Thats a problem with messed up North American culture. Kids should be able to go outside by themselves in cities. They do exactly that all over the world. In places much more dangerous then normal city in US. I commuted to school at age of 9, having to switch streetcars and walk for 15 mins. Total time of about 40 mins one way. Often I would walk back through the city instead, this would take about 2 hours of wondering through city of more then 2 million. I love cities, but I also love countryside in different way. I despise suburbs.
>Thats a problem with messed up North American culture. Kids should be able to go outside by themselves in cities. They do exactly that all over the world
They did exactly that in the US too, up until the eighties -- and at a time when cities had crime rates even higher than today.
There is this nice article from the Austin Chronicle about it (pdf):
I mean a 2-8 year old in Chicago? I consider myself not a helicopter parent.. but that seems like bad news.
Now living in a smaller town.. she can go up and down the block alone. Not worried about it. Chicago was different. We had drug dealers living a block away, and a shooting about once per week. (And this was in a middle of the road neighborhood)
