I read the whole thread and enjoyed every comment. Personally I think my parents were crazy the way they raised us. Okay it was in a safe secluded area, only 7 houses and one of them was a summer house for a wealthy family, so count that 6 occupied houses. It was just us and the next door neighbors who had kids, they had 5 kids, we had four kids so safety wise I guess you could say it was safe. We had to get along with the neighbor kids as they were our only playmates, there was no bullying. We grew up on a lake and we did follow strict rules, we never ever went in the row boat (and my parents never bought a motor) without a life jacket. Starting when I was in 6th grade & that would put my little sister in 2nd grade when my mom went to work full time, our parents would leave in the morning after waking us up. We were on our own to get breakfast, get dressed & then off to the bus. And the neighbor kids had the exact same set up.
We would come home from school and be completely unsupervised and play outside. When I think of the crazy stuff we did, I honestly can't believe none of us ever got a broken bone. In the winter we would sled and ice skate until our feet were totally frozen. However my parents had a rule that we couldn't go on the lake until my dad tested it in winter. He would wait until he though the lake was good and frozen then go down with an ax and chop a big hole so he could verify how thick the ice was. In the summers we rode bikes, went all over that lake up the little cricks, and our parents had no idea at all what we were doing. They had no idea, we just came in when it was dark. They had just a couple of safety rules which we strenuously followed and that was it. Lunch? Well go in the kitchen and find something to make yourself for lunch. We drank about 2 gallons of kool-aid made with real sugar every day, we never had pop, it was milk, kool-aid or water. No popsicles either, we made our own out of kool-aid. If we had a nickle we would ride our bikes on a fairly busy road to the liquor store who also sold candy. My parents didn't think anything of it, we riding our bikes to the liquor store. Well to be honest the liquor store also sold bread & milk, but still, it was a liquor store.
In the summer many days they left us lists of work to do but other than that we were completely on our own. When I think of the trees we used to climb, I just shake my head. I did not raise my children how I was raised, and my kids turned out great. If they would have had that forest kindergarten when my kids were young I would have sent them to that in a heartbeat. My grandchildren are being raised just a little different than I raised my daughter, but they are being raised really really well. Just like I did, she let's the grandkids start and manage the campfire starting around age 5, you are right there so no big deal and the kids learn real quick about hot fires that way
. It's different growing up in suburbia than growing up in the country. Do I think young children should be left on their own unsupervised all summer long, uh no, I don't think that is wise, not nowadays and not when I was raising our children but look, I turned out okay so maybe it really doesn't matter one way or the other.
I enjoyed all of your comments and sharing, thank you so much.
