Reply #51: Where I live, there's a huge divide on this issue.

[Xithras]

My kids started wandering off unsupervervised at 7 or 8, as did all of the other kids in all of the other homes around me. It's just not something I worry about. In suburban and rural areas, it's as normal today as it was 40 years ago (my oldest is now 16, and my youngest 6, so my experiences are current).

Those differences are often highlighted when my children become friends with the children of commuter parents who work and grew up in the SF Bay Area, and moved to the Valley for cheaper housing and a slower lifestyle. Many of the people from larger urban areas are simply horrified by the thought that a parent would let an eight, nine, or ten year old vanish for hours at a time without any real idea where they were (we'd know, vaguely, that they were "at a friends house", or "at the park".) For people who have always lived here and grew up here, it's a normal thing. For people who moved in from larger urban areas, it's neglectful parenting.

I turned out OK. My kids seem to be doing fine.