http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23935873

like never in a million years

it might have been kosher in the 70s for kids to run around like this, but i don't know about this day and age. especially in NYC, regardless of how cleaned-up it is. still and all, if it's a smart kid and he has a cell phone on him at all times and he checks in when he gets home safely, i'd hardly call it abuse. i'd call him a latch-key kid.

just reading that scares the hell out of me. there is no way

i wont even let my 9 yo wait 4 his school bus by himself

ive only just stopped waiting 4 him to get off it at the end of the day- but im waiting on the front steps- and can see the bus go past on the main rd from my house.

i was a latch key kid- no way im letting my son become one- not til he is in high school anyway- and i'll have no choice on the days i work

still debating whether to make him go to his nan's after school then- i still have 3 and a half yrs to decide

I was born and raised here in NYC and I didn't ride the subways by myself till I just turned 12, could have been 11. I was definately 11 when I could ride it with just my friends, It was 1990-1991 and NYC was still scary as hell but I loved riding the train by myself. I thought I was grown. Couldn't tell me nothin! I see kids ride alone on the subways sometimes and I remember when it was me. If I was a parent, I don't think I'd let my kid ride the train alone at that age. Maybe 10 or 11 but it depends on my kid. Interesting topic.
[Edited 4/4/08 16:45pm]

I thought Dance was saying he had kids....that almost gave me a heartattack!

chill

She's the opposite of an authoritarian parent. Something could happen to that kid.

so saw a little kid on the train yesterday, by himself...

unlucky7 said:

Did he have a gun?

Or this perhaps

Dance said:

nope...

Hell....I wont even ride the subway in New York by myself.....
[Edited 4/5/08 23:45pm]

This woman is an idiot - pure and simple. If anything happens to her kid, watch her sue the city & MTA.

at what point do we stop living in fear?

in the 70s kids play up to a mile away from home now it's just a block

we are using antibiotic everything now making our immune systems weak.
[Edited 4/6/08 10:14am]

One thing I will say is that the mom is right on one point. The NYC subways is NO WHERE NEAR DANGEROUS as it was in the 1970's, 1980's and into the 1990's. When I was a kid, the subways were full of graffiti, sometimes to the point where you couldn't look out the windows, the stations were dark and scary, the trains broke down all the time and derailments were very common. If you were here in NYC during that time, especially the 70's and early 80's, you know what I'm talking about. When I started riding the trains alone, it was still very dangerous but I held my own and nothing ever happend to me down there. Above ground was a different story but never below. Today, I actually feel safer now than I've ever felt. In fact, I was on the subway at 3 am and nothing happened. Just a bunch of sleepy commuters. Still doesn't mean I'd let a 9 yr old ride the subway alone but things have improved dramatically since I was 9 20 yrs ago.
[Edited 4/6/08 11:28am]

ehuffnsd said:

Kids hardly even play outside anymore. I remember in the summers we'd be outside from about 10 am and wouldn't bring our dusty, musty asses back in the house until sundown which in Texas in the summer is almost 10 pm. Times sure have changed But the subway at 9 that's a NEGATIVE