I'm glad that you have a neighbor who is also reliable on the block. I think that was part of why it was different when I was a kid - where/when I grew up (New Jersey in the 80s), all the kids played on the block from a very young age, and all the parents knew all the kids. We could roam as far as the park when we were little (about a half a mile away - I just googled it because I wasn't sure, lol), but also one of my friend's backyard faced the park, so legitimately if something happened we could have run there.
We walked to school (also a half mile! It's funny googling the distances because my little kid concept of how far away things were can be weird), but when I was very young I walked with my older sister, and when she moved on to junior high (which was just next door to the elementary but I think it started at a different time) and high school, I walked with my neighbor friends.
It was DRILLED into me about safety and not talking to strangers (I even owned a board game called Don't Talk To Strangers) by my New Yorker parents. Ergo we also had some free reign when I would stay at my cousin's house in the Bronx - I remember distinctly walking to the shop with her by ourselves to buy candy and those little firecracker poppers, and in that case I was the older one. Her mom was utterly shocked that I used the stove by myself when I was nine, but didn't think twice about us walking to the shop, lol.
But then I moved here, and it was a whole different world. Kids did not play together on the block, neighbors did not know neighbors, and kids had no sense of safety. MORE THAN ONCE my bestie in high school would have accepted a ride from a group of strange men in a car except I grabbed her by the collar, told them no on our behalf, and then lectured her for the rest of the day about how that was super dangerous - and we were teenagers by then. She was from rural Oklahoma, where nobody locked doors and she thought I was super paranoid for doing so.
So, yeah - it's super circumstantial!
Wow!! It’s so crazy how different times and different places effect how you were brought up. We had the same experience growing up, it was a free range thing and as you stated parents knew the kids as well as parents knew each other. It’s sad how neighbors really don’t look out for each other as they used to. Maybe in some place it’s still like that.
Lol that was funny about the stove and walking to the store. That was one of our favorite things to do, stock up on gum and candy back then. 😄 I totally agree with it being circumstantial. Thank you so much for such a nice response ;)
Whenever I hear those mad stories about parents getting in trouble for letting their kids walk to school, or another parent calls CPS because their kids were playing ON THE BLOCK, I'm like ...where did those paranoid people calling CPS grow up?? Surely their parents weren't THAT helicopter, were they? O.o So that's another weird thing to factor in nowadays - how off the charts are the neighbors, instead of being able to depend on each other for help! I don't understand that mentality at all.
I sooo agree! It’s just the opposite now . Instead of relying on neighbors it’s almost like you have to keep your business to yourself. I don’t understand it either. It’s so sad when you can’t depend on your neighbors.
Yep. I hate that mentality. Like sometimes I like the site NextDoor, because you see people helping each other, but then you also see petty judgemental nonsense, and I lose all hope for humanity. LOL