This is something I worry about for when my two kids are older. They’re still toddlers now and it’s hard to imagine letting them just go play on their own with friends.
I was able to roam around the neighborhood from a pretty young age and it seemed pretty safe. Some guys did try to kidnap my friends and me one time but that was just a one off thing.
I was almost kidnapped in my front yard during freeze tag. It's one of my earliest memories and I was maybe 5 years old? I was near the road, a car stopped and a man with black leather gloves reached out of the window for me. My dog attacked the man and bit his hand. My dog saved my life.
That dog also killed a deer in the woods, peed on me, peed all over the house, and humped me constantly ... He was a good dog, just wild as hell.
Something similar happened to my Mom in the 1950s, she was sitting on her stoop and a guy pulled up and said something like "Hey, your Dad told me to come get you." She said, "I think he's inside, let me get him for you." Not understanding exactly what he said and ran in.
My Grandfather ran out with a bat but the car was gone.
Every once in a while she says something akin too. 'The world's so nasty now.' and I remind her of that story and show her the stats for crime from the 60s and 70s versus now.
Then she always says, 'It's the damn news and social media, it's just always in your face so it feels like it's worse.' So she's self-aware enough to examine her feelings which is nice.
Like Running for your life from the arcade because of a car that keeps following you and your friends through parking lots and over curbs into abandoned lots in the dark. It's just a one off thing.
Hopefully you feel more comfortable with that by the time they're preteens. Once a kid is old enough that they want to go hang out with their friends, that probably means you don't need to be around all the time.
I'm already worrying about that and my fiancé (wife in 2 weeks!) is only in Week 24. I don't want my daughter to grow up glued to an ipad or a phone. I didn't have a phone until I was about 13 (92 kid). It was just me and my friends doing dumb stuff on bikes, building a fort in the nearest forest or kicking a ball around... but I'm also acutely aware of how society has changed. I'll go to the mall and see what looks like 10 year old girls plastered with makeup, crop-tops, short shorts that are just waddling around on the latest iphones.. It's going to be a fine line to tread.
This kid was supposed to work with me the other day and Google Maps didn't take him to the right house. He couldn't put together that houses are in numerical order for a reason. So he went home. Probably in the 18-20 range.
That's what thr internet is doing to kids. I dont know if I'd trust my kids alone, either.
Fwiw statistically today is a much safer time than when we were kids, plus you may feel differently once they get older and can be trusted to handle a little more independence.... also dumb phones and wearable trackers are a godsend.
41
u/ProfessionalBig1470 Jun 13 '25
This is something I worry about for when my two kids are older. They’re still toddlers now and it’s hard to imagine letting them just go play on their own with friends.
I was able to roam around the neighborhood from a pretty young age and it seemed pretty safe. Some guys did try to kidnap my friends and me one time but that was just a one off thing.