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re: Letting kids walk to/from school. Is the world really that much more unsafe?
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:03 am to sidewalkside
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:03 am to sidewalkside
I'll let my 12 year old walk places with a friend, but not by himself. And maybe I'm paranoid because of all the true crime and missing persons podcasts I listen to, but maybe it's because when I was 14 years old and sitting on the sidewalk of a very busy street uptown in broad daylight waiting for the school bus, some fat frick parked his car near me and pretended to read the newspaper until he full on started jerking off while staring at me. Predators will take advantage of an opportunity where they can find one. I don't feel bad about being overprotective of my kid.
2
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:08 am to sidewalkside
To me it's about infrastructure. I grew up in the suburbs of Philly and could walk or take a bike to school. I live in Ascension now, very close to the Prairieville High and Elementary.
There's no sidewalks to walk to school and I regularly see the high school kids walking near the ditch to get home. The speed limit on the road is 35 but people rarely drive that so it just feels unsafe.
Plus my kid is a fricking autist and barely remembers to even look before he crosses the road. I they eventually add sidewalks, I'd be a hell of a lot more comfortable with him walking to school.
There's no sidewalks to walk to school and I regularly see the high school kids walking near the ditch to get home. The speed limit on the road is 35 but people rarely drive that so it just feels unsafe.
Plus my kid is a fricking autist and barely remembers to even look before he crosses the road. I they eventually add sidewalks, I'd be a hell of a lot more comfortable with him walking to school.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:09 am to sidewalkside
not only did we ride our bikes to school; we had to cross a crazy-arse busy highway which got backed up during morning and afternoons when school let out.
you couldn't get to school right at the bell because there was NOWHERE to put your bike. the racks were overflowing and you had people locking their bikes to trees and other bikes.
i remember being driven to school only a handful of times when there was a TORRENTIAL RAIN (it was our next door neighbor) and she smoked all the way to school w/ the windows up
thats a memory i'll take to my grave.
eta i also have plenty of memories of walking or riding my bike home in the rain and going ape shite over mud puddles
man those were simpler times. the look on my mom's face when i walked up.
you couldn't get to school right at the bell because there was NOWHERE to put your bike. the racks were overflowing and you had people locking their bikes to trees and other bikes.
i remember being driven to school only a handful of times when there was a TORRENTIAL RAIN (it was our next door neighbor) and she smoked all the way to school w/ the windows up
thats a memory i'll take to my grave.
eta i also have plenty of memories of walking or riding my bike home in the rain and going ape shite over mud puddles
man those were simpler times. the look on my mom's face when i walked up. This post was edited on 7/25/25 at 10:12 am
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:09 am to sidewalkside
quote:
When I was a kid we walked to school.
We rode our bikes miles away where our parents had no idea where we were.
Same here. I would sometimes get a ride from a friends parents but often walked to my middle school that is exactly 1.3 miles from my childhood home.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:10 am to CAD703X
quote:
locking their bikes to trees and other bikes.
That's such a dick move.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:10 am to sidewalkside
Up until about 3 years ago I used to let my kids walk to the playground down the street and they’d ride their bikes around
People being shot at and Muslim women who do not stop at stop signs made me change my mind
Also we have a lot of abandoned houses, there are a lot of homeless people walking around, and there are a lot of group homes - it’s gotten really rough and people have been robbed
I’d like to say that most people wouldn’t bother a kid or a group of kids, but one of the people robbed was a teenage boy
People being shot at and Muslim women who do not stop at stop signs made me change my mind
Also we have a lot of abandoned houses, there are a lot of homeless people walking around, and there are a lot of group homes - it’s gotten really rough and people have been robbed
I’d like to say that most people wouldn’t bother a kid or a group of kids, but one of the people robbed was a teenage boy
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:12 am to lsu777
quote:
I mean Baltimore literally looked like the Wire in many places near downtown
I was in Baltimore last week and it hasn’t really improved
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:12 am to Chucktown_Badger
quote:damn baw. thats a haul for a wee kid.
often walked to my middle school that is exactly 1.3 miles from my childhood home.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:13 am to Chucktown_Badger
quote:kids were ruthless. no bike lock, no bike when you got out of school.
That's such a dick move.
better to piss off your buddy than lose your bike.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:14 am to sidewalkside
It depends, kids in my neighborhood play outdoor with no supervision all day, everyday, but it is an extremely safe neighborhood.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:17 am to Smeg
quote:
I think it would be pretty difficult to randomly abduct a child on the street, throw it in a van, drive off, and not get caught.
doesnt stop them from trying
my s/o gets all the school update/warning messages. theres been 3-4 in the last couple years where a guy has tried to abduct kids/asking them to get in their cars and theyll send the warning out to parents. nice neighborhoods north of denver.
i walked to and from school in louisiana and texas all the way up until high school but i get why it cant be that way now.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:20 am to jiffyjohnson
quote:society sucks now
i walked to and from school in louisiana and texas all the way up until high school but i get why it cant be that way now.
i'm going to sound like a bitchy old Gen-Xer but some of my best memories are walking home from school, running into that cute girl you liked and chatting her up, having pine-cone wars with the other kids, stopping at the super-ette for candy and there was always that 'rich' kid who had a couple of quarters in his pocket so you could stand there watching him play Playboy pinball, going exploring in the woods...
a simple walk home was never simple
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:24 am to jiffyjohnson
quote:
doesnt stop them from trying
my s/o gets all the school update/warning messages. theres been 3-4 in the last couple years where a guy has tried to abduct kids/asking them to get in their cars and theyll send the warning out to parents. nice neighborhoods north of denver.
i walked to and from school in louisiana and texas all the way up until high school but i get why it cant be that way now.
Yep. We know way too much now. We get alerts from my son's school, too. It's wild how many times we get a "suspicious persons" text throughout the year. Especially during after hours school events where kids are getting out of practices and club meetings after 5/6pm. We pay for security and all that jazz but it still doesn't stop these losers from trying.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:26 am to ILurkThereforeIAm
my son is 7 and I let him ride his bike around our urban neighborhood. Nobody would kidnap his arse and if they did, they’d dump his arse in a mile after he berated them with endless questions and insults.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:30 am to CAD703X
quote:
society sucks now
its a sinister reality that theres a supply and demand with kids. not even just your run of the mill outlier predator you gotta worry about.
maybe it was always that way and we got sheltered from it in the waning days of the 90s but you cant put anything past people.
i think its only a matter of time until kids have monitor drones that follow em around 6ft in the air behind and above em.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:33 am to sidewalkside
quote:My kids do all of these things, except I can know where they are if I check
When I was a kid we walked to school. We rode our bikes miles away where our parents had no idea where we were. We played outside without "eyes on" direct supervision by an adult.
This post was edited on 7/25/25 at 10:39 am
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:46 am to jiffyjohnson
quote:
i think its only a matter of time until kids have monitor drones that follow em around 6ft in the air behind and above em.
pretty sure that was a black mirror episode a few years back
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:48 am to Mid Iowa Tiger
quote:
I lived in Iowa, with a paper route when Johnny went missing. My parents (mom and step dad) changed nothing about me being out delivering papers at zero dark thirty.
Johnny was a one off.
Statistically, you were probably safer after Johnny got nabbed.
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:50 am to CAD703X
quote:
pretty sure that was a black mirror episode a few years back
havent seen an episode
but i believe it. itll probably land itself like an elon rocket to a hub on their backpacks. itll come equipped with blue pepper spray or something
Posted on 7/25/25 at 10:55 am to sidewalkside
quote:
took the streetcar home
Where did you go to HS?
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