| Hi - glad you're interested! My email's in my bio if you want to drop me a line. Yes, kids are effectively prisoners until they can drive. Can I ask where you grew up (what country, or region, etc)? That's really cool re: forest. We're near a nature preserve but I don't yet feel comfortable with my kids going on their own. When the 6 year old is 8 or 9 I might though. I see kids around 9 years old biking to school on their own here, but I live in Hilversum, which is on the crappier end of bike infra for the Netherlands. And yes, it's an exhausting, soul destroying full time job (on top of your other full time job). It can be mom or dad playing taxi but usually it's mom. I've known wealthier parents who just got their kids Ubers too. Stranger things is great, and one of the things that is remarked upon is how different the 80's were from now. This is discussed at https://www.freerangekids.com/why-its-hard-to-raise-your-kid... for instance. Single parents (ones without a coparent, specifically) have it really, really, really hard. Anyway you basically just described why having kids is so hard. |