I am on the spectrum, as such I have always had trouble when
other people get facts wrong. (I have been berated often for correcting people
and can think of once or twice when I had to bite my tongue at church because
someone got a Bible fact wrong.)
That said, I refuse to bite my
tongue this time.
Lately, I’ve seen a ton of posts
about how kids were allowed to roam all over town in the 60s, 70s, and the 80s,
and didn’t have to be home until the streetlights came on. Um, the 60s and 70s
absolutely, but not the 80s. By the 80s there was too many child abductions,
too many child murders.
I know this because I lived it.
Did I wander around the neighborhood
and even the town until dark? Heck, considering how soon it gets dark around
here during the fall and winter, I stayed out until after dark! I mean what kind
of kid wants to call it a night at 4:30 or 5 in the evening if they don’t have
to? And we didn’t have to.
Admittedly a lot of our friends did,
but most of them had stay-at-home moms fixing meals they were expected to show
up for and eat. But back in the early 70s, the number of single moms was
clearly the minority in the neighborhood.
By 1975, when the oldest of our half
brothers was born, single moms had become common enough that the term latchkey
children came into use and school districts all around the country were
instituting after school programs to “help” those single moms and eliminate those
latchkey children.
Konnie and I, as well as our older sister
and the oldest of our brothers (the only full brother) were all latchkey children.
Ben never was.
Our youngest brother came along in
79 and our oldest niece came in 80, and neither of them were ever left without
supervision because long before they came along the news was full of stories of
kids being abducted, abused, and murdered.
Actually, the last time I went trick
or treating as a child was 1973. And even then, that year there were warnings against
kids entering homes of people they didn’t know. (We were told not to enter any stranger’s
homes, but we were not told to only go to the homes of people we knew well.)
And still the news after Halloween was of kids finding razor blades or needles in
their apples.
When Halloween 1974 came some
nutcase has threatened to poison candy all over the country, and most people
found alternatives to going door to door as well as insisted on giving out only
individually wrapped store bought candy.
Nothing homemade and no fresh or
candied apples.
Also, hospitals were allowing kids
to bring their loot in to have it X-rayed for metal, while parents were told to
inspect all pieces of candy for damage to the wrapper, and throw out anything
with damaged wrappers.
The world had become a scary place
for kids. That was sure, but the 80s had gotten worse. By 1981, I went with our
stepmother (I think Konnie went too) to the local elementary school to get
McGruff Identikits for Ben, Dan, and Patty and fill them out. That’s how bad
the child abduction problem was. Schools were giving out special kits to store
a current picture, description, and even a lock of hair of each child. They also had fingerprinting, which is why the little ones went with us.
So, I promise that kids were not
allowed to wander the neighborhood unsupervised in the 80s, at least not like when
we were younger.
I mean I remember at 12 riding my
bike across town, entering the BAR where our mother worked, and got some cash
off her then went to the theater up the street and watched a movie that gave me
nightmares for weeks. All by myself.
Actually, that was only about
halfway across town, I more often road all the way to the pool, which was clear
across town.
From when we were 12 on, I don’t
remember once having a babysitter, and well, even before that, we played
outside with the babysitter’s boys until well after dark most nights, and only
part of the time was their daddy playing with us when we were out there.
Today, a 12 year old wouldn’t be allowed
to go trick or treating without adult supervision. In 1973 the oldest kid in
our group was 12, and the youngest was like 7, and yet we went without adult
supervision.
So, I promise, kids did not get to
wander free in the 80s, at least not as free as we wandered in the 70s.
Anyway, happy writing everyone.
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