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As a kid, my friends and I mostly had free rein. Be home by dinner time or dark were the most common rules. When school was in session, we'd have a few hours to run around the neighborhood. In the summer it wasn't uncommon to find us riding bikes to the next town miles away. Parents didn't ever know where we were going or what we were doing. As long as we were home on time there was no issue.

With all the random encounters of other kids out and about, you learned all kinds of skills. How to explain a black eye to your parents without getting anyone in trouble, how to judge a person's character, what was "cool" and what wasn't. It was different from being at school, because we were all without supervision and true colors revealed themselves. It was a learning experience everyday.

I'm guilty of being way more over-protective of my kids than my parents were with me. Looking back I think I've been conditioned by media to make my kids' lives less fulfilling. I feel shame.

As a kid, my friends and I mostly had free rein. Be home by dinner time or dark were the most common rules. When school was in session, we'd have a few hours to run around the neighborhood. In the summer it wasn't uncommon to find us riding bikes to the next town miles away. Parents didn't ever know where we were going or what we were doing. As long as we were home on time there was no issue. With all the random encounters of other kids out and about, you learned all kinds of skills. How to explain a black eye to your parents without getting anyone in trouble, how to judge a person's character, what was "cool" and what wasn't. It was different from being at school, because we were all without supervision and true colors revealed themselves. It was a learning experience everyday. I'm guilty of being way more over-protective of my kids than my parents were with me. Looking back I think I've been conditioned by media to make my kids' lives less fulfilling. I feel shame.

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Our challenge was always distance. We live rural and it was a 30 minute drive to our kids' friends' houses. So, before our kids were driving it required a parent to drop off and requires a bit of planning / scheduling. Lots of sleepovers simply because no parent wanted to drive more than an hour in a day.

IMHO, the 'modern' version of having your kids run free on the internet (or mostly free with some Ashkenazi porn blockers.) All of my children were given pretty free access to online games/ chats / etc.. They created friend groups and joined age appropriate social communities. We raised them with good judgement and values. We gave them age appropriate common sense rules and worked with a high level of trust.