 Lexica says: I was going to write something about how far I used to roam by bike as a 10-year-old, but looking at Google Maps was too depressing and disorienting – so much has been torn down or paved over.  My friends and I got around on our bikes too. The thing I miss most about it was a feeling of being so much more connected to my surroundings. I wasn't just looking out the car window at life going by. I was out there in it, being a part of it. The sky was the limit on my bike as long as I was home for dinner. When I got my first car I quadripled my roaming. But I lost touch with much of my younger spots. I had the same philosophy with my children. I bought them bikes and encouraged them to go out and explore - For the most part they just stayed home tho??? You better believe I knew where all the berry bushes and fruit trees were. I knew which hills to climb when and I knew the coasting distances of each. I knew the back trails and shortcuts. Hey, look at me, no hands. I feel just like Peter Pan. I don't want to grow up! Same for me. I went all over the place and I lived 7 miles outside town. My children had slightly less freedom but they still had lots. My grandchildren can't play on the lawn in front of my apt patio without a neighbour asking them where their grandma is and I'm on the patio just out of the neighbours sight. I used to go to the beach on my own and go walk-about in the bush from about age 6. (No one could stop me if they wanted to) No shoes, no water, I just headed off into the bush. As long as I was home by dark, then no worries. The one time I got lost and ended up in Morley, my Mum nearly had a cow, coz she had to come pick me up, miles and miles from home and it was dark by then. I think I got grounded that time... yeah right, while it lasted. I was good at climbing out of windows and down drainpipes too.   Sounds adventurous Oh, it was the life!!  I went back a few years ago to see it all and that whole area of bush is all urban sprawl now. The roads are paved and it just ain't the same anymore. It makes me feel old. . My cousin and I would ride 50 miles (Montreal to Oka for those who know it).I would walk the whole island (Montreal)and never think twice.We camped out overnight (Laval)without supervision armed with 22 rifles and we were not yet 12. I did the same for my son in spite of his mother's protests.It's a guy thing.Today at 23 he will be earning his Masters in geology and working in the Australian outback.Children today are so protected they can't grow. Kill your PlayStation!! Better yet. Throw your PlayStation through the plate glass window of your local McDonalds. Has anyone seen that kids movie Wall*E where culture has been transformed to suit only obese people who can not walk but must get around on air cushioned floating chairs? Our only McDonald's here has an extra guard for to watch such activities! When I was 10 and my one younger brothers was 9, we used to hitch hike to the next town to watch the stock car races. We all used to play down by the creek. (We were in town by this time) We were anywhere and everywhere except home. Such freedom! Last summer my daughter and a friend took the children to the park and had to leave early because some nut job was stalking my granddaughter. He was getting closer and trying to get between them. They told the cops but we don't know if they got him or not. Such lack of freedom! I'd let my kid play the Wii 24x7 before I'd let him go out alone the times and distances even I did when I was a kid. This is a different time - the dangers are overwhelming. I have to wonder. Are the dangers really that much worse? Or are they just being publicized more? Is there that much more to be afraid of, or are we just more afraid? Are we robbing our children of their youth by being over protective? There's a lot of happy memories being shared in these comments. Memories our children and grandchildren won't have to share. Have we perhaps gone too far? I can relate, that so long as I came when called to supper, no one much checked on us, they only checked if they could no longer hear us outside playing & shouting, generally because they thought some mischief was afoot, not that we had disappeared from the neighborhood. I could walk over a mile to school by myself after kindergarten, on a heavily trafficked main highway--fortunately it had sidewalks both sides--but it was a main highway between MO. & ILL. I was trusted to watch traffic to cross the highway and I lived at the city limits, so I did not have any one to walk with until I got closer to the elementary school. How many parents today would even think of it, let alone allow it. ... I traveled a fair amount with Mom & Dad as a kid. When camping I had fairly free reign, although I wasn't the most adventurous one of those we camped with, the back by dinner rule always applied. In the summer of '64 at age 11 we went to NY from Milwaukee to see the World's Fair. They turned me loose on the fair grounds to go my own way with money in my pocket for lunch and place and time to meet for dinner. At Expo '67 we stayed with friends perhaps some 30 miles from downtown. I went in to the city with our host in the AM, bummed around downtown until the grounds opened and then took the last available bus back to the homestead sometime around 11 PM. I can't imagine those things happening ... I think part of the problem is that no one wants other people telling their kid what to do... and also that everyone is so busy with their own life, they aren't looking out for the other kids in the neighborhoods anymore. It makes it easier to do bad things to children and for children to get into things they shouldn't. In my neighborhood the kids still roam.... but it doesn't seem like anyone is looking out for them... I could ride my bike within abut 3 miles from home, but not until I was 13. before that, it was about a mile, and before that, just down to the corner. I had the run of the neighborhood, on foot, in the summer even after supper until it was dark, and on bicycle was limited only by my endurance. 20 miles was not unusual. The woods I roamed are still there. If I had kids, I'd show them around. @rvnurse2b, please reread my last comment. It's not that my daughter and I don't want other people telling the children what to do, sometimes it's not safe for children with the parents watching them. In the past year 3 girls were almost snatched off the sidewalk in drive-bys and in one case the girls were in a group on bikes and were forced off the road. It really isn't safe for children. The girls were aged 10 to 12 my granddaughter is 7 and my grandson is almost 5. Great comments! Hi Lexica, Some kids don't, won't or can't even go outside. |
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