Myth or Fact: Parents of the 70s and 80s allowed kids to roam free?

[Ineedmoney504]

Yea, especially if you had a bike.

 

[Peak]

As an 80s baby my parents did not allow me to roam free. Had to be within earshot. If I couldn't hear when mom was calling me I was too far.

 

[MidniteJay]

Maaaan that bike was clutch! It could turn what otherwise seemed like a 10 hr walk to the mall into a 20 min thrill ride.

I loved my bike when I was a kid but I didn't take it out much because I couldn't take it out alone (I had to be with homies or fam) and we lived in an apartment building at the very top. It was a bytch dragging a near 30 lbs. bmx bike up six floors when the only elevator was out of service.

 

[OperationNumbNutts]

Fact but the environment was different too. Neighbors actually knew each other. Kids would go to other kids houses on the regular and probably had sleepovers once in a while. Also, there were more places like malls and community centers Boys and Girls parents sent their kids to.

 

[JLova]

80s baby here. The things I was allowed ro do I’d never let my son do.

 

[Loose]

My parents was pretty strict until I was like 13 then I was allowed to go anywhere. My cousins used to go anywhere by like age 7

 

[Uachet]

I grew up in the 70s and 80s, since I was born 1970. We had a limit when we were very young of not beyond the lawn, to a bit later not beyond the block. That limit ended for me at the same time I started going to school at 5, because my school was 10 blocks away and I had to walk to it. From then on, the limit was pretty much you had to be home before the street lights came on. That lasted to about 13 when I lived in L.A. After that, it was I had to be home by 8pm during school season. That lasted until about 14. In Baltimore, it was home before 11pm and that was until I was 16. From then on, I had no curfew. I just needed to let someone know where I was, so they knew I was fine.

So yes, children were pretty much feral during that time period, with many having to fend for themselves while their parents worked. This is why GenX children were also called Latchkey Kids.

 

[Grand Cru Boo]

Facts!

In my circumstance, my parents typically worked till 6 pm (or later) so we were outside all the time. When the street lights came on, we could be on the porch till maybe I was 14. After that, it was up

 

[Wiseborn]

I realize there may not be many who experienced this here, but from yall experience was it fact or fiction. Or as someone suggested, "that's just how it was portrayed in movies".

Yes we were free range kids.

 

[Wiseborn]

From what I heard yes. I grew up in the 90's (preteen and teen years) and we were always outside and I mean OUTSIDE!

We'd leave the house and be gone for hours without anyone knowing where the hell we were.

We didn't come back until dinner time or the street lights came on. It was survival of the fittest

could’ve been a little different for girls but boys???

Put it this way I used to play in a place we called “the tunnel”. It wasn’t til Tennage Mutant Ninja Turtles came out that I realized that the Tunnel looked a lot like a sewer.

You could take a massive short cut through the city going through the tunnel.

 

[datnigDASTARDLY]

Absolutely a fact.

I’m an 80s baby and military brat so I can recall multiple times I was gone off in the woods somewhere, or on a bike or in some random foreign kids house just hanging out. Think about that for a sec yall….

Granted I was never alone and always had the homies with me, but the mere fact that this was possible and no one cared speaks volumes.

It would be impossible today.

 

[Harry Sax]

I was outside selling crack at 6

These new lil nikkas soft

 

[shopthatwrecks]

from 6 to like 9 i could do whatever ...in garden city...it was like everybody knew my dad n mom

 

[Diunx]

Even the 90s in my case, with limits of course but we were allowed to roam around the res area my grandma lived in, we just couldn't cross the main street, we could even go outiside to the bodega nearby.

You still see it in my country but not in a good way, pretty much kids running around bad neighborhoods at 11 pm on a weeknight making noise and shyt

 

[malbaker86]

Yes. I’m 38 (born in 86) and use to have freedom that kids now don’t have.

I trace A LOT of it back to families staying put for years in one place and everyone growing up knowing each other.

All the adults had the authority to “police” us if they saw us outside acting up even if your parent wasn’t around.