how old were you when you were let out of the house on your own?

[b i o n i c]

i think i was 8.

to get comic books and candy and gums about 5-10 blocks away on me own. i swear beevis and butthead hung out at the arcade in town (y)

freerange kid (http://gothamist.com/2010/05/23/free_range_kid_visits_central_park.php)

[mickill]

Early twenties.

[b i o n i c]

so, like about 12 for you, eh

[mickill]

Well played, sir.

[mickill]

But seriously, my parents didn't "let" me do shit until my late teens. Before that it was a lot of sneaking away/sneaking out. And yeah, so they didn't really "allow" me free reign to do what I wanted until I was about 20. And then I moved out at 21 and deaded that.

[abcdefz]

Probably about 8. I know that by 10 I had a key to get in after school.

[TurdBerglar]

8 for being able to go to the park and such and maybe like 10-11 for being able stay home alone

[Documad]

Probably about 8. I know that by 10 I had a key to get in after school.

I think this was my situation. My mom never knew what I was up to in the summer. I biked everywhere. My best friend's mom forbid her from biking near certain intersections or using certain bridges, so we had to take a circuitous route to the places we would go.

When I think back, we did a lot of stuff that was potentially dangerous. We played in culverts, hung out at the apartment of someone my friend vaguely knew because they had a pool, got invited into the neighborhood recluse's house for lemonade and cookies, etc. My friend and I were the only people in the neighborhood who were allowed in that house.

My parents would have let me take the bus downtown by myself but I was too chicken until 7th grade.

[TAL]

I lived in a nice place, so I can't remember not being able to go out by myself.

[abcdefz]

I think I was seven or eight when I started selling Current stationery in our neighborhood. I was a really independent kid who rarely caused problems, plus my family wasn't interested in me at all, so the attitude was very much, "Sure. Whatever." By nine or ten years old, as long as I either showed up for dinner or called, I was fine.

[b i o n i c]

I was about 20.

you lived on the rough side of town?

a-z knows whats up.. there were all kinds of neighborhood recluses, none of them were pedos. what are culverts?

i don't believe you, mickill

[abcdefz]

Yeah, I knew that neighborhood. I could go play board games at one place, this other lady's house smelled weird but she tipped well and always had those soft mint candies on the table, and this other lady was super nice and had a poodle I liked and literally kept money in a small dresser in the hallway. Like, DRAWERS of money...

[b i o n i c]

she gave you money??

there were these tough guy 80s mullet having, torn up jean jacket wearing, chevy nova driving dudes across the street who mustve been about 16-18. i kind of thought they were funny and scary at the same time - they smoked in front of their mother!

the comic book store had a few video games in "in the back". some older kid tried to bully me away from a game when one of those older dudes from across the street walked in and made the kid go away

so, really, your neighbors gave you money???

[paul jones]

I used to wander from the house when I was 2 or 3 and have search parties looking for me but I remember being 5 or 6 and being allowed to roam around.My mum and dad used to tell me to be in before 9pm up until I was 13 or so.These were the days when peodos were mostly just vicars and priests,probably...then the internet came along and created more

[abcdefz]

@bionic

I earned money. I sold stationery, shovelled snow, cut lawns, walked dogs...

[nodanaonlyzuul]

I was never allowed outside of my house alone period, to walk around or anything. Truthfully it wasn't the best neighborhood. So I didn't get to venture out in it on my own until I was 18 maybe. I was allowed to get a ride from a parent to see a movie in another neighborhood with a friend or something once I was around 15, but that's about it.

[b i o n i c]

im waiting for someone to say they were 2-3 walking to the store to buy their ma some smokes.

[b i o n i c]

paul jones! whats a little lad to do alone in london?

i didnt have to rake no old ladies lawns for cash till i was an awkward teenager.. it was all free cookies and lollipops till then

until I was 18

!!! so you guys werent allowed to walk to the store or go get some pizza when you were kids? kids love getting pizza! its a whole thing.

[nodanaonlyzuul]

so you guys werent allowed to walk to the store or go get some pizza when you were kids? kids love getting pizza! its a whole thing.

Nope. Nada. Nothing. I wasn't allowed out. I did ride my bike sometimes but I could only ride it down two blocks and back, which was a cul-de-sacarea.

This is probably why I'm so addicted to the internet. It was my only escape. :p

[TAL]

paul jones! whats a little lad to do alone in london?.
He's not from London.

[b i o n i c]

i picture muppet baby paul skipping about london licking a lollipop in shorts and a hat (y)

[abcdefz]

im waiting for someone to say they were 2-3 walking to the store to buy their ma some smokes.

Ha ha. I did that as a kid. Not two or three but certainly at ten or so.

Then again, we had cigs in vending machines, so supervision was max anyway.

[Dorothy Wood]

i was allowed to go off on my own riding a bike as young as 5 or 6. i'd ride around on dirt tracks with ramps and shit that some kids built in a huge field near my house in littleton, co. it was pretty unsafe, but i only ever got scrapes and bruises because i was a pretty competant little stunt girl.

my mom let me stay home alone starting at age 7, because she trusted me more than teenage babysitters and daycare.

[paul jones]

He's not from London.

that's correct.I live 50 miles from London but I AM going to London tomorrow to watch a pop concert and get a bit drunk

[Caribou]

I was pretty young, as I can remember walking around the neighbourhood and playing outside with my friends when I still lived in Rotterdam, and I moved away from there when I was 7. Actually, I always used to walk from school to my grandma's house from about age 4 and one time my parents gave me a key, because my gramma wasn't home, and it was the first time I ever had to open a front door by myself and the key didn't seem to work. Then a strange man walked by, saw me struggling with the door and helped me open it.
In hindsight I realise how lucky I was that it was a friendly man, because it wasn't really a safe neighbourhood (the main reason why my parents moved away) and the dude could've been a freak and come into my house. :s

But anyway: I was allowed to do a lot of things from an early age. My parents let me have my first alcoholic drink when I was about 8, they let me stay at home alone at age 14 while they went on holiday, at 15 they let me go to concerts on my own and at 16 I went to a 3-day music festival on my own.
They trusted me enough to know I wouldn't do anything stupid.

[Documad]

I was a really independent kid who rarely caused problems, plus my family wasn't interested in me at all, so the attitude was very much, "Sure. Whatever." By nine or ten years old, as long as I either showed up for dinner or called, I was fine.
My parents had much older kids than me and frankly they didn't seem to care what I was up to. They were tired and old. Later on my mom said "well you were so responsible" but honestly I wasn't. She just wasn't into parenting anymore. I ate at other kids' houses about half the time and as long as I called she didn't care. I could put on amazing manners when adults were looking so I was welcome at any house in the neighborhood.

Bionic: In my old neighborhood culverts were large concrete drainage pipes. Some were big enough for a kid to walk upright in them, but others were smaller and you had to bend over. Some had lots of water and we fished. Most of the time we just walked through them (a cool tunnel) to get to the other side --- it was a shortcut under roads and in parks. Today they all seem to have grates on them so kids can't get in them. It's fairly common for kids to drown in or near them. Even back in my day I was ordered not to go in them but we did. There was one in this woodsy area about a mile from our house that felt about 200 feet long so it was like going into a cave before it came out on the other side.

One of my favorite memories as a kid was really really silly. We had a school near us and they would plow the parking lot so that there were the largest mounds of packed snow I had ever seen. And it tended to form a really tall line of peaks across the back of the parking lot. It was like a mountain range I swear. My mom didn't want me up there because theoretically the snow might not really be packed and I suppose I could get stuck because it was about 20 feet high. But it was my favorite place to play. I had a mountaineering fantasy. That was a solo activity for me, so I guess other kids weren't that into it.

[miss soul fire]

Maybe 11 or more. I can't remember. My mom was superprotective...

[kaiser soze]

gee....I know was young, our neighborhood was infested with kids so we all knew where each other was for the most part. I remember many days coming home late from wandering off to catch pollywogs or stopping into a friend's house on the way home from school.

I know once I started skating, it was all over for my parents keeping an eye on me - so many days turned into late nights of seeking spots to skate.

oh and playing hide n seek/bluebird in the neighborhood until 11 or later- we knew every yard like it was our own, we were ninjas. Hardly ever had a person bitch at us.

[RobMoney$]

It blows my mind when people talk about not going out to play as kids.
I would give anything to go back and relive just a day of my childhood with all my friends.
My homelife was complete shit, but I had the best friends a kid could want.

[kaiser soze]

so true

a day = eternity as a kid out on the town

I don't know how I did it - homerun derby, playing with toys, going to the local store for comics/cards, skating, boardgames, hide and seek, kickball, baseball, riding bikes, exploring the woods...all sorts of shit

[trailerprincess]

We could play outside from reasonably young I guess as it was nice and safe, a really quiet road and there were loads of other kids around. Probably about 15 to go to the local town (as long as there were no detours!)

[Dorothy Wood]

One of my favorite memories as a kid was really really silly. We had a school near us and they would plow the parking lot so that there were the largest mounds of packed snow I had ever seen. And it tended to form a really tall line of peaks across the back of the parking lot. It was like a mountain range I swear. My mom didn't want me up there because theoretically the snow might not really be packed and I suppose I could get stuck because it was about 20 feet high. But it was my favorite place to play. I had a mountaineering fantasy. That was a solo activity for me, so I guess other kids weren't that into it.


that sounds awesome!


the more I think about it, the more I realize I was alone a lot...or allowed to go off on my own or with friends a lot. I walked to school without parents, I went to the park, rode my bike around the neighborhood, roller skated around the neighborhood....good times!

[b i o n i c]

there used to be this music store on the way to the ice cream place in queens that looked out of a mr rogers episode, but with a bob hope looking grumpy old guy sitting there.

he sold and fixed instruments but for some reason you could also buy bang snaps, smoke bombs, sparklers and those snakey things you light up.

most of my early exploits involved fireworks in some way.

[JBernas]

8 for being able to go to the park and such and maybe like 10-11 for being able stay home alone

About the same for me. I remember being able to ride my bike all over the neighborhood in 3-4 grade and around middle school when I could stay home from school by myself. My oldest son is almost 8 and I'm not close to giving him free range of the neighborhood just yet.