New York in the early 1980s, the height of the city's crime statistics, with insane, serial killers roaming the country slaughtering at will, and this woman lets her tiny kid walk to school alone? Sorry, but she was asking to lose the kid.
shareI lived in Brooklyn NY, and I went to school from the 70s-80s. I have been walking myself to school starting from the 1st grade.
shareYeah, really. We all walked to and from school. There's danger everywhere, but if you hide form it...who is the real winner? Aggressive laws that keep these sickos in jail forever, and better vigilance in the neighborhoods, and you'll see things get better.
"Oh, Kent, that is so unfair! And we were going to make you King of the Winter Carnival."
Different time. Notice that nobody wears seatbelts when they are riding in cars. This wasn't a mistake...there was no law then, and people didn't wear them like they do now.
shareI noticed the seatbelt thing when I was watching this movie last night. He's got a 7 year old in the front seat with no seatbelt...and yet he's worried about him being kidnapped. The odds of being kidnapped by a stranger are probably similar to winning the lottery but the odds of going through the front windshield upon impact in a wreck are about 100% if you're not belted. But like you say, it was a different time. My dad did the same thing. My sister and I would ride in the front seat of our station wagon and when he'd have to put on the brakes he'd fling his right arm over us. Guess that was our seatbelt (ha, ha). As far as walking to school, I'd be so damn worried if mine had to do that...even a few blocks. There was a case in Florida within the last year where a kid was snatched while walking a block or two to school...and of course the Jaycee Dugard case. Like I said, I realize the odds... and that you can't live in fear. But I'd never stop blaming myself if one of my kids were taken that way.
shareAs the other poster said different time different standards. I would walk through NYC neighborhoods even in the late '80s that I wouldn't dare today. Also, the seat belt law is an obvious reason why they weren't wearing them although I did even back then...
shareI rode a 20" Schwinn 1.2 miles to school from 1st grade thru 8th.
Wasn't cool to ride a bike to HS so I walked. Now that I think of it, my bike sure would have been easier in the 9th & 10th grades:)
As for my kids, I watched them board the bus and get off in the afternoon. Times have changed.
"When people run in circles its a very very - Mad World"
I walked to school I think from 2nd grade like the boy in the film elementary school PS 158 (still there on Ashford and Belmount) was right near by in East NY Brooklyn only three blocks west, JHS 64 was four blocks east. Then in 1960 we moved and JHS 162 (also still there on Willoughby and St Nick Ave) was ten blocks away.
True things were different in the 1950s and 60s
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I know this is an old thread. But I walked to and from school from Kindergarten on (about 5 blocks). Though I will admit that the first few times I was walked to the school and was picked up (since I did need to know how to get there and back home). A couple of times I was walked about half way.
I can't remember any time since when I was dropped off at school from then on. And I don't remember many kids who were dropped off.
My brother (15 years older) walked me to 1st grade (I was 5) like the first week; I always walked to school by myself after that...in Chicago in the 50s.
Speaking of how times have changed, we had 8th grade boys as crossing guards on busy corners; now we have adults. I guess parents are too stupid to teach kids to look both ways before crossing the street. I can't imagine kids now doing the things we did: play all day outside in the summer with no adult supervision, go downtown on the commuter train (starting when I was maybe 12), staying home alone for several hours after school when I was 10. My best friend and I took maybe 5 buses to get from the south side to Riverview amusement park on the north side alone when we were 12...between 7th and 8th grade. My parents would have been arrested.
Like others have said, times change. It used to be considered safe, but it no longer is.
share