Quadsville

I don't see a lot of kids just playing outside anymore.We used to be out of the house all day when I was a kid, just checked in on occasion when we got hungry,lol.

I walked to school alone from K through 8. Although it was in the small community of Walcott. I also walked to school from Walcott to Davenport West on my last day of senior year. It took me three hours and fifteen minutes. I started out at around 4:45 and made it to school with a few minutes to spare.

I'm crazy... I know.

The KWQC 10 AM news started out "BOY WALKS TO SCHOOL" and showed a map of my journey. ha

It's hard as a parent to know when to trust. Part of it is me trusting my kids to make the right choices when confronted with danger or temptation.

I live in one of the idyllic areas you are talking about and I still won't let my 9 year old run the streets. She can walk to and from friends houses, for playdates. I did let her go to the school playground with another friend this summer and that was a huge leap for me. Her friends house is visible from the playground and I knew her friends parents were home in case they needed something. I live close enough to walk, but I'm farther away.

I've seen too many weird things to be comfortable. There was nasty graffiti this summer at our school playground, which means there are nasty minded people doing it. I really don't want my daughter at 9 to be exposed to that situation.

We had an adult guy just hanging around the school playground this summer...no purpose...he wasn't chaperoning anyone. CREEPY. I trust my nine year old to run away, scream, fight...do whatever to avoid someone like this....but I'm not taking a chance that she could be put in a situation she might not be comfortable in dealing with.

The great thing about Bett is that when we call the police they handle it right away...like the time I called about the kids setting off firecrackers on the playground this summer. I was driving by and saw them....I didn't want them to burn down anything or get hurt. We had extra patrols when Mr. Creepy was hanging around.

Groups of teenagers mill around and could be up to no good. I've heard the way they talk....and what the girls are wearing. I guess I just don't want my daughter to have to make choices now at 9 that I'm sure she'll have to make when she's in middle school. She's still impressionable and I'd like to keep her influences more under my control right now.

If your kid is running the streets and you aren't sure who they are running with then you don't know what they may be doing. Supervised playdates are still the best option at this point for me.

I have let my daugher walk home to and from school. Part of the problem is her brother. I still can't trust him to go from point A to point B without taking a detour. The impulse control is still weak in this one. Next year will be even more so since my youngest will be in kindergarten. I can't trust them all to make it to school without a wrestling match errupting.

I went to a visitation the other day for a guy I worked with, and found that for a time I lived in the same neighborhood as he and his family. Although it lasted less that 2 years, I still remember all the kids that lived and played in that 3-square block area - the Schillings, Allens, Chrissy Carr, Janine Aversing, the DeMuyncks, etc.

I think the reason I remember these names 35 years later is that we moved around a lot, never putting down roots, never having a real "neighborhood" until this one. Seems like the good old days now :)

When I was a kid (this was a long long time ago) we were out the door and stayed out from sunrise to sunset. We lived in a small town though so it wasn't too much of a worry. Now a days I think playing outside in numbers is a better idea. I worry about horseplay walking to school so close to traffic.