frosty Canadian ass, but this to me seems like a genuinely bad idea.
I used to date a girl who grew up in Victoria, her family lived next to a forest. Her dad never let her go into the woods without an adult. She said how that always pissed her off for YEARS, until one day a cougar ended up bolting through their backyard while they were having breakfast.
The mountains have tons of big kitties. That's a given. What people didn't always expect was when the big kitties followed rivers down from the mountains and ended up chilling in their suburbs.
Am a prairie boy and anytime near woods, small adults and children were always accompanied, especially near dusk. Coyotes, wolves, bears, large cats, depending on where you are moose as well, all very common in certain areas near woods.
My parents went on a vacation for a week and left me and my sister home by ourselves, we were like 10 and 12. We had a babysitter show up for like 2 hours a night to make sure we ate. Other than that we were unsupervised.
In the summer we had free reign to go wherever in the neighborhood we wanted and were only expected to be home by sundown.
Ponds, creeks, ditches, streams. If we were not messing around in or around water we were building rafts or bridges across it. I feel that all the national scare media and lawsuit hungry society stole a lot from our youth.
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u/Lythaera Sep 11 '26
that is fucking ridiculous and insane. I played outside on my street that had a pond from age 5 onward, I was rarely inside during the day in the summers. Even the mentally handicapped boy who lived on my street played on our street without adult supervision.