It was narrowly defeated to stop kids from being able to work on their family farm or ranch. Kids around here move cattle, help with brandings, dig spuds, drive tractors and work around big animals. Guess what. They survive. I survived.

in the US, the kids who live on farms or ranches, get to have the most fun. hell, social services wouldn't want to drive ALL the way out to the country! when I was little, (small town) 1st grade, rode my bike barefooted in my swimsuit with a towel in my basket to the pool-ACROSS town. everyday, all summer long. I clutched 50 cents in my sweaty hand for the frozen snicker bar after swimming all afternoon. oh. we had a high dive into 10 feet of water.

True. I wouldn't dream of leaving my kids completely unattended given how young they are.

I remember when my boy was three, he discovered the fireman's pole at our local play park. He fearlessly jumped on & slid down & I let him get on with it. He didn't graze his knee either but if he had, so what? It's a good way to learn. Why would anyone want to stop that?

Isn't there degrees of unattended? My mom was never standing over us but she was within earshot when we crashed and burned, like getting bucked off the cow and landing badly, road rash from a skateboard crash, getting bucked off a horse etc. I don't consider that unattended, just left to explore, create, think, plan, execute and deal with the results whether smiling for slightly bloodied.

I know "educated" people who would read that and say, "Huh? What's that even mean?" ugh

How very true. And sad & laughable.

In the same vein..."Politics is the art of looking everywhere for problems, finding them, misdiagnosing the problem and applying the wrong remedy." Groucho Marx

To be fair, I should add that not all older kids in our area are bad but I see enough scoundrels to be wary. I guess a high percentage of parents in the area keep their kids locked up for 'safety' reasons.

What scares me most of all are Social Services. If a social worker got wind of someone leaving their kids at the park unattended, rest assured they'd come sniffing.

That's a good video. It's good that we're talking about this as lately I've been trying to come to terms with the idea of letting go & trusting my kids to play outside. Yesterday my boy said to me "I want to climb a tree" which I thought was great considering he's usually pestering someone for a go on their laptop of smartphone.

Older kids where I live? You should meet some of their parents. Again, not all are bad but drinking beer in the morning? Really?

hey, joss, you should check out this I posted some time back (note the section where she suggests you leave your 5 year old at the park and walk away):
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/237033659...

why are the older kids up to no good? when my kids were older, they would have helped with younger ones if they saw potential trouble. But more importantly, they were WAY too busy to have much time for no good

You're spot on. The attitude is much the same in the UK. Scaremongering is everywhere.

I have to admit I'm guilty of perpetuating the wimp attitude to a point as the idea of letting my kids play on the street terrifies me. Okay, my kids are six, five & two so still very young but most of the other kids where we live are older & up to no good.

I hadn't seen this but it's exactly what I keep saying. Squirrel....lose a liberty. Squirrel....tighten more screws. Squirrel...etc. etc.

Our last few generations seem to be real wimps that need protecting from everything. Perhaps if they played outside, ate some dirt, skinned a knee and survived they'd be less willing to give up their rights for false safety.

I remember seeing this in a video by the British 'crackpot' speaker David Icke (Big Brother, The Big Picture - link below).

In case don't know, David Icke was a BBC TV sports presenter and spokesman for the Green Party but became 'enlightened' after seeing a psychic who told him he was a healer with a message for the world. He managed to ridicule himself in 1991 by announcing on nationwide TV that he was the Son of God. Of course he lost all credibility & had a struggle to rebuild his reputation. He went on to write numerous books claiming the world's elite - politicians, royalty, Hollywood actors etc. were reptilian aliens from the planet Zeist, hell bent on world domination.

Anyway apart from being highly amusing, some of what he says is actually quite interesting & I'm sure is pretty accurate...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeWLIuiPV...