Author Topic: Kids walking to school  (Read 4990 times)

nobodyspecial

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Kids walking to school
« on: October 10, 2015, 08:45:52 PM »
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/10/why-japanese-kids-can-walk-to-school-alone/408475/?single_page=true

Growing up in the UK in the 70s I walked to school, I took 2 buses to high school from age 10.
I now live in a small town that is such a good community it is almost a pastiche of "A wonderful life" and kids all play outside all day unsupervised

vhalros

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2015, 10:23:13 PM »
I walked to school starting at age 6, some time in the 80's. Now in the US that is apparently unthinkable?

ahoy

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #2 on: October 11, 2015, 01:08:26 AM »
That is really amazing!  I too was out and about when I was fairly young.  Could not imagine riding subways at that age alone.   I encourage my own daughters 12 yrs and 9 yrs to go down the road to the park or corner store together.  Apparently its not strangers we should be worried about, it's the people we know that harm us.

BlueMR2

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2015, 05:40:09 AM »
I also walked to school alone at a very early age.  Not all the time as we tried to all walk together, but it was often alone.  Not a big deal then, not sure why it is now.  The figures show that crime, especially crimes against children such as kidnapping, continue to decrease.  It's safe NOW than it was then...  As a previous poster noted, it's also not strangers that present the highest risk...

nobodyspecial

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #4 on: October 11, 2015, 09:30:43 AM »
I wonder if all the media hype has made it more dangerous?

While cycling I have deliberately avoided helping a kid who had fallen off their bike and was lying there crying. Because as a lone man I was afraid of being seen approaching a child.

I don't think a crying 5year old would be ignored on the streets in Japan.
 
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 01:43:37 PM by nobodyspecial »

BlueMR2

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #5 on: October 11, 2015, 03:45:16 PM »
While cycling I have deliberately avoided helping a kid who had fallen off their bike and was lying there crying. Because as a lone man I was afraid of being seen approaching a child.

Yeah, I didn't even think about that, but it's so true.  As a male, if I'm out on my own I often take different routes (or if that's not possible, cross the street and walk on the "wrong" side) just to avoid children and lone females.  All it takes is one false accusation and your life is over.

nobodyspecial

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2015, 04:14:53 PM »
I was in the UK - where the tabloids prompt mobs to attack pediatricians/paediatricians

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/vigilante-mob-attacks-home-of-paediatrician-710864.html
« Last Edit: October 11, 2015, 06:46:42 PM by nobodyspecial »

Pigeon

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #7 on: October 11, 2015, 05:04:59 PM »
I live in one of the statistically safest places in the country for a town this size.   It is a reasonably upscale suburb.  Last year, there were three attempted child abductions, two of them in spitting distance of my house, the third also pretty close by.  A guy tried to get kids who were walking to school to get in his car.  The police think at least two of these were the same guy, but he never was caught.

I'm not so blasé about it anymore. 

11ducks

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #8 on: October 18, 2015, 01:56:57 AM »
I read too many cases of child abductions in my early criminology days. The James Bulger case terrified me for years. Or imagining the absolute horror of a parent whose child has been stranger kidnapped and might be anywhere, going through god knows what terror. I would love to feel that sense of trust/community that those Japanese societies must have.

I know the statistics are tiny, and super unlikely. But still, the absolute fear, when you are at the shops and momentarily lose your child, its heart-stopping. The stakes are so high, and I think i'd torment myself forever if something happened to him that I may have been able to prevent had I been there. 

With my DS now a strapping 11 yr old, (5'4, and 115 lbs), he is probably big enough to do more on his own. I let him stay home for 15mins if I'm walking the dog around the block, he races his bike the last block or two home alone. I'm getting more comfortable as he becomes more physically able to defend himself, able to problem-solve and reason, not freeze in an emergency, and speak confidently to adults (he was a quiet, passive younger child). I feel like that if, god forbid, someone tried to entice him/physically harm him, he'd have a decent shot of helping himself to survive.

I don't regret the 'helicoptering' though, in this aspect. Kids are kids for such a short period of time.

La Bibliotecaria Feroz

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2015, 09:25:41 AM »
I read too many cases of child abductions in my early criminology days. The James Bulger case terrified me for years. Or imagining the absolute horror of a parent whose child has been stranger kidnapped and might be anywhere, going through god knows what terror. I would love to feel that sense of trust/community that those Japanese societies must have.

I know the statistics are tiny, and super unlikely. But still, the absolute fear, when you are at the shops and momentarily lose your child, its heart-stopping. The stakes are so high, and I think i'd torment myself forever if something happened to him that I may have been able to prevent had I been there. 

With my DS now a strapping 11 yr old, (5'4, and 115 lbs), he is probably big enough to do more on his own. I let him stay home for 15mins if I'm walking the dog around the block, he races his bike the last block or two home alone. I'm getting more comfortable as he becomes more physically able to defend himself, able to problem-solve and reason, not freeze in an emergency, and speak confidently to adults (he was a quiet, passive younger child). I feel like that if, god forbid, someone tried to entice him/physically harm him, he'd have a decent shot of helping himself to survive.

I don't regret the 'helicoptering' though, in this aspect. Kids are kids for such a short period of time.

It might be time to let him do more, but so much depends on the kid. The book Protecting the Gift has really good tips about how to spot and avoid predators and how to tell if your child is ready to go around on their own. I highly recommend it. (Even if you do not grill your day care center with their 193-point checklist.)

For instance, he says you should teach your kids to ASK for help, preferably from another mom. NEVER accept help from a stranger who approaches you. While that person almost certainly means well, the person YOU approach is a safer bet than the person who approaches you. Etc.

nobodyspecial

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2015, 04:59:12 PM »
I know the statistics are tiny, and super unlikely. But still, the absolute fear, when you are at the shops and momentarily lose your child, its heart-stopping
So the logical response is to buy an off-road/industrial vehicle so high that the children barely come up to the top of the wheels.
Double park in front of the school with all the other military grade 4x4 and let the children out to run across the road to their friends between all this maneuvering heavy plant.

 

meep

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2015, 05:35:34 PM »
My 6 year old walks to school like most kids here. Unlike most kids I have a small gps unit in his school bag. Sure, the chances of an abductor tossing the heavy bag is pretty high but at least we'd have a starting point. It's supposed to be $4/month but because it's so unpopular it's free for the first 3 years if it's being used for a child.

kite

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #12 on: October 19, 2015, 06:22:24 AM »
While cycling I have deliberately avoided helping a kid who had fallen off their bike and was lying there crying. Because as a lone man I was afraid of being seen approaching a child.

Yeah, I didn't even think about that, but it's so true.  As a male, if I'm out on my own I often take different routes (or if that's not possible, cross the street and walk on the "wrong" side) just to avoid children and lone females.  All it takes is one false accusation and your life is over.

Fear of false accusation from an interaction on a public street stems from same place as fear of stranger abduction.  It's wildly disproportionate to the actual.......near zero....risk. 

GuitarStv

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #13 on: October 19, 2015, 06:56:24 AM »
I know the statistics are tiny, and super unlikely. But still, the absolute fear, when you are at the shops and momentarily lose your child, its heart-stopping
So the logical response is to buy an off-road/industrial vehicle so high that the children barely come up to the top of the wheels.
Double park in front of the school with all the other military grade 4x4 and let the children out to run across the road to their friends between all this maneuvering heavy plant.

 

That's silly.  Your children will be far too fat from lack of outdoor exercise to be able to run . . .

MerryMcQ

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Re: Kids walking to school
« Reply #14 on: October 25, 2015, 05:59:58 PM »
I had three "close calls" when I was a kid. The first was a man trying to pull my step-sister in his car when I was 6 and playing in front of my home in a very nice, upscale neighborhood. I screamed and grabbed her, and he took off. The second was when I was 12 and followed by a group of young men in a park by our home. I luckily was riding my horse and ended up seeking help at a home that I was able to ride to up a steep trail. The third time I was 17, camping with a girlfriend, and had two very drunk, armed men come into our camp.

I was a product of the free-range parenting and roamed both urban (downtown Portland) and rural areas by myself. Looking back, I can't believe my parents were as lax about it as they were. (To be fair, after the camping incident, my dad taught me to shoot a handgun and then told me I either had to take a gun or a 120 lb mean guard dog with me camping from then on...)

I don't allow my children to go places on their own, although I will let them walk together in a group (at 11 & 13).  I don't consider myself a helicopter parent, but I also don't minimize the dangers around us.