First, I have to note that I am really uncomfortable with the "we don't let kids run around any more and that's why they're getting FAT!" comments above. Speaking as, well, a fat girl who walks everywhere and played outside a lot, thanks.
Second, I have to note that I'm kind of peeved at the Free Range Kids gal being treated as a statistical expert. I'd rather have the article quote someone she got her numbers from, you know?
Third, one thing that's changed as far as I can tell in terms of the subjective nature of risk assessment is neighborhoods. My parents knew their neighbors, more or less, even when they were transient student rentals. My parents now live about ten blocks away from where I grew up, but they don't seem to know their neighbors as well.
I'm not particularly qualified to say much more, because I grew up in dense college-town suburbia and now live and parent in an urban setting, so it's hard for me to tell what's changed across-the-board in terms of community organization (both spatial and interpersonal) and what hasn't.
I'd feel uncomfortable letting my kids run around my neighborhood without supervision not because of kidnapping fears, but because of traffic--the same reason, more or less, that I have indoor cats. Our yard has a water feature that can't be fenced off, so no running around the back yard unsupervised either. We don't have a front yard. So we go on a lot of walks and we drive or take public transit to parks a lot.
There has definitely been a change in parenting expectations, too. You're expected to have a much higher level of engagement, especially with younger children, than I remember being true during my childhood. This is the aspect that I find most creepily intrusive. Independent play, and lots of it, was crucial to me. I was definitely not neglected by my mother sitting by a tree reading her book while I ran around.
no subject
Second, I have to note that I'm kind of peeved at the Free Range Kids gal being treated as a statistical expert. I'd rather have the article quote someone she got her numbers from, you know?
Third, one thing that's changed as far as I can tell in terms of the subjective nature of risk assessment is neighborhoods. My parents knew their neighbors, more or less, even when they were transient student rentals. My parents now live about ten blocks away from where I grew up, but they don't seem to know their neighbors as well.
I'm not particularly qualified to say much more, because I grew up in dense college-town suburbia and now live and parent in an urban setting, so it's hard for me to tell what's changed across-the-board in terms of community organization (both spatial and interpersonal) and what hasn't.
I'd feel uncomfortable letting my kids run around my neighborhood without supervision not because of kidnapping fears, but because of traffic--the same reason, more or less, that I have indoor cats. Our yard has a water feature that can't be fenced off, so no running around the back yard unsupervised either. We don't have a front yard. So we go on a lot of walks and we drive or take public transit to parks a lot.
There has definitely been a change in parenting expectations, too. You're expected to have a much higher level of engagement, especially with younger children, than I remember being true during my childhood. This is the aspect that I find most creepily intrusive. Independent play, and lots of it, was crucial to me. I was definitely not neglected by my mother sitting by a tree reading her book while I ran around.