lol hansel and gretel in 2010

i grew up in the city. i was allowed to be in the city on my own when my parents felt i was old enough to handle it.

at some point as a parent you have to understand that your kids may go out the door and not come back. you can't protect them forever; you teach them what you can and then you have to let them try and fall, if they do. you're actually doing more to protect them by making them learn to protect themselves.

My talents lie elsewhere, dear

LOL at this response also being in the wrong place. No offense. It's funny.

!! I know! i had it in the right place, submitted the comment, and then clicked submit again for some idiotic reason. He's right, I'm not very good at quoting on gothamist. ;)

I notice when I "reply" to a name and then go to make another comment that I want to be it's own thread, I have UN-click "replying to whomever" before I submit again because the system thinks I want to reply again to the same person.

I just need to pay better attention to what I'm doing. it's difficult to hide Gothamist from my bosses nosy eyes all day!

get a room you two

holy christ - wtf

many children ride buses and subways because they have to. to get home, to school. it is not an experiment in freedom. it is necessity, they had to learn at an early age to navigate the city they live in.

what a privilege to offer your child a metro card to get home and hear all about the adventure. fucking white people and their challenges. this is a REAL first world problem.

Wow. Amazing. The article author gets it wrong form the start and the commenter continue. She didn't abandon her son and kick him out of the house. He asked her to let him do it, they picked a place that he was familiar with (and had gotten home from together in the past), prepared him for his adventure and let him go.

What she didn't do was hover over him every moment of every day and try to stop him from learning to be an individual. She didn't cower from all the media hype and TV violence that makes people think the world is filled with child stealing strangers (crime is down, which is why when it happens it makes such news). She didn't give up against the other over-protective parents who are pushing to ban kids from riding bikes to school, walking home, going to the mall without a parent's constant presence.

She is advocating giving our children the power to be individuals. To make the decision when we feel that they are ready for new roles and new responsibilities.

She isn't advocating neglecting our kids, the whole idea is to teach them the skills, and then when they are ready to let them have the freedom that you feel is appropriate. She isn't mandating that everyone do it, she isn't setting deadline for when you have to let your kid do anything. You can't say that of the fear-filled parents our there who are trying to mandate what and who and when our kids can grow up, if ever.

Could something happen to you child? Sure. Would it be the worst tragedy to ever occur? Probably. Is it worth living a life full of fear, never letting your child grow up and learn to care for them self, have adventures, learn lessons (even the hard way)? For me, a resounding no. Does that make Ms. Skenazy (or any of the rest of us 'free-range' parents) irresponsible parents? No, in fact, we are taking responsibility and making our own choices for our own children.

Does any of this matter, will this or any other comments get people to shake off their fear of the world and stop living like paranoid Howard Hughes wanna-bes? Not likely. The people who think the world is only full of pedophiles and murders aren't prone to rethink their positions or think beyond the hate and fear fueled media diet that keeps them cowering in fear while the rest of the world lives their lives.

word up!

oops.. wrong placement of that 'word up'.

you're not very good at quoting on gothamist you know

My talents lie elsewhere, dear

Growing up as one of the few non-black kids in the black part of the LES, let me tell you this: I am damn glad my parents didn't make me walk to school alone when I was little.

When I started to walk home alone when I was around 11 or so, I've gotten mugged so many god damn times, I lost count. Certainly nothing to brag about and I absolutely hated it, but I got my ass kicked pretty hard. By the time I was in high school, I was either quick enough to run the hell away, or strong enough to fight back if they were just frontin' with no weapon or anything. Let me tell you this, if ANY of those times those guys that mugged me suddenly felt like beating my ass to death, I would have died or probably had a couple days in the hospital.

All you pretty boys and tough kids, if you lived in the "Bronx" and "Brooklyn" and you didn't have a SCRATCH on you running around while you were "7 or 8 years old," you are either lying or your mama was walking your ass to school, or you were just in the damn good part of town where all the old white ladies were walking around buying groceries.

So go ahead you dumb asses-- let your 7 year old run around the streets of New York. When he dies, nobody's crying a tear for your dumb ass, they'll just feel sorry for the kid who picked the wrong parents.

here's where i wanted that 'word up'. :P

There are ways of doing this, not like this wacko blog attention-whore. I was quite self-sufficient as a NYC kid in the 60's & 70's, and survived. But try things like taking the kid some distance from home, and saying: "OK, get us home". Walking, taking mass transit, hailing a cab, giving directions. WHILE YOU'RE WITH THEM. Stand in an intersection ,and ask them "Which way is home?". Go over land & NYCTA maps of NYC. Had the kids get me from the Brighton boardwalk to the station and home in Manhattan, same with the Bronx Zoo, Jackson Heights, Hoboken, etc. And my kids have the cellphone, street smarts, and know how to check in. This wacko is pushing the envelope (if she even did) and mongered all the attention she wanted.

Funny, I was just talking to a friend about this 'case' the other day. I have to say that I agree with this. Parents here (not only in NY, but in the US in general) are overprotective. I know children who live in large German cities like Berlin, who ride their bikes to school or take public transportation ALONE. Yes, something could happen to these kids, but something could also happen to them while they are being watched by babysitters or family members. I think people here are way to cautious. Unfortunately lately I find myself being almost as overprotective as some of the parents I have encountered here and it bothers me. I hope I'll be able to shake that off sometime.

My mother walked me to school and to parks till I was about 10. Then she let me do it alone. She taught me all along what to do if a stranger spoke to me (not talk to him, and run if he/she approached). I memorized my address and phone number and knew to look for a cop if I encountered any trouble. We had a joke: She'd ask me "what do you do if you see a pervert in the park?" and I'd answer "run!" I was instructed to call if I were going to someone's house, or were going to be late getting home. I got in trouble if I didn't.

What's wrong with teaching your kid to survive in the world? I met some kids a few years ago who were so coddled that they were afraid to set foot out of the house alone, or even take a limo (yes, their parents were rich) alone. Pathetic. I told them to grow up. Kids have cell phones now.

Besides, you want a little bit of survival of the fittest, otherwise college gets too crowded.