I grew up some 30 years later in the '50s and '60s and had all those freedoms. Walking to school by myself at age six, traveling by train a 100 km and changing connections midway without supervision at age ten, roaming down valleys and through rugged bushland with my only dog, and so on.
What's more, I had a mother who for the time was very overprotective compared with those of other kids yet she never would have restricted those activities or considered them things we kids should not do—it was just not done. It would have been considered very abnormal if she'd put restrictions on our movements, instead she warned us to be careful.
I can hardy imagine how much poorer my childhood would havd been without those freedoms. I feel terribly sorry for today's overly-protected kids.
Four generations? That many?
I grew up some 30 years later in the '50s and '60s and had all those freedoms. Walking to school by myself at age six, traveling by train a 100 km and changing connections midway without supervision at age ten, roaming down valleys and through rugged bushland with my only dog, and so on.
What's more, I had a mother who for the time was very overprotective compared with those of other kids yet she never would have restricted those activities or considered them things we kids should not do—it was just not done. It would have been considered very abnormal if she'd put restrictions on our movements, instead she warned us to be careful.
I can hardy imagine how much poorer my childhood would havd been without those freedoms. I feel terribly sorry for today's overly-protected kids.