s/o: How did you, your friends and siblings handle being free range?

[Jean in Newcastle]

Were there any serious accidents or incidents that happened to you or those you knew growing up? Anything that today's new diligence would have prevented?

 

I remember lots of skinned knees and a dunking or two in the creek (actually more like an open sewer) but nothing serious. I was the victim of abuse by a neighbor but it would not have been solved by any of today's stranger danger advice. I got lost a couple of times and once I accepted a ride from a stranger. I knew immediately that I'd done something really dumb and was terrified until he dropped me off at the park.

[Murphy101]

Oh Heavens.

 

Dh and I are both in awe that either of us lived to adulthood.

 

Seriously.

 

Even if I had a cat's nine lives I should still npt have lived to see 18.

[Twilight Woods]

I dont know if my childhood experiences reflect how careful I am. I think I am more careful b/c of how things are present day.

 

I wish my kids could play freely like I did as a kid. Out when the sun came up and inside when the street lights came on.

 

 

I am suprised I survived. LOL. We were a bunch of trouble makers LOL.

[C_l_e_0..Q_c]

Nothing bad happened to me.

The only time I was a bit in danger, I was already 18, and taking a lift home with my *boss*... He's the one who crossed the line.

[justamouse]

I was out from breakfast till lunch and then back out until dinner up until I was 8. That was some serious free ranging. Rode my bike all over, no helmet.

 

I rode my sled into a tree and knocked myself out. I slid off a slide at the top and knocked myself out. I rode on the back of a friend's bike and got my ankle twisted in the wheel. I got stuck up a tree. I licked the lock on the metal shed and ripped the skin on my tongue off. It was Thankgiving, I ran in the house, my Aunt (a nurse) shoved a wad of paper towels in my mouth and that was that.

 

Drove all over the states when I was in HS and yeah, did some pretty stupid stuff then.

 

I lived! :001_smile:

 

My kids are outside now. I can't see them.

 

A friend works for homeland security He said you are safer hitch hiking now across county than in 69.

[SquirrellyMama]

There is only one thing that I can think of that may have been prevented but then again I don't know. I still wouldn't change most of my childhood to have prevented that one thing which is not something I would want to happen to any of my children. I try to be more aware when my kids are in a mixed age group of kids from toddler to teen.

 

Kelly

[twoforjoy]

What's funny is that I would NEVER have considered my mother "free range" when I was growing up. She wouldn't have, either. She was a very uptight, overprotective mom.

 

But, back then "overprotective" meant something very different than it does today. I was still allowed to walk to school (about 3 or 4 blocks from my house) alone from the time I was in second grade. I was allowed to ride my bike around the immediate neighborhood (probably a 1-mile radius or so) with friends when I was in 3rd and 4th grade. By the time I was in middle school I was allowed to go anywhere within walking distance, with friends, that I was willing to walk.

 

I didn't know anybody, honestly, who wasn't allowed to do those things. I thought my mom was overly protective because she wouldn't do things like drop me at the mall and let me shop with friends without adult supervision until I was in high school (many of my friends could do that in middle school). So the idea that so many parents today seem afraid to let an 11 or 12 year old even walk a block or two alone just seems totally out there to me.

[DianeW88]

Oh, wow. I, too, left the house after breakfast, wandered back in for lunch, then stayed outside until the streetlights came on....with a break for dinner, when my dad leaned outside the back door and whistled for us to come in. His whistle could be heard for miles. :D

 

I suffered from the usual scraped knees, maybe one mild concussion (from a tumble over a rock on my metal roller skates), various contusions and abrasions. No stitches, no broken bones. We played in a creek, in the woods, in a ditch, on the huge boulders in the ditch....you name it. No helmets were worn for any sport, bicycle, etc. and we all lived to tell about it.

 

My kids live much the same way, and except for three stitches my son had to get from climbing over a chain link fence and taking a chunk out of his shin last summer, things have been fine. And he's learned not to climb chain link fences. :D

[ondreeuh]

I wasn't free-ranged. My friend was, and once her little sister got hit by a car while riding her bike, and the driver put her in his car and dropped her off at her house. My friend (10?) called her mom at work and her mom had to drive 30 minutes home.

 

The same little sister almost got abducted twice. Once by a man who asked her to come to his car to see his puppies, and another time she got grabbed while walking on the sidewalk on Halloween.

[Sarah CB]

I had run-ins with three pedophiles - one flashed my friend and I, one had short short jean shorts and his bits kept falling out the bottom of them - he kept apologizing and putting them back in while he was talking to my friend and I about a lost dog. The last one was more graphic and disturbing.

 

My friend and I liked to explore abandoned buildings. We rode the sky train all over town at 9 (no, we did not tell our parents). We had someone tell us he was a modelling scout and wanted to take our pictures. We let him (nothing suggestive, just shots of us posing in a park). I still have no idea who the guy was.

 

We never did get physically hurt. Thank God.

 

At 16 I hitch hiked across Canada. In November. We were left on the side of the road in a rural area at 2am because I wouldn't "play my part" in gratitude to the man giving us a drive.

 

I try to give my kids space to figure things out. Dd has been able to bike away from our house from the age of about 12. She has taken trips (flown by herself) to Ontario three times now.

 

I have finally let the boys (11 and 9) walk to the corner store (about a 10 minute walk). We live on a busy road and the 11 year old isn't very good about being aware of things like cars so I've been nervous about letting them go. I'd like to let them cross the street and go explore the hills in front of our house, but I'm still too nervous. They do have an acre and a quarter to run around in here.

[nono]

What's funny is that I would NEVER have considered my mother "free range" when I was growing up. She wouldn't have, either. She was a very uptight, overprotective mom.

 

But, back then "overprotective" meant something very different than it does today. I was still allowed to walk to school (about 3 or 4 blocks from my house) alone from the time I was in second grade. I was allowed to ride my bike around the immediate neighborhood (probably a 1-mile radius or so) with friends when I was in 3rd and 4th grade. By the time I was in middle school I was allowed to go anywhere within walking distance, with friends, that I was willing to walk.

 

I didn't know anybody, honestly, who wasn't allowed to do those things. I thought my mom was overly protective because she wouldn't do things like drop me at the mall and let me shop with friends without adult supervision until I was in high school (many of my friends could do that in middle school). So the idea that so many parents today seem afraid to let an 11 or 12 year old even walk a block or two alone just seems totally out there to me.

 

Precisely my experience.

 

BUT, we did have two unsolved kidnappings at the time. One was the daughter of a pastor. The other was a family friend's daughter. This was in the early 70s. I don't think that in either case the children were ever found, nor any evidence of their foul play. It still bothers me to this day. Because it has never left me, and I live in a transient area, I'll probably end up being less free-range than my mother was for me. (Oh, and we don't have a mall within 45 minutes, so I'm off the hook with that as a measuring stick ;) ) I know this wasn't really what you were asking Jean, but I guess I ended up with emotional scars, and nothing physical, even though the events didn't happen directly to me.

Edited May 6, 2011 by nono

[Virg]

We had TONS of scraped knees and hands. My kids don't get scraped up nearly as often as I did. My brother and I each had a concussion. We climbed OR fir trees to the top, ran around our 55 acres and generally were a nuisance. We used to take snacks and backpacking packs and be gone for hours. We rode our bikes on the gravel since there was no pavement in our area. At 14 my brother rode his bike 7 miles to a job every day during the summer while my parents worked

 

At our daycare we rode our bikes all over town and to stores to get treats at about 11. I don't remember her worrying at all, even with the liability that we weren't hers.

 

ETA: I just remembered that one time when we were out playing while at a friends' house some man in a car approached us to give us candy if we'd get in. We had learned about stranger danger and ran back to her house and told. I don't think anyone did anything though. I certainly didn't talk to the police.

Edited May 6, 2011 by ds4159

[lynn]

How did we survive. LOL. We left after breakfast. Crossed creeks on some type of pipes (sewer, water, gas?) I never knew what they were it even went through a marshy area. Sledding down a hill that was also a main street. We had a drive in theatre across from our neighborhood and we would walk over there to watch the movie(s). But I could only stay for the first movie and my sister was suppose to walk me home but never did so I crossed this busy road and ran home by myself at age 8/9. I had a paper delivery route that brought me onto a busy road and maybe 1/2 mile/1mile by myself at 10/11. Could you imagine. We walked through the cemetary to the fire station to get candy. They had candy and coke machines. We rode bikes through a golf course, the big hill was just to hard to resist. Now would you let your kids do these things? One thing I will forever have in my memory is that moms would stand on the porch and call their kids home when it was supper time or time to come in for the night.

Edited May 6, 2011 by lynn

[ElizabethB]

My mother-in-law said there was a child in the neighborhood who died of a bicycle head injury that most likely would not have happened today. (The death occurred about 35 years ago.)

 

I know people who did minor stupid things that mildly damaged themselves and also some that did minor damage to public property.

[elise1mds]

My mother was overprotective but naive. She didn't so much 'let' me do things as simply did not know that I could or would do them. I used to ride my bike all over town. The day she found out, she flipped her lid because apparently there was an out-of-town construction crew working on the school I was driving past to get to the park. She had no clue where I went the second I started driving. To this day she has no idea that one of my boyfriends was emancipated and had his own apartment in a very rough neighborhood. She just knew he was 17. Heh. I suppose it was a good thing I got married at 18. College and I probably would have been an 'interesting' experience.

[elegantlion]

I could roam within finite limits. I never went far. We did have the local cousin of a neighbor kidnapped and killed while we were growing up. Until the found the person responsible things were on a tighter rein.

 

Dh was almost total free-range by design not choice. It is amazing he survived to adulthood, his family was quite surprised as well.

 

Ironically dh is the one who is more protective. He knows just how much trouble one can get into when left unsupervised. Ds also has a less wandering personality, he doesn't even like to take the dog for a walk by himself.

 

We're more free range in the technology department, which is where ds finds some of his freedoms.

[annlaura]

When I was 2, a man pulled up in front of our house and tried to lure me into his car with candy. My mom had stepped inside for a glass of water and was coming back out when she saw. Luckily in time. We used to dumpster dive after the college students moved out, ride bikes all over. We always had to let my mom know where we were going, but it could be pretty far. When we moved closer to downtown, we'd walk downtown all the time. We had to pass some really rough houses/kids to do so. The first couple times we had rocks thrown at us, so we went home. Mom made us go right back, saying we'd never be able to go anywhere if we showed we were afraid. There was a hill with railroad tracks at the bottom, and we'd just fly when we rode our bikes top speed down that hill. Why we never got hit by a car or train I'll never know. My sister and I took the city bus to the mall and a perv tried to get us to sit on his lap (we didn't) and followed us at the mall. We gave him the slip, then called our mom to pick us up. On a payphone. Remember making sure you had coins for a payphone just in case?

[regentrude]

The only thing I should not have done is hitchhike. A few not so good experiences there (I was 18). I will not let my kids hitchhike.

 

Other than that: in my home country it is STILL the norm that first graders walk themselves to school, that 5th graders use public transportation across the city, that teens go on weekend camping trips with their friends. I consider this normal and never had a bad experience doing any of these things.

 

The one thing that was definitely different when I was a kid: less traffic. Statistically, traffic poses by far the greatest risk to children nowadays. (And most of it is riding as a passenger in a car.) So, i am much more worried about my kids being hit by a car while biking, or being in an accident while riding with friends, than about anything else.

[annlaura]

Oh, and there was an attempted kidnapping one block up our street once. My parents sat us down, explained what the girl did right, told us what to do, and back out we went. I'm sure they were watchingg more carefully for a few days or something, and their message certainly got through. But we didn't stay inside or anything because of it.

[Shellydon]

Sure there were accidents that could have been prevented. I had two friends killed in a car accident as teens because they weren't wearing a seat belt (pre-seatbelt laws). I had had 2 friends suffer severe life altering head injuries from falling off of bikes without helmets - I am not sure helmets even existed. I had one classmate killed when riding the back of a truck. I know an 80 yo man that desperately wishes toddler car seats had been available in the 50s so his only son would still be alive today.

 

 

 

If you or I didn't get hurt or killed from accidents it wasn't because helmets, seatbelts and car seats etc aren't needed, it is because we were lucky.

 

 

I have worked in pediatric rehab units and have seen literally hundreds of children with severe brain injuries from bike falls without a helmet, being hit by cars when wandering the streets unsupervised, near death drownings and countless other injuries sustained because they were not being supervised by an adult. These children can no longer swallow, speak, walk, or think clearly. They will be disabled for life. If the adults that were charged to care for them had been a little more responsible, they would be living normal lives.

 

I am not impressed with the free range movement at all. You can teach children responsibility while ensuring their safety at the same time.

Edited May 6, 2011 by Sheldon

[Mommy22alyns]

I rode my bike all over with no helmet, including down a very steep road or two.

 

We meandered all over the subdivision by ourselves, even going to the pool without an actual parent.

[Jeannie in NJ]

around the age of 10, the neighborhood kids and myself would get on our bikes first thing in the morning in the summer and not have to be home till dark. We would ride miles out of town, trespass on a rancher's land and swim in his horse pond. When I was 16, I hitchhacked across Texas, I carried a knife concealed on me. One guy asked me to go home and spend the night with him, I said no and he did not pursue it. Another driver, a young college guy took me to the bus station and bought me a ticket to go the rest of the way to where I wanted to go. He warned me never to hitch again.

 

My dd, age 16, is very beautiful (complete strangers are always making comments to us) and since she was 11, mem have always stared at her. It creeps her out and has made her very street smart, She does take walks in our neighborhood, the only incident she has had was running into a fox. That scared her and she backed away and cut thru a neighbor's yard to get home.

 

My son on the other hand ,age 13, is special ed and he trusts everyone. It does not matter how many million times we can tell him not to trust everyone, he might still get himself into trouble so he is not allowed outside by himself.

[Carrie12345]

Everything was pretty fine.

 

I fell off my bike once, and a stranger bandaged me up.

I fell in the brook many, many times, lol.

My sister had a bear encounter.

I got lost in the woods a time or two, but managed to get back.

[NoPlaceLikeHome]

I don't believe in free range based on my experiences. I had 2 pedophiles try to take advantage of me and the proverbial guy in the car pull up to offer my girlfriend and I candy if we went with him:001_huh: Thank God I had a good head for the most part. I also had 2 classmates in 4th grade who were abducted and brutally murdered:( I experienced or witnessed severe bullying. I saw kids experiment with smoking and drinking and drugs at young ages. This was in fairly small, safe cities as well.

 

So based on my experiences I don't believe in free range.

 

IMHO one can still instill self reliance and responsibility without free ranging:)

[Capt_Uhura]

No accidents. I was thrown off a bridge once. I survived it. And b/c I survived it, I was stupid enough to do it several more times. ONly after a drought, did we see all the hazards down below that could have easily broken a neck or legs. I would get on my bike in the AM and be gone until dusk - swimming holes, friend's homes, ice cream stand....and there were no cell phones so no way to notify my mom where I was.

[shinyhappypeople]

All of the abuse I suffered occurred in my home. My situation isn't at all unique. Almost all abuse is perpetrated by a family member or family friend. Outside in the real world, I never had a problem.

 

When I was 5 I was walking to the little store at the end of the block by myself. Once, I went with my sister and her friend and they ditched me :( But I got home fine. When I was in 1st grade I went trick-or-treating with just me and my buddies. We walked all over creation without the slightest problem. Back then the streets were crowded with trick-or-treaters, so it was actually quite safe.

 

Throughout elementary school I rode my bike around the neighborhood, went to the corner store, played from morning till night. I got some bumps and bruises, but nothing serious. My mom left me and my older sister in the car while she went into the store or had to run a quick errand.

 

I lived in a half-dozen different neighborhoods from K-5 and no strangers ever approached me.

Edited May 7, 2011 by shinyhappypeople

[Joyofsixreboot]

We ran free but mostly in the woods and at the river. Just normal mishaps. I tend to give my kids much more slack than others I know. They have been hurt but my being there wouldn't have helped.

[cathmom]

I was not a free range child. Despite no horrible stories as some have mentioned, my mother kept pretty good tabs on me until the age of about 13. I was even the youngest, so it's not like she got easier as time went on. My children are not free-range either - there's no way to be where we live.

[Liz CA]

Same here. No bad incidents. But I grew up in a small town. We had no pedophiles, only a town drunk and he was a nice drunk. :001_smile: Everyobody knew everybody. If you fell off your bike on the south end, they knew whose child you were, sometimes they even knew you parents' phone number. :001_smile:Long time ago.

 

Dh grew up stateside and pretty much was free-range too without any horrible experiences. He lived in a much larger town and I would not have let my dc run free as they did in a town that size.

[AnitaMcC]

Oh Heavens.

 

Dh and I are both in awe that either of us lived to adulthood.

 

Seriously.

 

Even if I had a cat's nine lives I should still npt have lived to see 18.

 

Same here!!! LOL :lol:

 

One of my parents' running joke was that they had bets with co-workers to which one of us kids had to go to ER when my parents got home.

 

My brother broke his leg skiing one night. Dad got home around midnight. Ds was in bed already and didn't say anything. Next morning Dad saw the huge splint on brother's leg (from ankle to hip) and just calmly told brother to get in the car -LOL. Found out he broke his leg in two places and tore a knee ligament. He was in a full leg cast for 4 months and then a partial cast for another two months.

 

I have had three sets of stitches, a cracked foot, sprained knee, two broken fingers, messed up both hand palms when I tripped (broke several blood vessels so hands were so bruised and swollen that I couldn't use my hands for two weeks), sprained ankle once, had some black eyes and fat lips from getting hit by softball. I have flipped a three wheeler a few times, wiped out my Dad's dirt bike, fell off snowmobile when dad hit a huge snow bump. And more... LOL.

Edited May 7, 2011 by AnitaMcC

[Mosaicmind]

All of my abuse happened at home or wherever my "family" was. Although, my abuse was perpetrated by family, friends, and strangers. It never occurred outside while I was playing, if I was allowed to do that at all.

 

But, I know that the Lord gave me a brain and I will use it to keep my kids safe. I don't know what i would do if something happened that could have been prevented by me.

[FrogMom5]

Wow. Out from dusk till dawn. On Saturday's my dad would let us watch cartoons until mid-morning then say, "you're not gone yet?"

 

I zoomed down a long hill too fast on my bike and wiped out in the intersection. No one around so I somehow got myself home. No broken bones though.

 

Running through a trailer park a dog jumped the fence and ripped my ear in half. An older boy heard me crying and took me in to his mom - total strangers. She sent me home. I was about 5.

 

As a young teen, a friend and I took a ride with some guy we didn't know. He gave us cigarettes (I don't smoke but we took them anyway).

 

Oh, in first grade I walked to school daily, right past a drug dealer who sat on the corner, played a guitar and gave away "free candy!" I loved candy but never got brave enough to ask him for some.

 

There are more of these stories, some usual and some not, but when I think about it, I wonder how I survived. I don't feel comfortable letting my children have this much freedom because of the big things that happen nowdays, not the stuff I went through.

 

It's sad. Somehow, I think it gives confidence and develops problem- solving skills to get your tongue off a frozen pole (I did that too) or make it home after a big bike wipe-out.

 

There's a song that says children play inside so they don't disappear. That's song sums it up.

Denise

[Jumping In Puddles]

No problems here from freeranging. From 2nd grade and on, I walked to and from school (and home and back for lunch!) and rode my bike all over town.

 

When my mom started working (I think I was in 3rd grade) I walked home from school as usual and watched way, waaaaay too much tv. :001_huh: I don't know why but I had the whole world to explore and I was watching Leave it to Beaver.

 

I also got myself to all of my sport events. If I was signed up for softball, then I got myself to practice and games without being driven. Any classes I took afterschool, I got myself to. One day when I was 10, I rode my bike to a photography class at the school and when I came out, my bike was vandalized. I was so upset, I still remember the feeling I had when I saw my bike :crying:

[*Inna*]

I was free-range as everybody else I knew.

 

I was attacked several times, once was almost raped (the neighbors heard me screaming and fighting for my life- the guy was trying to strangle me).

 

We lived in a big city though, filled with all kinds of weird people.

[Peela]

Nothing bad happened to me.

A neighbours boy, same age as my brother, was hit by a car once. Happened exactly the same time I fell off my roller skates and broke my arm, so we all drove with my mum into the ER together. He had a broken arm too I think. I remember his parents panicking because he was badly bruised and shaken.

 

Had to leave home at 6.45am to get to school. Walk to the bus stop, catch a bus for half an hour, then catch a train for 20 minutes, then a 15 minute walk to school, and 3 days a week, choir practice (I loved choir) before school. I did that from age 9. Made me very independent. I remember getting up and being the only one up in the mornings and I would make mum her first cup of coffee and take it to her in bed before I left.

My son complains about the 15-20 minute bike ride to school.

[The Girls' Mom]

Home was the more dangerous place for me than anywhere I roamed to.

 

We were kind of kicked out of the house during daylight hours as a kid. I roamed MILES from home (we lived way out in the boonies) and nothing bad ever happened. The worst was probably when I was visiting my dad in town and got flashed by a pervert standing in his window.

[Heather in Neverland]

Oh Heavens.

 

Dh and I are both in awe that either of us lived to adulthood.

 

Seriously.

 

Even if I had a cat's nine lives I should still npt have lived to see 18.

 

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

[Anita in NC]

I'm surprised that my brother and I survived. Mom and dad didn't know where we were or who we were with.

 

Bad things happened. Stuff I don't want to go into.

 

We lived in a neighborhood and would be gone for hours doing things that we probably shouldn't have been doing.

 

Mom and dad never seemed to care what we were up to. Looking back I think they were quite neglectful as parents.

[Onceuponatime]

We were free range, but didn't really go anywhere by ourselves, it was usually with a friend or friends. I was much more careful than my brothers. Even so, I rode my bike and walked for miles with no problems. Most of the "problems" I had happened in public school or being babysat. That's probably part of the reason why I've rarely left my children with a baby sitter and homeschool them.

 

My husband was more free range as a boy than I was and lived in a poor neighborhood. He walked, rode his bike, and rode the bus, usually by himself. The worst that happened to him was getting bit by a stray dog. He also encountered worse issues in school. (That doesn't include the trouble he caused for himself when he was older.)

 

The only thing I remember negatively from my childhood roaming was when my bike buddy started meeting a man in a parked car when we were 16. It's a miracle she wasn't assaulted. Now that I think back, I wonder what in the world possessed her and why didn't I say anything?

[DawnM]

Well, unfortunately, yes, there were a LOT of accidents.

 

Just this past weekend a dear friend retold the story of her and her cousin climbing the falls. Her cousin slipped, fell, and broke her neck and died instantly.

 

Then we have friends whose son was eaten by a croc in the river, another friend whose son fell from the top of the falls, another friend whose son was bit by a black mamba, and another friend mauled by a cape buffalo.

 

And the above are the ones who didn't survive and just the ones off the top of my head. There are so many other stories to tell.

 

We were discussing what we did as kids at boarding school and how we would never let our own children do half of what we did unsupervised.

 

Maybe free range in the US is different, but I still see dangers out there and there is a limit to my free range ability.

 

Dawn

[Margaret in GA]

I grew up in rural TN. I am so grateful that my parents free ranged us, but honestly, scared the heck out of us about what could happen. For instance, they were terrified of drowning. So, we had swim lessons at an early age. My dad told stories all the time about some kid (insert made up name) he knew that... we laugh about it now. I do think we had a healthy fear combined with watchful, but not helicopter parents. We were not allowed to do things that were inherently dangerous like ride 4 wheelers (3 wheelers back then). We didn't drive a tractor until we were teens. Common sense stuff. However, we did play in rivers that had poisonous snakes, jumped around hay lofts, rode our bikes for miles on country roads, and had a loaded gun in our house. I just read this autobiography of Melissa Coleman and I am grateful my parents were more in touch than this poor girl's.

 

Margaret

[angela in ohio]

Oh Heavens.

 

Dh and I are both in awe that either of us lived to adulthood.

 

Seriously.

 

Even if I had a cat's nine lives I should still npt have lived to see 18.

 

Yep.

 

Dh almost froze to death in a shed because no one was home when he got off the bus, and he was just a little thing. The old "grandpa" down the street tried to abuse me (luckily I had seen "a very special episode of Webster/Different Strokes/etc." and ran out of there and never went back. :001_smile:) And I grew up with a false sense of security that led me to do STUPID things in college (catching a cab downtown in a big city at 2 a.m., etc.)

 

I grew up in a lovely small town. Bad things still happen to children without enough supervision.

[Lady Florida.]

We walked or biked everywhere. We went to the store, the park, the creek. None of us in the neighborhood was ever allowed to go alone though. The buddy system was not only encouraged, but required. We played outside nearly all day, and had to come in when the street lights came on.

 

My cousin and I got tired of walking to the ice-cream store one day and decided to hitchhike. We were about 13 at the time. A man picked us up, and after a few minutes we both got creeped out by him, and told him to let us out. He assured us he would take us where we wanted to go, but reluctantly (it seemed to us) let us out. To this day when we talk about it we don't know if we narrowly escaped, or if he was perfectly harmless. That was the first and only time I ever hitchhiked.

Edited May 7, 2011 by floridamom

[ocelotmom]

My best friend got a fractured skull and concussion when she rode a bike into a parked car. No lasting damage that I'm aware of, though. (I'm not sure whether this qualifies as free-range or freak accident - we were around 10 at the time, and her mom was riding only a bit ahead).

 

We all had to wear helmets after that. And I admit that I'm thankful for the helmet laws for un-dorkifying them because there was a lot of social pressure to not wear them when I was a kid.

 

I had a few injuries that got me an ER trip (possible broken arm while roller skating, broken finger when a friend's brother smashed my hand in a gate), but both were freak accident type things that could have happened with closer supervision, too.

 

I know I was playing at the school playgound across the street from my house and going to friends' houses within about a block alone by the time I was 5 or 6, walking/riding to my friends' house about 10 blocks away by the time I was 7 or 8, going to the store, library, and walking to school alone (within 4 blocks) by the time I was 10. As a teen, I could pretty much go anywhere I wanted within our community during the day, and by mid-teens I was out after dark and taking the bus or going out with friends within the larger metro area, as well. And I saw my parents as overprotective :)

Edited May 7, 2011 by ocelotmom

[Mejane]

My best friend and I rode all over town on our bikes when we were 12-15. Most of the time, we were fine, but we were followed by guys a few times and had to dart off somewhere safe. Thankfully, we knew almost everyone in town, so there was always a 'safe house' to head to.

[MariannNOVA]

To my chagrin, I was and still am a helicopter parent.

[PiCO]

My brother & I were very free-range, from a young age. We went for long hikes in the woods behind our house, bike rides of 10+ miles, we were gone all day many times.

 

I crashed on my bike once, and had major road rash. I had to ride home. My brother & I checked my arms & legs for broken bones first. I think I was in 4th grade at the time.

[Mommyfaithe]

I'm surprised that my brother and I survived. Mom and dad didn't know where we were or who we were with.

 

Bad things happened. Stuff I don't want to go into.

 

We lived in a neighborhood and would be gone for hours doing things that we probably shouldn't have been doing.

 

Mom and dad never seemed to care what we were up to. Looking back I think they were quite neglectful as parents.

 

This is our story ( my brother and I.). We are scarred and d,am aged due to the neglect. My kids have freedom, but are not ever free range. There is a way to have both freedom to become independent and security to be safe. There is safety in numbers...no one goes anywhere without an older sibling...or mom or dad. We live in the country...so there is lots of roaming that can be done without coming in contact with pedophiles or peers who have nothing better to do than get in trouble. I am glad I keep my kids safe from that peer pressure...as this week I found out

1. A little boy that was in my Sunday school class for years, was brutally murdered by a 24 year old woman,...he was now 15, she has sex with him, shot him up with methadone and then her boyfriend beat him to death.

 

2. One of the boys I did daycare for when he was little...now 22, was just arrested for felony robbery....he robbed many houses in our area.

 

Both of these kids were free range kids always. Both of their mothers at one point or another had issues with me for being " over protective". And wanted to know how my kids were going to learn how to be adults if I didn't give them lots of freedom to mKe choices......seriously.

 

My kids have tons of choices....just not the choice to go off by themselves and get in trouble. That choice is just not available to them.

 

My brother and I fell into all sorts of trouble in our freedom to make decisions and lack of supervision. We grew up in the city and had all kinds of ways to get into trouble...life altering trouble...and we did. We both paid heavily for my parents neglect. I will not have my children go through the same pain.

 

Faithe

[Impish]

I wasn't free ranged at all as a kid.

[Mommyfaithe]

I wasn't free ranged at all as a kid.

 

Lucky!!!