psuedon
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Jun 14, 2025 1:15 PM
psuedon
40470
1608
12
TNSCLuotaMEa4fVN
We didn't have the internet. We had to go outside to play. TV wasn't enough to keep us inside, and was only 3 channels.
PeterHartman
I would bike EVERYWHERE. Look for catfish and crawfish in the local creek. Go to the park with friends. Just bike around with them. If someone has a radio (4-6 D cell batteries), listen to music. Once one of us got a car, we’d just range farther.
FeloniousMonk13
Late 80s, I was 10-12 ish, I'd leave the house w my skateboard in the morning, and come back round dinnertime. No phone, nothing.
DocMozi
Bull. There was the payphone outside the Shakey's just a mile or so over there. 'You have a collect call from, "HavingdinneratCacey'sI'llbehomelat-" would you like to accept the charges?'
No phone my ass.
GCRust
I was allowed to go wherever - but I also grew up six miles from the nearest town and three miles to the nearest neighbor not on four legs. Rural as it gets.
But I think it's important to understand that child abductions and disappearances were so frequent in this era they had to start bringing on celebrities to remind our parents that you have kids and do you know where they are?
It's survivor's bias. We had great childhoods...because nothing bad happened to us.
DeguRatface
It was a wonderful time and naturally as humans 'in the wild' our kids would probably have more freedom if we weren't such a massive population, but I am sure if many of us look back on our childhoods critically we could all find at least a handfull of stories that could've gone seriously wrong or ended up with us being abducted.
I watch a fair few crime documentary channels on Youtube and there are SO many abduction cold cases as a result of this.
yasariel
Here's the kicker: Kids and teens need to get into some minor trouble to actually grow up by learning how to deal with unexpected or even dangerous things, including how to recognise it, and how to avoid it. The total avoidance of danger, and the micromanaged life that started in the 90's has harmed people something fierce, and is a major factor in the rise of chronic anxiety, and other disorders.
Cornchip2000
My parents were in the diplomatic corps in Bangkok- they let us my brother 11, and me 12, take open air taxis around town by ourselves...
They let me, a girl at 14, fly to Tokyo from the US, stay overnight in a hotel, and then go hiking with friends in Korea for 2 weeks... mom did later admit she wasn't psyched about that one...
AyatollahBahloni
I grew up in NYC in the '50s. The Big Apple was my playground. The worst thing that happened to me was having my bike stolen when I was 14. (Oh, I *did* have a pervert come up to me on the street when I was around 12 and ask me if I wanted to have my dick sucked, which was pretty disturbing, but I'm guessing it was just a random Republican youth pastor... )
Istealfromthefrontpage
Ziiiiing! Fucking gottem at the end.
BeaverOnFire
TheGoodKaren
Ooof
devasto
I grew up in a small town, >2000 people at the time. My mom could whistle so loud you could hear it clear across town. That's how I knew I was allowed back in the house
darthinebriated
Same, my moms whistle could partially deafen at close ranges.
ThatOneTimeJustNow
Yes, but was my father shouting for dinner. If you were too far away to hear him, you were in for it. Night was the same. Living far north street lights were not a good indicator.
ingridwebb88
Same here. All the neighbors could hear him
just4thelolz
I was allowed to roam within a specific area. Once I crossed a road I wasn't supposed to cross and my parents saw it and I got in trouble. It's not like they didn't care at all, is my point.
Artebudz
There's an estate in my town where a lot if parents are like that. There's a central green area where most kids hang out.
So many windows overlooking it that there's always at least one adult keeping an eye out
Hopefully more new build estates have similar
ViolentlyJaded
I had a city bus pass. I was not even bound to the city where we lived. I had a "call home" if you weren't coming home that night curfew. My sister often didn't even do that much. It was a completely different time and vibe.
JustAnotherCynicToo
Yeah, now you got boomers complaining kids don't go out like they used to, then call the cops because kids are being too loud outside.
There's no winning.
AlmightyElephant
Seriously, at no point in human history was it expected that one pair of adult humans would be the sole caretakers of even just one child. The phrase "it takes a village to raise a child" isn't just some cute little saying about how it's nice to grow up in a community, it's just literally true. It takes a whole ass village to raise one child. For every child.
DeepFriedAndSanctified
My parents had no idea where I was most days. My mom wouldn't let me in the house unless it was sleeting. I was usually a couple of neighborhoods over playing football or in a creek trying to catch crawdads. I can't imagine what it's like to be cooped up day in and day out like today's kids are.
plinkey
I played in a stream and launched model rockets for like 9 hours a day in the summer, no one cared, i even walked to school, everyone knew everyone else in the neighborhood, that's the difference.
RoutemasterFlash
Crazy, these days you'd have a UN weapons inspector on you in five minutes flat.
AtleastIvegotthatgoingforme0
Hanging out in a neighbor's crawlspace without their knowledge. Running into a neighbor's house without their knowledge. Hiding from a friend's adult sister in their house because I wasn't supposed to be there. Things done with friends.
plinkey
we all knew how to 'break into' our friends houses, our parents didn't care even whey they came home to 2-3 kids there without their kid, eating all of their food.
plinkey
"are you going to stay for dinner?"
PastureofMuppets
I played outside all day riding bikes and digging in the field, catching tadpoles. Me (girl) and sister, starting around age 8-ish. Would go home to yell in the door im going to name of friend's house to hear "okay" (no other questions) and then leave on foot and not come back til dark.
We DID NOT all know each other in the neighborhood. The difference is misplaced fear due to media exaggerating the risk, so many parents now keep their kids inside or monitored.
MechaNinja
Phineas and Ferb is a little exaggerated, but it's real shit.
Fanner50
We even had bottle rocket wars. We still have all our fingers.
B0ardski
most of us anyway
NickRivieraMD
we didn't know anyone in our neighborhood and I still got to roam unless I had chores.
NCDoofus
Mom locked us out after breakfast. We could drink from the hosepipe and pee in the woods. After lunch, same.
We would walk 2-3 miles up the powerline right of way to the truckstop on I-20 to buy candy. I was 9 years old, late 70's.
WhatDoesItAllMeanMrNatural
At the age of 10 I used to ride the Japanese railroads by with my buddies. Get a 10¥ ticket to the next station and just kept on riding. In Japan, they don't collect the ticket till you leave the station, Ride an hour in one direction, have yer fun, ride back to your home station. The big stations, as you got close to Tokyo and Yokohama were like giant malls. Exchange rate was 360¥ == 1$. We would ride for hours, snaking from giant bags of fried squid (my fave!). Yay FREEEDOMS!
codeacrobat
I grew up in GDR. At the age of 7 I travelled all across Berlin. There was always the TV tower in the center in case i got lost. We certainly were unaware of crimes because there was no scare in TV and news. On the other hand, everyone helped everyone.
Simonator
I was let out to roam freely, that would have been in the 90s.
Context though, we weren't living in a city, but in a small rural village of about 300 people, and about three surnames.
FartyMcDaniel
We were completely free to roam wherever we wanted. It was amazing… until it wasn’t. Some bad shit happened. There needs to be a balance of freedom and supervision.
pipatron
This of course absolutely happened. It may still happen in my country, I'm not up-to-date with today's parents.
Cozysockdrawer
Well, I mean, you couldn't text your friends or drop a pin to your location. You had to get on your bike and look for the yard where all your friends' bikes were to find them.
alittleglassvial
It’s 10pm. Do you know where your kids are?
DocMozi
Not under foot. Good enough for me!
-My mom
OhIfIMust
Feralkyn
Perfect response lol
Northwindlowlander
Around me it's still normal, but we're a pretty quiet town, no fast roads, good outdoor spaces and maybe msot important spaces, not parks but bits of wood and abandoned bits, suitable for adventures. But in a bigger town or a city, god no. I don't have kids but I love that they're just roaming around, obviously they're a bit of a hassle sometimes and some of the neighbours clutch their pearls but it's just what I did.
kitskinner19538
8 year old me and my little sister used to roller skate the roads of the estate, the longer we stayed out the more my stepmum liked it. There was nowhere near the volume of traffic that you see nowadays, watching kids on bikes on the road terrifies me.
Building sites never used to be fenced off and after the men had gone home gangs of us would hangout there playing games. I still remember the smell of putty.
gumblemuntz
SteveMND
Oh, man, building sites. I remember a house was being built in my neighborhood, and the cinder block foundational wall had been the only thing put in place yet. I remember all of us neighborhood kids were running around the ditches dug around the walls, using them like trenches for water gun battles. Good times.
kitskinner19538
Lone Ranger cap pistols!
SteveMND
I literally had this specific toy gun, and we were just running around on the streets, pointing them at random people without a care in the world.
kitskinner19538
That's the one. So Shiny!
christophersouthworth
Free roam kids was absolutely a thing. Child abduction and molestation was also a thing, and it became much more publicized during the Gen X childhood era of the 70s/80s. See the "very special episode" of TV fame or the occasional "afterschool special" for additional context.
Prior to this, it was considered healthy and normal for kids to wander around at will, getting exercise, fresh air and socialization. Pedophiles and drugs ruined this.
DarthWaiterSE
For those that might not be of the right age or experience to remember ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Adam_Walsh ... And the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) was founded because of these events.
bikergeek6249
There wasn't an increase in pedophilia and child abductions. What changed was better reporting and more prosecutions, and an increasing tendency to believe children when they tried to say an adult had done something bad to them. Before that the assumption was that the children were lying or at best had misinterpreted what had happened. "How dare you say that about Mr. Smith, he's such a nice man" or "But he's a priest, he's a man of God, he wouldn't do anything like that!" As a result, 1/
bikergeek6249
people had assumed the world had become more dangerous when in fact it hadn't. The fear of child abductions was fueled by two widely reported cases, Etan Patz and Johnny Gosch, in the early '80s. Johnny Gosch was the first child to be depicted on a milk carton. But then as now, the overwhelming majority of child abductions are carried out by a relative, usually in the context of a custody dispute. And don't get me started on the "satanic panic" hoax, which was mostly based on false 2/
bikergeek6249
"recovered memories" recovered by investigators who asked leading questions of children who told investigators what they thought the investigators wanted to hear. Examples: Jordan Minnesota (commemorated in a Big Black song), McMartin Preschool, Fells Acres Day Care. 3/3
nccomputermechanics4
Nope we lived in a small community, all upstanding god fearing people, except they wasnt it was just for show, most of the people who lived around us was part of a meth ring, they used but also sold. So while if you passed through everything looked normal it really wasnt. My mom knew and refused to let me go wandering. It wasnt till i was in my teens that i had really any freedom. By then the cops had busted the heads of the group and two of the others had died from od. 1/2
nccomputermechanics4
2/2 most of the people involved was in my extended family and was active in local churches. So i didnt have that kind of freedom but also i didnt end up part of the local meth ring.
Exyr
And now today if you're child of 7 years old is struck dead by an elderly driver whilst walking home from the corner store. You. The parent. Are getting charged with manslaughter for allowing your child to walk home from the corner market even accompanied by their 10 uear old sibling. The parent. Not the driver.
Safflower777
Parents have always been legally responsible for their children's actions til they became legal adults. That age varied from state to state..... Some were/are 18, some are lower. True for getting married, too....
Exyr
Your...not you're damnit.
7EO5NdvX9
Wow. I guess there are alot of old people hitting small children. But why punish anyone? The kid could have ran away.
plinkey
I would walk to the corner store to buy my dad a pack of smokes while he was working on his car, he would give me an extra dollar to play the arcade games, fuck im old.
Ponhaus
My parents sent me out for a six pack of beer once, I was like 7 or 8 at the time. Couldn't understand why they wouldn't sell it to me. Parents just forgot the whole minors can't by alcohol rule. Those were different times.
sloomoo
Got a quarter a week as allowance. That'd get me a comic book and a coke, plus a few candies out of the penny each jar. I think I'm older than you.
Hexarcy00
Where has this happened? Got a source?
Exyr
https://abcnews.go.com/US/parents-charged-manslaughter-boy-struck-car-gastonia-north-carolina/story?id=122500748
phovos
Thank you for the source but holy fuck! They didn't even charge the old lady with anything even though she killed a child with her car.
Hexarcy00
Oh I see, racism
BladeTurMoiL
What in the everliving fuck
fractalsphere
Solid Gen-X here. Yes we were kicked out of the house and allowed to ride our bikes around for hours. I had to 'check in' about every hour, and my mom was the weird exception. Rode my bike way farther away than I was 'supposed to'. I didn't come home full of mud cuz I would have been in trouble but that's me
in70x
That’s cause y’all parents were probably banging and having affairs which was the style at the time… Just kidding.. sort of
DoctorScoutBobTotoBarkingtonIII
You’re not wrong. Frequently got locked out so Mom & her current boyfriend could have daylight sex.
Once I was attacked by wasps & couldn’t get into the house to escape them. Screamed until I passed out & slept on the porch steps until they emerged to took me to the ER.
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right?
in70x
Damn fam… sorry about that..
DoctorScoutBobTotoBarkingtonIII
Thank you. I appreciate it. https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTY1YjkxZmJlNmp2cWRicGoxa29vMm0xcWM3ZndncGx4OG8zNTlxbnpiamhvMDB1byZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/gHKnFHkGPUmG4GTzUt/giphy.mp4
OhIfIMust
Kids across the street were LOCKED out of their house; mum saw them shitting in the bushes one day and said they could come use our bathroom anytime they needed.
NeonKitsune
I was never really kicked out of the house as a kid, but my mom surely didn't ask too many questions when I was leaving the house. Just so long as I was home before dark.
Fahrenheit536
I would be out of the door just after breakfast, which meant just after dawn, and not back until dark. If I was wanted before then, they would literally just drive around and blow an air horn until I popped up. I could be anywhere within several square miles that included ponds, a creek, a river, cliffs, abandoned structures, wooded areas, a railroad, commercial machinery.... It was a good time.
keyblader1985
Yeah, a lot of the time you literally weren't allowed back into the house for a time. Usually in extreme weather to prevent hot/cold air from getting into the house when you open the door, but the end result is the same.
RustyRedbeard
Allow? More like insist.
Mostlydeadpool
not quite banish but pretty close.
nodlehs
Exactly this, "Get out of the house"
HumansArePrettyNeat
"or you can help me do chores around the house" *raised eyebrow as I scurry out the door*
lightfoot2
Dude, I got in a car with a woman who said "want to make some money little boy" at 10. Parents found out a month later I had a paper route..
CliffWestern
Dude that is so crazy! I had almost the same thing happen to me only I was paid to do a blindfolded taste test of milk through a weird straw. All the milk tasted terrible but it was the easiest 20 dollars I ever made.
tp0d
hey 20bux is 20bux
TheOnlyPtylerdactyl
Good Christ lol
lightfoot2
It set me on the path to working for myself. Sometimes you end up on the wheeties box, sometimes the milk carton.
happenedtomeonce
barstr7
I used to dig in dumpsters for old milk jugs, make minnow traps out them then sell the minnows as bait at the fancy marinas. Spent the money on Snickers and Mt. Dew as God intended.
colinstu
That wasn't where I was expecting this to go.
lightfoot2
Agreed. Many times you find an amazing start to a career. Other times you wind up on the milk carton.
NeoAcario
I used to roll and throw papers from a moving, white, windowless van... it belonged to my friend's dad... but still.
lightfoot2
I did that much later in my teen years. Guy was both a child molester *and* the church organist. Go figure.
NeoAcario
Yeah, I was pretty lucky growing up. Now I'm starting to wonder if I was an ugly kid.
Phoenix0rion
Reminds me of that South Park episode where Mr. Garrison accuses his dad of not loving him because he never molested him as a child, while it happened to so many others.
Lostchild12
Ours was to put leaflets on parked car's windshields. We got hauled in by the police who didn't know the law.
andwings2go
I restocked a liquor store’s shelves everyday, the lady that ran/owned it would give me $5. A 9yr old making $35 a week was balling hard in the late 80s
ImCommanderShepardandthisismyfavoritepostonthefrontpage
You were getting paid? My grandpa owned a liquor store and us grandkids helped out as when he would "watch" us.
sundaymondayhippyday
Clever boy!
ThatOneTimeJustNow
Same but convenience store and it was for a $2 surprise bag of candy that the store made up themselves in small brown paper bags.
lightfoot2
Another thing is I worked in the church bingo hall at 8. Used to go over to the Pathmark, buy packs of cigs, and lottery tickets for people
BMaluszczak
Pathmark... we had one in our city when I was a little kid. It was bought out by A&P and eventually went out of business. Apparently, another company bought it out and revived a location.
Fn0rd
At 9 in the late 90s I had an allowance of $33 a MONTH. And that was still balling for a nine year old here in Germany.
ingridwebb88
My brother stole my "ballin" money when I saved enough
Fn0rd
Feelsbadman.
Fn0rd
$35 a week in the 80s as a nine year old??? That’s about $400 a month now. (Taking inflation from 1987 due to the „late 80s“ statement) having $400 a month as a nine year old is indeed Ballin' hard!
andwings2go
It was summer of 87 yup. I had just gotten a Hutch for Christmas 86, and at end of summer I bought a Mongoose. I was the kid with a Lamborghini and a Ferrari.
Fn0rd
Bro. Mongoose were dope.
andwings2go
I fell in love after the first bunny hop. So light and just so well built.
Hyperboi
Have you adjusted for purchasing power parity? $400 spends a lot different today than back then? If not, he may have even been ballin' outta control
Fn0rd
I’ve just used an online Inflation calculator.
alt86er
The best days of my childhood were, when I got away from my parents for the majority of the day. You went out after lunch and came home close to supper. If it was a good day, you were out before lunch already as well. Fun days, and I would not deprive my children of that experience. This whole helicopter parent thing is just ridiculous.
Aulest
My ex is weird. She just never let them do anything
zFUBARz
Parents don't want to be like that. I'm forcing my kid to play alone right this second in fact. Granted that's on the property, but he is still very young.
IndigoThursday
Part of the trouble is letting your kids do that is illegal now
Mikeiller
out before lunch? Well, that depends on what cartoons were on that day
alt86er
B0ardski
that was only Sat morning
screwingaroundatwork
Unfortunately, people perceive the world to be more dangerous today. There's very little actual evidence for that, as crime has dropped massively since the 1980s and early 90s, but people SEE more of it on 24/7 news, so they perceive the world as more violent.
CliffWestern
A lot of it has to do with the satanic panic during the time period. My neighborhood was hit extra hard because of a really famous kidnapping that took place during the time period
OmNachoMama
Parents in the US have to answer to child services if their little is outside alone even at 10 or 11 years old. In Florida, when my children were little, it was illegal to leave them at home alone if they were younger than 12. I'm a latchkey kid. I was home alone after school at 6.
screwingaroundatwork
While true, that's also an effect, not a cause. CPS didn't suddenly just start kicking in people's doors, they changed to respond to people perceiving children not being constantly monitored as being inappropriate, and reporting it.
OmNachoMama
You're absolutely right that they only enforce rules, even stupid ones
PleaseRespectMyAsshole
Lunch? Pfft. We were outside from the minute we woke up. It was a normal thing for us to leave the house at 8 a.m. and not go back inside until 9 p.m.
Hexarcy00
Okay 1 upper
KenKorte
Same, but came back for lunch, or called from friends house, then back at dusk
idontreadyourreplies
we did that on the fishing trips to the local pond but still had the sense to bring sammies, crisps and a drink with us
imakeeper
8 am? Pfft! We went outside three hours before we woke up and foraged for roots for breakfast.
PleaseRespectMyAsshole
AND we walked uphill, both ways, in four feet of snow!
zFUBARz
I really did have to walk uphill both ways in middle school (and I'm Canadian, so there was a shit tonne of snow often.) of course logistically that also meant going doing hill both ways too, but the uphill part sucked. That's what happens when you live on the opposite side of a large long hill or valley from your destination.
zerogiven
Snow? You had SNOW? Ya posh bastards. We had to harvest our own dandruff and pile it on the hillside until it was thick enough to push our way uphill to the mill where we worked twenty-eight hours a day!
MapleSyrupMafia
We were fortunate enough to afford asbestos.