What Did You do as a Kid?

Here's one for the books.

Parents in Washington, D.C. are being investigated for neglect because they let their children, ages 6 and 10, walk home from a nearby park.... alone!

Pardon me for a minute while imagine how long my parents might have laughed about such a thing.

OK, a six year old shouldn't walk home from a park or playing in the park alone.  But, I tend to agree with the self-described "Free Range" parents that allowing their children to walk home from a park is a good thing.

Despite what we might think... most places are safe.  Not the other way around.

One reason abductions and other terrible events make the news is that they are unusual, rare -- that's what makes them news!

I stayed home on occasion when I was ten.  By myself.  I probably did some stupid stuff when home alone, but lived through it and grew through the experience.

A few years later, my friend and I rode alone back and forth on a busy city street to get together at the each other's home.  We didn't have a mom or dad trailing us in a car at slow speeds to "have our back."

There were days in the summer, and I'm sure I'll hear agreement on this, that mom ushered me out the door around 8 in the morning with an invitation to return for lunch.

No play dates were arranged.  I wasn't signed up for a particular sports league.  I went out and played.  I rode my bike around the neighborhood.  Lots of us showed up at the neighborhood grocery with maybe 50 cents in our pocket and looked for a candy bar or ice cream treat.

We survived and we learned how to entertain ourselves.  We also learned we would be fine out in the world.

Kids can't learn that if not given the opportunity.

It makes sense that the opportunities be learned in small bite-sized packages as children grow up.  This is one place throwing the kid in the deep-end won't teach them how to swim, but it boosts their confidence.  That confidence in themselves helps them as they get older.

No argument on whether the world we live in is dangerous, it is, but it really is not quite as dangerous as we may believe.