When did it become normal to let kids wander?

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Seriously, when?

I'm sitting in the office right now, watching three small children (the oldest is probably seven, the youngest about four) run back and forth screaming through the parking lot. They've been at it for a couple of hours now with no adults in sight. While I appreciate the fact that they're exercising and out in fresh air, this isn't really the best place to do it. I mean, it's not an awful place, but it's a bunch of business complexes, and the police were out here about a month ago about a stalker in the very same parking lot. And beyond that, it's a flipping parking lot, which means there's moving cars.

It doesn't seem to be just here either. Back at the house, people let their kids just walk down the streets with no one (not even another child) accompanying them. There's a (approximately) three year old who does this quite often. Again, not the worst community, but it's not like it's gated either, and even then, you run risks. If I wanted a small, screaming child who's obviously not mine, I could just go outside, put him in my car, and leave.

Is this a normal thing now?

i guess their parents just don't really care.

i don't even have patience for crap like that, i'd just call the police.

in manchester,it would be weird to not hear them screeching outside,whether it's light or dark.
and if one of them smacks the other,or they fall over,it's hell for everyone else....they should send pitbulls down the alley ways to clear them out and send them back home.

In the neighborhood where I grew up, only about 10 years ago ... not long before I moved away from there ... I saw a (estimating here) 4-5 year old walking down the street with his (again, estimating) 12-13 year old brother. The small child was smoking two cigarettes and talking trash to neighbors as they passed by. It was the most disgusting thing I'd ever witnessed, and I saw some stuff in that neighborhood. Looking back, I should have called the cops. But I think I, as well as everyone else who witnessed this, was just too much in shock to know how to react.

Kids know about not getting in cars with strangers. The smart ones will run away. And I guess the dumb ones will get Darwinated. D:
3 is sort of young though, he should at least be with another kid who can run faster and scream louder.

I lived in my city's 'ghetto' area neighborhood for 4 years and saw alot of this. Our next door neighbors got a visit from the police becasue their 2 year old daughter was wandering around the parking lot across the street from their house. I may severly dislike children but damn that crap bothers me.

That’s what happens when people make babies out of wedlock or when it is so easy to get a divorce. Many years ago if one of the partners refused to the divorce the judge would not grant it so people took marriage VERY seriously. Now people get married at the drop of a hat because it’s so easy to get a divorce. It’s all fine and dandy but for the children getting neglected.

Let kids wander?

I grew up in a quieter time and place where it was safe for eight or ten year olds to ride their bicycles around town.

This was not neglect. This was normal.

As darkness fell you could hear the mothers calling "Jimmy", "Sally" "Time for dinner"

Those were indeed the good old days.

It has always happened. Even back when my parents were kids it was okay to have your kids wander off and go on their own, kids even used to ride city buses by themselves and go to places on their own such as to movie theaters. Now today people are too paranoid to have their kids to that but some still let their youngsters do it. I read on a thread at I2 how other countries let kids wander by themselves and people on there who live in the USA also had the same when they were little. In small towns, don't be surprised when you see elementary school kids going to stores by themselves or into fast food places or to the movie theater to see a movie. Kids did that in my town in Montana. Even my brothers did it when they be in town at one of their friend's house. They go to the town park by themselves and go to the super market across the street from where he lived, go to the movies, or go to the video store to rent a movie.


I used to wonder how did crime increase but then I got told it has always been the same, it's just that people are more paranoid now because of the news. Back then, bad things didn't get broadcast so often but because they do so today so often, it makes it seem like it happens all the time. Bad things stand out more. Why do they broadcast all the bad stuff? To make money.


Of course when I was little and we lived in a neighborhood, the mother behind us let her daughter wander off which was my old friend Sara. My mother even remembers when she was still in diapers and it was 1989 and we had just moved there then and she can remember her wandering around on the block in her diaper and playing in the dirt across the street. I'm sure she saw her in 1988 when she and dad bought a lot up there and started building their house.
There was even another mother on the same block who let her son play outside in the front yard unsupervised and she never once came out to check on him so my mom had to be over there and sit on the sidewalk in a beach chair reading as my brothers played with him because the mother just didn't do her job. Her son was only five and my brothers were like two and three. Lot of kids were left unsupervised on our block and their parents let them run wild and bully other kids. So because they were left unsupervised, the parents always fell for their kids lies because they never watched them enough. So when my mother complain to the parents about her kids picking on me, their kids would all lie about it and the parents would believe them. My mom said if they did their job, they would know their kids better and not be stupid. She also said they were lazy parents so it was easier for them to believe their kids than doing their job. Also they were aware their kids bullied and believed it was okay because "they were just children."

It's always been normal really, although 3 is a bit young probably. If anything parents should let their kids wander more.

My bio-mom used to throw us out and lock the door from approx 7am until as late as 10pm and we were allowed to simply run wild as we pleased, I remember being 3 or 4 and playing on the playground near my house after dark in the summer (9:30ish) with a bunch of other kids

This is not the norm anymore. Most kids do not get such liberty like I did when I was a kid. I would ride my bike 10+ miles away from my house and my parents had no idea. Kids are rarely playing in our neighborhood unless in their own yards or right in front of them.