Originally Posted by
rockmom
A suburban neighborhood full of at home moms also means that the kids were being supervised because there was always a responsible adult near by. Middle class neighborhoods are pretty empty during the day now. I think that the idea that kids walked and biked everywhere is also pretty overblown. While both my husband and I walked to elementary school, we bused or were driven to junior and senior high school because they were not close to home. And we were driven to extracurricular activities that didn't take place at the school.
I'm curious which decade you mean? I grew up in the south in the '60s. Both parents worked in my case. But even for stay at home moms they weren't holding the reins on us kids too tight. We had free run of the whole town and woods around it.
Nobody was driving us around. Adults weren't a major factor for much of the night or weekend. So different than the world now. I'm sure that's good in some ways but it seems like a loss to me. I'm glad I grew up like I did. It was fun and I was a lot more capable when I left home than the kids I see today that are controlled a lot more from a young age.