Overprotective parenting

Another (long) article on modern parenting, contrasted with that of a generation ago.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/

in the U.K., shows that in 1971, 80 percent of third-graders walked to school alone. By 1990, that measure had dropped to 9 percent, now even lower

ER visits related to playground equipment, including home equipment, in
1980 was 156,000, or one visit per 1,452 Americans. In 2012, it was
271,475, or one per 1,156 Americans -- so all this supervision and safety measures (like rubber playgrounds) isn't even having much effect.

long-bone injuries increasing, due to risk compensation?

:Failure to supervise has become, in fact, synonymous with failure to parent."

Article describes a UK "adventure playground" basically an acre junkyard, that kids play in without their parents, even setting fires in tin. There actually is adult supervision, but mostly hands off.

My childhood? At school we had a big asphalt playground, and the high points were freeform role-playing organized by someone else. (Low points were me getting bullied; article does note that downside.) At home I was usually by myself in the back yard, certainly not getting watched over by my parents. Sometimes playing two-square on the sidewalk out front with a visiting friend, also without immediate watchover. I think from around age 7 I was free-range in the neighborhood, at least within a five minute walk, being sent out on errands (Sunday paper, gallon of milk, stationary store) or going to the public library on my own. Lots of other kids at the library on their own too, especially Palestinians from the apartment complexes. At 10 I was definitely taking Chicago public transit on my own, trains and buses, to go to my special classes. Then at 14 *everyone* took public transit to my "inner city" magnet high school, no school buses for that.

Edit: I got http://www.japanprobe.com/2009/07/22/japanese-kids-go-shopping/ as a response on Facebook. TV show of a five year old boy being sent off to buy stew ingredients for the first time. He's not by himself -- his almost three year old sister is with him! Annotations available via gear if not on by default.

Edit 2: I'm reminded of living in San Francisco around 2000, and seeing little Chinese kids scurry home from school by themselves. I'd guess first graders? Quite small. Just going a few blocks, but compared to modern Anglo parenting even that seemed exceptional.

More on overprotective parenting

A Japanese friend responded to the video in the last post:
09:27 < mika> zdamien: oh that's otsukai
09:27 < mika> it's common
09:27 < mika> the first otsukai is a big deal

And I later found this blog post on hajimete no otsukai: https://tuliplane.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/courage-of-children/

In the first comment, " On visits to my hometown in the U.S., just sending them over a couple of aisles at the grocery store to get something would bring the wrath of my mother (grandma) down on me"

and

"One evening hubby and I were out for an anniversary dinner. The girls were home (Japanese grandparents lived downstairs so we weren’t negligent!) and I think the older three were in 6th grade at the time. Imagine our surprise when we came home to a little platter of cheese, crackers and two ice-cold beers as our little anniversary gift! When asked where they got the beer they replied, “we went to buy it next door at the convenience store, of course!”"

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Then a followup post inspired by this article on Swiss pre-schoolers with saws

"Saws. The kind you buy at the hardware store to cut wood. That's what the play-group teacher dumped on the ground for 3- and 4-year-old kids to play with. Knowing that doing this, in the U.S., would result in the teacher being, at minimum, fired and most likely charged with child endangerment, I had visions of emergency room trips and severed limbs dancing through my mind.

But this happened not in the U.S. but in Switzerland, where they believe children are capable of handling saws at age 3 and where kindergarten teachers counsel parents to let their 4- and 5-year-olds walk to school alone. "Children have pride when they can walk by themselves," the head of the Münchenstein, Switzerland, Kindergartens said last week at a parents meeting, reminding those in attendance that after the first few weeks of school children should be walking with friends, not mom."

"Every Friday, whether rain, shine, snow, or heat, he goes into the forest for four hours with 10 other children. In addition to playing with saws and files, they roast their own hot dogs over an open fire. If a child drops a hot dog, the teacher picks it up, brushes the dirt off, and hands it back.

The school year ends next week, and so far the only injury has been one two millimeter long cut received from a pocket knife."

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Meanwhile, in the land of the free, or at least Tennessee, letting your 8 year old play unsupervised in the park is a Class D felony. http://www.wcyb.com/Mom-Speaks-Out-About-Neglect-Charges/15240294

My childhood is apparently now illegal in the US.