Poll: Most Americans Want to Criminalize Pre-Teens Playing Unsupervised

[Silent3]

A whopping 68 percent of Americans think there should be a law that prohibits kids 9 and under from playing at the park unsupervised, despite the fact that most of them no doubt grew up doing just that.

What's more: 43 percent feel the same way about 12-year-olds. They would like to criminalize all pre-teenagers playing outside on their own (and, I guess, arrest their no-good parents).

Those are the results of a Reason/Rupe poll confirming that we have not only lost all confidence in our kids and our communities—we have lost all touch with reality.

"I doubt there has ever been a human culture, anywhere, anytime, that underestimates children's abilities more than we North Americans do today," says Boston College psychology professor emeritus Peter Gray, author of Free to Learn, a book that advocates for more unsupervised play, not less.

http://reason.com/archives/2014/08/20/helicopter-parenting-run-amok-most-ameri

If you're thinking "but these days you can't be too careful!", well, yes, you can. "These days" are some of the safest for kids we've ever had, despite whatever distorted view of reality 24/7 sensationalistic news coverage has given you.

[chrisstopher]

1. Never had any children.

I've always felt that children should only be raised by responsible adults.

[cheapdate]

2. Another glaring reason I'm not like "most Americans". n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

4. Ditto.

[WhiteTara]

3. Then we need to open pre school and day care facilities

all over the country. Parents work all the time.

[Warpy]

7. I'm beginning to think a lot of parents belong in them.

the kids could use a little relief.

[Silent3]

8. When I was off playing on my own as a kid it would have made no difference...

...if my parents were working or not at the time. It's not like cell phones existed back them to call them at either home or work. All that mattered is that at least one of my parents would be home when I got home for dinner.

While I support more and better access to preschool and day care, I'm not sure how much those issues apply here, since what we're talking about is not being so afraid of kids having some unsupervised time, not finding institutional supervision to replace parental supervision.

[blueamy66]

25. Me too.

Off at dawn and home by dinner in the Summer.

Kids' lives these days must suck.

[BlueJazz]

30. Me Three. We never thought it strange or scary to "Go off on our own" @ 10 years old.

[blueamy66]

31. Bikes, skateboarding, swimming in irrigation ditches.

And no helmets. OMG. The horror.

[jen63]

35. Or seatbelts!! n/t

[blueamy66]

37. How about hanging in the space below the back window?

nt

[jen63]

42. Yeah that too!

Or riding in the back of a pick em up truck, lol!

[blueamy66]

46. Did it all tne time.

Growing up on my friend's dairy in AZ....the stories I could tell!

[jen63]

48. Oh me too!!

See my post further down thread about how bad helicopter parenting has become. I pushed my kid out the door in the morning and told him to have fun! The same as my parents did for me. I'd come in for the dinner bell with green feet, having run through the cut grass all day and playing in the creek! What a blast! I feel so sorry for fearful people who can't let their kids be kids!

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. That's sad and pathetic.

[Warpy]

6. The poor kids, stuck in their own backyards

instead of being able to explore woods, paddle a leaky old rowboat in a pond or creek, and generally get away from their parents to be kids for a while.

Helicopter parenting sucks.

[BrotherIvan]

22. A lot of kids don't have a backyard

But access to a park, maybe. It's sad that kids can't walk home from school or play in a safe area. It leads to a severe lack of imagination. But I do believe helicopter parenting comes from many of the books that are going overboard to pressure and scare parents. I feel really bad for how crazy it is now. I don't remember anyone from my parents' generation being so crazed and exhausted.

[Warpy]

55. Part of it is guilt over working too much

and not being able to supervise the kids the way they want to.

This country sucks for anybody who works for a living.

[X_Digger]

9. Fucking helicopter parents. n/t

[lunasun]

11. And think about how fucked up their kids will be

[Hooked_n_Looped]

27. Part of it is being forced on to them...

... When we arrest the parents who think it's fine to send their 9 year old to the park down the street.

[X_Digger]

33. Well, the law would be prompted by helicopter parents bugging their legislators. n/t

[jen63]

36. You have no idea

how twisted some helicopter parents can be. My son is at the US Naval Academy and we have what is called "listserv". We get emails of questions that other parents have concerning academy life etc. There are some parents who are asking questions about how their Midshipman should invest for fricking retirement ffs. Gawd help those young adults. I trust my son enough to make those decisions on his own.

My son did it all himself, except for a few "what would you do" questions and is handling his time and academics very well. He spent a year at college when he was turned down for a USNA appointment the first time and did all of his apps and scholarship work on his own. Our job as parents is to raise contributing members of society. I hope I have, but I miss him terribly. We have a very close relationship and he knows he can tell me anything and not be judged. After all I was where he is at one point.

[Lex]

10. 24 hour/day sensationalistic news has warped people's sense of safety.

It's really very sad.

[mrdmk]

54. Those 1970's cop shows did not help either!

<snip>
I’m not sure “the greatest” is what I would call the new Columbia DVD collection, The Greatest ‘70s Cop Shows. That’s a pretty tall order considering that ‘70s TV was all about the cop shows, giving us Baretta and The Rockford Files, Kojak and Get Christie Love, Hawaii Five-0 and Adam-12, amongst many others. And so, I might call this selection The Pretty Good ‘70s Cop Shows, as it includes the pilot episodes of ‘70s staples Charlie’s Angels, Starsky & Hutch, The Rookies, Police Woman, and S.W.A.T.

The good news is that none of these series has lost cheese appeal. You’ve got the Angels (Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith) looking marvelous in a series of hip retro outfits, and Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) and Hutch (David Soul) tooling around town in the Torino with Huggy Bear (Antonio Fargas). You’ve got righteous heroes, nasty villains, police being called “pigs” or “the fuzz.” You’ve also got shameless overacting, stilted dialogue, and production values so cheap that some shots are almost totally out of focus. All this to the chucka-chicka fuzzbox backing of urgent, brassy soundtracks that, thanks to this DVD’s digital remastering, now sounds lean and muscular.

<snip>

The five pilots presented here show how TV in the 1970s attempted to capitalize on these movements. Each episode showcases the fluid camera work and taut character-driven storytelling that would become the trademark of ‘70s cop shows (along with the requisite bombastic theme song). S.W.A.T., Police Woman, and The Rookies have a tough, almost grim feel, as each explores what it means to be a cop in a violent, post-1968 society. In these pilots, police work is not pretty. It is a harsh, thankless business that takes a toll on the heart and souls of our heroes.

S.W.A.T. (Special Weapons and Tactics), in particular, had the unnerving premise of introducing an elite organization of ex-Vietnam War vets who were called on to handle violent situations too big for street cops. The S.W.A.T. team brought the concept of military-style warfare to big city police work. Based loosely on real life S.W.A.T. squads formed in big cities after the disturbances of the late ‘60s, the S.W.A.T. team, led by Captain Dan “Hondo” Harrelson (stone-faced Steve Forrest), shot first and asked questions later. The pilot, first shown in 1975, follows the team as they relentlessly pursue a group of snipers who are assassinating cops. This episode, which features a number of taut, exciting action sequences, offers a convincing look at this grim and uncompromising type of police work.

link: http://www.popmatters.com/review/greatest-70s-cop-shows/

[lunasun]

12. 12yr olds ! Wtf i asked one that made a comment about our kids going to the community pool

With other kids - did you go with your parents at that age or other kids?
His answer :silence
Guess he was thinking we should be in jail!
Yes I believe it has to do with the scare em media

[Art_from_Ark]

13. I don't think my mom ever took me to the community pool

after I entered elementary school. I did go to the pool with friends on occasion, but I would often just ride my bike to the pool.

[lunasun]

14. 12 yrs old means 6th or 7th grade. Will they follow them around in high school? The

Answer is ...possibly
because I have seen it !!
You should want your child to experience life
Besides media I blame parents looking to make their child their best friend at inappropriate ages like middle school high school
I have had people brag that they are best friends with their high school son etc.
I have a great relationship with all my kids they are all A students and well mannered but they have friends their own age they do things with and I don't need to stand over them all the time
We have plenty of family time and extended family community time but they all have their own friends to play with. They are open with us and I trust honest. I recently found out one of the friends was confiding in us things they didn't discuss with their own parents (feeling they were unpopular) so we are not absent parents and even others feel they can talk to us
Some peoples kids do not seem to have close friends at an age that it is important to socialize I noticed and it is the parent who is making the world to be a big scary place and stopping them from normal (IMO)socialization and I will add physical activity and sunlight .
If they are allowed play it must be arranged and supervised and then of course that makes it infrequent and hard to form real friendship
Each to his own I just couldn't do that
As a parent you are always a little worried but when it becomes anxiety ridden phobia it's whacko
Granted there are some localities you shouldn't be out in some parts of town due to gang activity but I don't think that is what this survey is picking up here.

[BrotherIvan]

23. Very much agree

I heard a woman a few weeks ago claim that her child was her best friend and she was his whole world. He's 12. And so badly behaved that other children don't even like him.

Being a friend to your child means you are depriving him or her of a parent. No one else can do that, but they can and should have plenty of friends. I think so many people are afraid their child won't love them if they don't give in to every whim or let them do whatever they want. It's not good for kids. Kids need structure and guidance. They need boundaries of what they can or can't do or they feel aimless and lost. How will they ever gain independence, assuming that's what is supposed to happen. Many college professors are speaking up about dealing with children raised by the helicopters and it is not good.

[bklyncowgirl]

49. I've got too words for that mother--NORMAN BATES

I can't say I was the greatest mother ever--not by a long shot--but I raised my daughter to be independent.

[joeglow3]

15. Wow. I would never let my 5 year old go to a pool by himself

I let my 11 year old and will let my 8 year old if his brother is there. But there is no way in hell I would let my five year old go by himself.

[Art_from_Ark]

18. I didn't go by myself when I was 5

but once I got into elementary school (6), I would go with friends, either in a group, or maybe with their mother/father. Later on, starting in 3rd grade (8), I would sometimes just go by myself. It wasn't any big deal.

[lunasun]

32. The OP survey was not about 5 yr old s

[blueamy66]

38. We jumped fences and swam in neighbors' pools

We all knew each other. Nobody cared.

[LadyHawkAZ]

16. ironically,

they are probably the same people who clutter up everyone's social media feed with that stupid "When I was a kid, we didn't have Internet and our parents made us play outside til dark, and we turned out fine!" blather.

[teenagebambam]

17. Good grief

My mother used to put me in a playpen out in the backyard, send the dog out to "babysit", and go about her business.

[raven mad]

19. Tell me,

[Recursion]

20. Most Americans are (mistakenly) convinced that crime rates are higher now than in the past

But they're essentially the lowest they've ever been since we started recording crimes. You were more likely to be murdered in 1913 than 2013.

[davidn3600]

21. Media has the public whipped up into a predator panic

Predators kidnapping kids in a public park or playground is very rare. Not to say it doesn't happen, but the public thinks it happens far, far more than it does.

[blueamy66]

26. It happened back then...

we just didn't hear about it...like you said...

Family visited us in Hawaii in the mid 70s....their 17 year old son was grabbed into a van at the beach....he escaped....

Nobody knew, except us and the cops. Now, everybody would know.

[Hooked_n_Looped]

29. The odds of it are still lower than back then though...

[blueamy66]

40. Don't agree.

It happened as much...just didn't have an outlet to tell everyone about it.

[Hooked_n_Looped]

45. We do have crime statistics from back then...

Those are different than the constant media feed you are given.

[blueamy66]

47. And those stats are accurate?

No way to ever know.

[Hooked_n_Looped]

52. Well if you are just going to declare them liars...

.. There isn't much of a conversation to be had.

[blueamy66]

56. Show me the stats.

Happened the same...no Internet...prove me wrong.

[woo me with science]

39. Yep. Same mentality that justifies trashing the Constitution to "protect" us.

The whole damned country needs deprogramming.

End corporate control of media. End corporate control of government, and maybe we can reclaim some sanity in this nation.

[surrealAmerican]

24. The article didn't say, but I wonder if the results were different ...

... for people who were actually parents. Just who was being surveyed here?

[Katashi_itto]

28. Americans have become soft, weak minded creatures.

[ellie]

34. This country has lost its collective mind

[blueamy66]

41. Yep.

Scared.

[woo me with science]

44. We are programmed, just as surely as North Korea is programmed.

Our media is a cancer to rational and empathetic thought.

[treestar]

43. People think the world is full of predators

Which they may be more aware of now than they were in the past.

[TransitJohn]

50. The fear campaigns have worked

Despite crime falling for decades. Its safer to be a kid than it has been in a very long time, though you would never know it.

[Initech]

51. Yes that's a great idea. Let's reserve prison cells for kids as early as possible.

Let's indoctrinate everyone into the prison industrial complex as early as possible. Use the same techniques that the tobacco industry uses and get them hooked while they're young. Seriously are these people fucking stupid? This won't do anything but create more corrupt for profit prisons and heavily militarized police while we're at it. Really these 69% are part of the problem.

[Tracer]

53. In my town, it's all group play and organized sports.

Town-run summer soccer and day camps; school-run field hockey, soccer, baseball in the Fall.

I never see 7-10 year-olds in my neighborhood playing outside, riding their bikes, exploring the nearby woods etc.

Directly across the street are two houses with kids that I wouldn't recognize if I fell over them, because they are ALWAYS inside.

In those woods though, I have seen signs of boys doing some off-road biking (homemade ramp jumps etc.)
So maybe there's some hope yet.

[FiveGoodMen]

57. It's getting so the country isn't even WORTH TRYING to save

We. Just. Suck.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

58. Growing up these days is different

Suburban children are either under constant supervision by parents; in some form of structured childcare; in school; or involved in activities that take up huge chunks of whatever spare time they have. Spare time is spent videogaming or watching the endless array of electronic entertainment.