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

[Devilinurear]

I grew up in NYC
I was roaming the neighborhood by like 11

 

[Jaylen Tatum]

I was born in the 80s and i couldnt go off anywhere until i was like 13. my mom was protective and she always told me the story of adam walsh.

 

[Dallas' 4 Eva]

I was born at the ass end of the 80's and we used to be outside growing up. That's also why we aren't anti social weirdos like these kids now because we had to actually interact with other human beings.

 

[zayk35]

It's not a myth at all, parents didn't worship at the alter of the child like they do today.

 

[WIA20XX]

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.

It's a vicious cycle.

Sometimes the only reason parents knew other parents, is because their kids played together.

 

[Luke Cage]

crazy thing is people used to keep their dogs outside back then, So everybody had a story of being chased by a dog back then.
But nowadays only time you see dogs outside is when people are walking them. Low key safer for kids now from that perspective.

 

[FTBS]

Compared to now? Yes. Compared to the 60, 70s, 50s? Nope. I am at the stories my parents and aunts and uncles tell me about what they were doing. They was on some Tom Sawyer shyt back then We we outside and got into shyt but there were limits. Thats the era where parents starting being concerned about abductions and molestors.

I was born in the 80s and i couldnt go off anywhere until i was like 13. my mom was protective and she always told me the story of adam walsh.

Yeah you had that and "I know my name is Steven" and other stories at the time. I feel like that was the start of "don't talk to strangers". I could be wrong. But I know that shyt was beat over our heads.

 

[Don Snow]

crazy thing is people used to keep their dogs outside back then, So everybody had a story of being chased by a dog back then.
But nowadays only time you see dogs outside is when people are walking them. Low key safer for kids now from that perspective.

Growing up in Brooklyn as a young kid I vividly remember all the stray dogs

 

[darkmanp]

Most definitely true. I lived in a rural area in NC when I was a kid (in the early 90s). During the summer my parents would leave me and my brothers at home for my oldest brother to watch us. But we all did our own thing once the parents left.

One of my friends lived about 4 miles away. I remember when I was 11 years-old walking those backroads, often by myself to my friends place. I remember one time this old white did stop by the side of the road and offered me and one of my brothers a ride. We being naive accepted his offer and got on the back of his truck. We were lucky he was an honest dude and took us to our destination.

When we went to our friends place, we would often walk deep into the woods (miles) just to see what we would come across. Lucky for us it was just deer, snakes, and animal carcasses. We often went swimming in a creek that we later discovered had water moccasins.

Things we did back then I wouldn't dare allow a kid of mine to do today.

 

[$cam-U-Well_Jack$on]

Fact.

 

[threattonature]

Compared to now? Yes. Compared to the 60, 70s, 50s? Nope. I am at the stories my parents and aunts and uncles tell me about what they were doing. They was on some Tom Sawyer shyt back then We we outside and got into shyt but there were limits. Thats the era where parents starting being concerned about abductions and molestors.


Yeah you had that and "I know my name is Steven" and other stories at the time. I feel like that was the start of "don't talk to strangers". I could be wrong. But I know that shyt was beat over our heads.

I Know My First Name Is Steven was the name and that just took me way back.

By my teenage years I was set loose running around. Luckily I was more of a nerd that just cared about video games and sports and wasn't outside wilding. I definitely had the chance too. Once I hit 16 and got a girlfriend I was out to 4 or 5 in the morning. No shock I ended up knocking her up.

 

[Devil Plisken…CMS]

Yes

 

[WIA20XX]

Making kids come back inside all started because of Adam Walsh

Murder of Adam Walsh - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

John Walsh, father of Adam, became the host of a show called America's Most Wanted.

Which became a fear mongering show (racists and white conservatives loved this show and these types of shows), and helped a certain network (Fox) get paid and become the force of nature that is it (imo), leading to Fox News.

It took about a generation, generation and a half, but parents who played outside themselves would not let their own kids play outside.

So along with video games, social media, and smartphones - we put our kids mostly in structured and digital environments instead of the real world.

 

[Byronml]

In the summer I remember only coming home for lunch and bed

I miss this part of my youth.

During the school year we'd just leave a note on the counter of the area we were in and then turn up right before dinner, or after if we were staying over a friend's house for dinner.

 

[7th Letter Specialist]

Hell yea. Don’t get me wrong, in my single digits I couldn’t go past the sidewalk, but I didn’t listen lol. But yea, we were all over the place. The only place where you didn’t see kids outside or just roaming was the suburbs.


Ay..we really used to literally be outside all day. Like ALL fùcking day…not me tho. I had to take breaks from outside and recharge.