Let them run free

[mizfit]

What age for leaving them alone at home during holidays ? We were late P7. The Wife still doesn't want the neighbours to know though [emoji53]

I got left home alone end of P6, but this was only if they were nipping into town and would be no more than an hour.

I would say end of P7 for being left alone all day.

[tamthebam]

We were occasionally left on our own when the parents were out, I would have been about 13- "don't answer the door to anyone". I was scared to look out the bloody window in case anyone saw us and shopped our parents!

It's quite an old act that covers leaving kids home alone- The Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937.

I used to work down the road to primary school on my own aged 7. How I survived the 70s when there was a popular BBC children's entertainer lurking around every corner I'll never know.

[speckled tangerine]

I walked to school across two busy roads (Dundee Street & Dalry Road) to Dalry primary from about P4, so 8 years old. That was fine.

Also in P4, I fucked off out the playground and walked into Central Edinburgh and up to the castle because my teacher was boring and I'd seen Oor Wullie have an "adventure" in that years annual. I even skived into the castle proper pretending I was part of a foreign school group who'd clearly paid in. Saw Mons Meg, the dungeons and swords. It was great.

Went down Johnson Terrace and asked an old lady if I could borrow five pence for the bus home to Gorgie, which she did bless her, and marched back home at teatime up the close to the biggest bollocking I've ever had.

 

[dave258]

4 hours ago, SlipperyP said:

THi8s thread has beome da like  I travellled........ok 

Back on topic. your kids? hoow far?

btw he made it back.....

How pished were you at this point?

[101]

5 hours ago, SlipperyP said:

THi8s thread has beome da like  I travellled........ok 

Back on topic. your kids? hoow far?

btw he made it back.....

I was let to get public transport from Dunfermline across to Lochgilphead when I was 11 which is 126 miles so I guess my parents thought that was okay.

[Arabdownunder]

Born in 1962 and growing up in a small (very low crime) town; it was common for kids to be out and about without supervision, particularly over the school holidays. Canals, woods, building sites, burns and whatnot were all regular play areas. School was about a mile away and while I don't remember how old I was when I first started walking there on my own, it must've been around 7-ish. Walked home with a couple of mates and that always took three times as long because distractions. I remember being allowed to go to Ibrox on my own to watch Rangers play Aberdeen when I couldn't have been more than about thirteen. Walked from the city centre and back. The biggest rite of passage for me though was when I got my first 'real' bike when I was twelve. I was away and never looked back.
Traffic is significantly heavier today and I suspect that would make cycling those roads a lot less pleasant / safe and I'd be leery about letting my hypothetical child ride them now. I'd at least make sure they were properly trained on the Highway Code and road etiquette before I set them loose. Being in the Scouts helped a lot with developing self-sufficiency and I wish I hadn't been such a brat back then because I could've learned a lot more than I did.
As others have said; crime is comparatively low today, which makes the ongoing paranoia about child safety an interesting one. I too blame the 24-hour news cycle and social-media led hysteria for giving the impression danger lurks around every corner. Statistics show that today, as back then, the biggest threat to a child comes from within their immediate family. Still, it's more marketable to make people believe the middle-aged single guy down the street is the real danger.
 

Your mention of building sites reminds me of the national building strike in 1972. Like you I was 10. We lived in an area with lots of new estates. All the half- built houses were left all summer and quickly became playgrounds; climbing scaffolding and building dens out of bricks and loose timber were the favourites. Looking back, I'm amazed the sites were left unsecured and even more amazed that my mother seemed more concerned about how dirty we got than what we were up to.

[Duszek]

On 02/07/2021 at 14:06, Melanius Mullarkey said:

The bairn turned 11 in April. If the missus had her way she wouldn’t let her out of the garden. Even if she’s out on the street the missus is up at the window every 5 minutes checking.  I’m the total opposite. Let them run free and learn from their mistakes/near misses. 

Very much like my situation. My daughter just turned 15, son just turned 13. While I’m all in favour of giving them more freedom, the wife sees danger/risk everywhere, disapproves of parents who let their kids go out unsupervised at night, and generally lives in a state of constant fear whenever they’re out of sight. Whereas I’m like « f**k it ».

[Bert Raccoon]

I used to f**k off from about 9am till about 5pm if I wasn't at school. Most of the time I was playing football, the rest I was setting fire to stuff, climbing on top of garages and such like, breaking portacabin windows, getting a chase and smoking a 3rd of a Regal. I turned out perfectly fine 

[Sergeant Wilson]

8 hours ago, Bert Raccoon said:

I used to f**k off from about 9am till about 5pm if I wasn't at school. Most of the time I was playing football, the rest I was setting fire to stuff, climbing on top of garages and such like, breaking portacabin windows, getting a chase and smoking a 3rd of a Regal. I turned out perfectly fine 

Years before the Airdrie to Bathgate railway reopened it was still a fairly regular freight route. We actually played on a working railway. I don't think I was even discouraged. Cutting across it was a commonly used short cut for everyone. It was our duty to break the flimsy fence, a public service.

When I say play, of course I mean set fire to the banking and under bridges. Or throw stones at the trains. We used to put coins in the track as well, to make long coins.

[Aufc]

I feel sorry for kids these days. I’m mid 30’s and feel pretty lucky with the era I grew up in. Basically the last era before technology ramped up. I grew up with no social media, mobile phones came in when I was about 15 but were absolute bricks and computer consoles were not huge. As such, my childhood consisted of playing football with my mates everyday and generally being out. There was very little worries on my part and my parents and I was generally out from 9am til late with the odd drop home for food.

Kids these days have a lot of pressure through social media and shit like that. Technology is such that a lot of kids now would rather sit and play computer games or be attached to their phone. Social media is a huge negative in young kids lives. There were always some people who were a bit “different” back in the day which was fine. These days, anyone different is filmed being different and plastered all over social media. Usually results in someone starting a fundraising campaign to make themselves feel better.

I have two young kids and I do kind of worry as to what kind of world I’m bringing them up in. However, I’ll try encourage to be similar to me when I was younger and try get out and about. The town we live in is generally pretty safe.

Edited to add. I realise this is a bit “yer da” etc

[Jacksgranda]

My brother and I travelled from Aberdeen to Carlisle on the train when I was 11/12 and he'd have been7/8. Can't remember if anybody met us in Glasgow as we probably had to change stations (maybe not, this was 1963/64).

[Jacksgranda]

9 hours ago, Bert Raccoon said:

I used to f**k off from about 9am till about 5pm if I wasn't at school. Most of the time I was playing football, the rest I was setting fire to stuff, climbing on top of garages and such like, breaking portacabin windows, getting a chase and smoking a 3rd of a Regal. I turned out perfectly fine 

So we noticed...

[UAE1929]

48 minutes ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Years before the Airdrie to Bathgate railway reopened it was still a fairly regular freight route. We actually played on a working railway. I don't think I was even discouraged. Cutting across it was a commonly used short cut for everyone. It was our duty to break the flimsy fence, a public service.

When I say play, of course I mean set fire to the banking and under bridges. Or throw stones at the trains. We used to put coins in the track as well, to make long coins.

Used to do similar by Beauly (before there was a station there), as there was a viaduct over the river. We'd spend a lot of summer trying to reenact the Stand By Me train scene. Running along the line after hearing the train and then jumping into the water which looking back must have been a fairly decent drop.

As for throwing stones, after County games a few of us would walk down by the Jubilee pitches, turn left at the river, jump over the train lines and stay on the right hand side of the canal. We'd then pick up stones and try to launch them over the canal into people's gardens with the hope of smashing a greenhouse window.

So to answer the OP question, not until they are about 18.

[coprolite]

My wife is a fucking nutcase and won't leave the kids alone for a second. She used to stand by the climbing frame ready to catch them when they were wee. My 11 year old went to the local shops with her pals and the wife went with them (the only parent) and started nagging all the pals about watching where they were going and stuff. 

I do what i can to counterbalance it but keep hearing how i never grew up in a city. There might be more cars but they're less likely to get stuck in a peat bog. 

[SANTAN]

I used to live next to a really big park with wooded areas and stuff for exploring and when I was 5 or 6 I was allowed in the park with either my mates or my sister and her mates, there was a local alky old man, perhaps had learning difficulties or something and he used to speak to the kids when he would go buy but most folk were pretty wary of him. One time I ended up speaking to him and he asked me if I knew how to play cards, I didn't and he had a deck and was going through them, I wasn't properly listening but I said to him he could come round to my house later and teach me and told him where I lived... cue later that evening this old man came to my door, I answered it and literally started leading this man to my bedroom when my da opened the door to the hallway and promptly aggressively showed this guy the way out, I received a lesson in stranger danger that night but sadly I never learned to play cards. 

[Sergeant Wilson]

https://www.railscot.co.uk

Search North Calder Viaduct, the image is ©

The remains of one of the viaduct we played in is still there. The rail bed, rails and support girders were still there at the time. You could play on the rails or underneath. It was a bit of a drinking den as well and would have bits of machinery occasionally. 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Sergeant Wilson

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, Sergeant Wilson said:

Years before the Airdrie to Bathgate railway reopened it was still a fairly regular freight route. We actually played on a working railway. I don't think I was even discouraged. Cutting across it was a commonly used short cut for everyone. It was our duty to break the flimsy fence, a public service.

When I say play, of course I mean set fire to the banking and under bridges. Or throw stones at the trains. We used to put coins in the track as well, to make long coins.

Same for me at Grangemouth docks, think the tracks have gone now. We built a really shite raft one summer, threw a rock trying to splash a mate who was on it, hit him on the head, blood everywhere. That was end to that, spent the rest of the summer demolishing an abandoned building.

[invergowrie arab]

Are abandoned industrial buildings even a thing now?

[speckled tangerine]

2 hours ago, welshbairn said:

 That was end to that, spent the rest of the summer demolishing an abandoned building.

Talking of abandoned buildings, I fell out with my mates in P7 and fell briefly into the circle of a wrong 'un crowd. We spent some time breaking windows and lighting fires at an abandoned villa in Merchiston. I felt bad about this and made up with my regular pals.

I hadn't thought about this guy in 35 years but thanks to this thread I've found out, unsurprisingly, that he's achieved absolutely f**k all with his life. He was in the Edinburgh Evening News last year complaining about black mould in his Oxgangs Council flat. He's blaming a COPD diagnosis on this and not the fact he's been smoking since he was about ten. 

That's what I worry about with my kids that they make the wrong choice and can't escape consequences as a result. I was pretty lucky really.

 

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, speckled tangerine said:

Talking of abandoned buildings, I fell out with my mates in P7 and fell briefly into the circle of a wrong 'un crowd. We spent some time breaking windows and lighting fires at an abandoned villa in Merchiston. I felt bad about this and made up with my regular pals.

I hadn't thought about this guy in 35 years but thanks to this thread I've found out, unsurprisingly, that he's achieved absolutely f**k all with his life. He was in the Edinburgh Evening News last year complaining about black mould in his Oxgangs Council flat. He's blaming a COPD diagnosis on this and not the fact he's been smoking since he was about ten. 

That's what I worry about with my kids that they make the wrong choice and can't escape consequences as a result. I was pretty lucky really.

 

I briefly set up a side job as a demolition crew chief, using my fellow council workers as labourers when our Foreman was awol. So it kind of came in handy.