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by Cthulhu_
2969 days ago
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And there you have the crux of the matter. On the one hand, I'm sure cities have gotten larger, traffic a lot busier, suburbia becoming busier, etc. On the other, parents are afraid, and get told by e.g. the media to be afraid - there's child snatchers around every corner, for example. But what are the distances kids have to travel to school or their friends nowadays vs back then? I mean the school bus was a thing back then too. |
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This highly depends on the area, at least with schooling. In Indiana, it was around a half mile when I was a child in the 80's. This was where the school wouldn't bus you. Sometimes in high school, it was around a mile. Some folks have to walk a mile and a half.
My sister just spent some time in Connecticut - there were no busses for anyone. Only one of the busy roads had a crossing guard and things for elementary students.
For playing and whatnot, I think this highly depends on area and parents. While I could walk to a friend's house in the same neighborhood in the town I grew up in, my sister often couldn't because the town of 40,000 we lived in was a normal, sprawled, midwestern town and it was often too far to walk. By the time my brother (11 years younger than me) reached some of those ages, they moved to a rural location and distances got further. I had friends with much more freedom than I had, however: My mother was fairly strict.