Protecting the Free-Range Kid

[Smitty-48]

Jesse talks about danger on the subway, for my grade 7 graduation, we had a big party at the rich kids house, and we were down in the raveen behind, smooching with the girls in the woods, and then one of the guys finds this access tunnel to the subway, which somebody had left unlocked, and we're like, let's go down the ladder and see what its like down there, and the girls start taking off their dresses so they wouldn't get dirty, just wearing the slips underneath, oh my goodness did I get a chubb dog going then, no way we weren't gonna show these girls how it was done, so next thing you know, we're down in the subway tunnels, running around on the tracks, and as you might imagine, the subway did show up eventually, so we jumped to the side and pressed ourselves up against the wall, we didn't really know if there was enough room, seemed pretty tight, so as the train is coming, one of the girls reaches out and grabs my hand, and we just grinning ear to ear with the thrill of it as the train blows buy "whooooooooooooo!"

That was the best night of grade 7 right there, right thur.

[Okeefenokee]

You all sound like you had idyllic free-range childhoods.

It comes with white privilege.

[Okeefenokee]

Back before I was an upstanding law abiding member of society, I was out a joy ride with my partner in crime in a vehicle we had acquired. I veered off the road and down a grassy hill. Being away from the street lights, I felt around on the dash for the headlights, but couldn't find them. I hit the brakes and slid for a couple hundred feet on the wet grass, felt around on the seat for the flashlight, and got the headlights turned on.

When the headlights came on, both of us doubled over in laughter and couldn't get up for a good three minutes. The car was stopped less than three feet from a cliff with something like a fifty foot drop. That's one of those times I look back on from a much different perspective than I had back then.

[MilSpecs]

You all sound like you had idyllic free-range childhoods.

It comes with white privilege.

[Montegriffo]

Back before I was an upstanding law abiding member of society, I was out a joy ride with my partner in crime in a vehicle we had acquired. I veered off the road and down a grassy hill. Being away from the street lights, I felt around on the dash for the headlights, but couldn't find them. I hit the brakes and slid for a couple hundred feet on the wet grass, felt around on the seat for the flashlight, and got the headlights turned on.

When the headlights came on, both of us doubled over in laughter and couldn't get up for a good three minutes. The car was stopped less than three feet from a cliff with something like a fifty foot drop. That's one of those times I look back on from a much different perspective than I had back then.

One of the things me and my mates used to do was climb up an old oak and chuck ourselves off a 12' high bough onto a pile of hay. I went back to the tree as an adult and was shaking so much when I got onto the same bough I couldn't imagine why I used to do it. Experience teaches us things that we can only learn the hard way as a child.

[Smitty-48]

Big city was where it was at growing up, my wife out in the subburbs, she couldn't get nowhere on her own until she was 16, meanwhile, when I was 7-8-9, I'm going dowtown on the subway to the comic shop, and then just wandering around all over on my own, bright lights big city, nobody hovering over me at all, seemed completely normal to me, wasn't spooked about it, and neither were my parents.

[Montegriffo]

Big city was where it was at growing up, my wife out in the subburbs, she couldn't get nowhere on her own until she was 16, meanwhile, when I was 7-8-9, I'm going dowtown on the subway to the comic shop, and then just wandering around all over on my own, bright lights big city, nobody hovering over me at all, seemed completely normal to me, wasn't spooked about it, and neither were my parents.

Yeah I was pretty naive when I got to Düsseldorf as a 7 year old, had to wise up and toughen up pretty quick to survive. A lot of the other army brats came from poorer inner city backgrounds.

[Okeefenokee]

[LVH2]

I think part of it is the constant visualization of worst case scenarios. You spend a lot of time imaging these molestaction and murder cases and how you'd feel.

Though that doesn't explain being afraid of the jungle gym and broken bones. Maybe too much female influence.

Reminds me, I worked for a consumer and environmental non profit out of college. One of their dumber moves was to claim playgrounds were dangerous, using all these trumped up statistics. X% of childhood injuries occur on playgrounds.

No shit, should we expect them to occur at the dmv?

[MilSpecs]

I think part of it is the constant visualization of worst case scenarios. You spend a lot of time imaging these molestaction and murder cases and how you'd feel.

Though that doesn't explain being afraid of the jungle gym and broken bones. Maybe too much female influence.

Reminds me, I worked for a consumer and environmental non profit out of college. One of their dumber moves was to claim playgrounds were dangerous, using all these trumped up statistics. X% of childhood injuries occur on playgrounds.

No shit, should we expect them to occur at the dmv?

To add to the fear of a child disappearing, there are few feelings as frightening as suddenly realizing your child is gone. It happens to moms the most because we're usually with the children more often. It gets seared into your memory.