Fear

My father in law likes to talk about his childhood and how when he was young he would get on his bike and go ride with his buddies and then come home when the street lights came on or when he was told to come home for dinner. He tells stories of how he would go to the community pool and play baseball with his friends. When I hear him talk it makes me think of the Sandlot movie. The kids just getting on thier bikes telling their parents that they were going out and then coming back sometime later. The parents didn't worry as much back then they didn't have a great fear of their kid not coming home. Maybe that did happen and because of the way that the world was less connected it was a kind of ignorance to the dangers of the world.

It seems these days you don't have the kids running around playing in the yard or riding their bikes through the neighborhood. Just the other day my oldest son who is now riding his bike all over wanted to follow a kid around the neighborhood and we had a hard time with it. It's scary to let your kid go like that, he didn't have a phone or a way to communicate with us. I sat there as my wife was asking me what to do?. Do we let him go and just hope that he is safe and hope that as parents we have given him enough wisdom to stay safe? Or do we have to know where he is since he could be easily grabbed by an adult. It's hard to know as a parent you see to many videos of kids getting grabbed off the street. It's hard as a parent because it is our job to keep them safe and also it's our job to help them feel more independent.

I wish i had an answer. I would think that over a 100 years ago parenting would be easier maybe it was in some respects and then I'm sure it was harder in others. Maybe those tides are turning toward that being a possibility again after all it seems almost everyone has a camera or two on the front of the house. We have air-pods or tracking devices that can be hidden on a child. As a tired Dad who doesn't have all the answers the best I can do is teach my kids how to be safe and hope that they remember what to do when the time comes.