When I was a kid my Dad worked as many hours as he could (had to) and my Mom had four younger kids
to worry about, so I pretty much got to wander around at will whether on foot or on a bike. I had freedom to
explore and experience the world around me whether good, bad or indifferent and it was an important
part in shaping me. I've had a chance to experience a lot of stuff that I never even dreamed of doing back then
but experiencing that sort of freedom as a little kid might've taught me that sometimes you do things on
a total whim and surprising things can result and most of them were good. Some of them were great. What
trouble and scary shit I found did not outweigh the cool stuff or make me afraid to roam around.
I pity kids today whose parents are fearful of letting their kids out of their sight without passing the baton
to yet another responsible adult. Big Adult is watching you. I pity the parents as well, but I understand that
things have changed and at least some of the reasons why. The small percentage of adults that want to
diddle kids have changed the fabric of our culture. I was not even aware such things existed until much later.
We weren't taught fear and mistrust of everything which is mandatory now.
I went out into deep woods and crossed swamps. Built rickety tree forts. I rode a bike through Boston at night. I camped
out in my friend's backyards and stayed up all night wandering the streets at 10 years old with my friends
talking about everything. Got chased by wild dogs. Took the red line to Fenway with my friends when we were
7. A million things like that too numerous to mention. I got to know the physical world before the digital
world existed.
Humans are very adaptable creatures and I don't know that being a captive of a helicopter parent is going
to result in a generation of screwed-up kids turning into screwed-up adults whose lives have been idiot-proofed
and curated for them. But......yeah. It might.
One thing is for sure, though. freedom for kids no longer exists and I find that very sad.
