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

[bzb]

for those who grew up "pre-internet"...most definitely had more outside time than kids today. playing bball at random spots with kids we didn't know, eventually becoming friends. walking to the corner store or candy house. throwing stuff at the fenced up dog until it got out and we ran.

back in the day shyt

 

[Wig Twistin Season]

Facts. I was 11 years old walking a mile home from school and going home to an empty house. My parents wouldn’t get home until about 8 o clock. All my friends were doing the same, so of course this is when young brehs at my school either got into sports or fukkery. My little crew all lived around each other, so we would walk together, but that’s wild to think about now.

 

[King Poetic]

Yes

It was a time where a lot of parents was getting addicted to drugs

It was huge in my area in LA in the 70s and 80s where kids was out doing anything they want

 

[Elim Garak]

I was born in 86. For me it depended on your age, but by the time I was around 9 or 10 basically yes lol. Also I remember when my dad was out doing errands or ordering food he would make me interact with people and order my own shyt lol.

He would also make sure I learned how to do the other things he was doing like write a check. Sometimes kids aren't getting these types of experiences I think you need in life now.

 

[Rekkapryde]

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".

100% true

 

[Remote]

My mom literally said I had to be home when the street lights came on.

That meme was real.

When I was a kid in the summer time, all my friends and I would leave the house in the morning and would only come home to eat, then go back outside until 7 or 8 or 9.

No cell phones. No pagers.
And yeah we rode our bikes everywhere.

 

[Mordith]

Facts. I was off the porch at 5 years old which is why I'm cut from a different cloth than you sheltered nikkas....

 

[Gator48]

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

 

[Luke Cage]

I have a hoodie with the words "IGA Land" that my friends i grew u around made for all of us.
Because we essentially grew hanging around a neighborhood IGA store. Our lil block in a small ass town. We certainly roamed free.

 

[Eternally Jaded]

Yessir.

Born in the 80s so yeah we roamed.

Back home by the street lights was the rule, but often times me n my friends would come back from whatever adventure we'd been on and people in the neighborhood would be like

"your parents were outside calling for you"

Me " ...."

It used to be easy to tell where all the kids were by the bikes piled up in the front yard but then big kids would steal the bikes so we started tucking them around the back of the house.

Parents did NOT like that.

I remember in summer playing in the yard with friends after the streetlights came on, chasing n catching fireflies.

Now I can't remember the last time I saw one within the past twenty years.

It's like a piece of childhood magic that was lost with time.

 

[Krs2]

Yes and looking back at it some of this kids were doing some freak ass shyt at very young age honestly the sheltered life that kids have nowadays might be better

 

[ItWasMeThough]

Raised in the 2000s and my mom would barely let me go places by the time I was in HS. I had to be escorted by my lil brother who used to be some of everywhere lol. It’s crazy how I had more freedom in elementary than HS and I was a good kid. But one time, I did go to a friend’s house without permission and my mama beat my ass something serious. Looking back I definitely deserve it because she was scared out of her mind and thought something bad happened to me.

 

[MeachTheMonster]

Facts.

My mom would leave me with a $20 bill and wouldn’t see or hear from me all day.

She would drop us off at malls, parks, etc and just leave us there all damn day.

Used to catch the bus all over the city and beyond all by myself. No cell phone, barely any money.

And somehow i always made it home

Now if my kids are playing in the front yard i’m looking out the window at them.

They don’t do shyt by themselves

Even my 19 year old college student i’m pretty much still escorting her wherever she needs to go.

What’s crazy is, the world is way safer today than it was when i was a kid. I think millennial parents are just more present and caring. Your kids SHOULDN'T just be out in the world figuring shyt out on their own.

 

[ItsPeople]

Even in my later generation we were gone once the sun came up and back home for lunch, then dinner. Free to roam about, explore and get into easily get outable trouble.

Of course you had those helicopter parents that did too much and ended up stunting their child’s social development but largely kids were outside outside.

 

[RageKage]

I say yes