Reply #36: You've pegged it there. I've often wondered where the hell that came from

[glitch]

"I think the media blasting that it isn't safe for kids to be outside (kidnappers, perverts, etc.) also reinforces the fact - keep them inside in front of the boob tube."

Fearful outside seemed to pop up out of nowhere, along with greed is good. Now it's pervasive. I feel so sorry for kids in their boring structured lives. No wonder their suicide rate keeps climbing. I am almost 50 now and I think my generation was the last of the free range Americans. And we weren't half as free as my parents. My mom used to hitch on freight trains to the nearest town when she was a kid. My dad joined the merchant marines at 16.

When my sister had her son I talked with her about how protected and structured his life was, and how it would not help his creative and analytical brain. She agreed, but she said if she let him roam free he'd be the only one out there, all the other kids were inside somewhere. No safety in numbers.

We've lost a lot.