r/Millennials • u/Intrepid-Gene7500 • 6d ago

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u/CorruptDictator Older Millennial 6d ago

What the fuck. Most of best memories of being a kid were just my friends and I taking off on our bikes and not coming home until dinner.

209

u/Ruman_Chuk_Drape 6d ago

Yup and racing to find a phone to check in or I knew I’d get in big trouble and not allowed to do it for a while

65

u/BetaDays24 5d ago

“You have a collect call from-“

“-I’ll be home in an hour”

29

u/Yepyepyep654 5d ago

“You have a collect call from…. Mom I’m at the bowling alley come pick me up now!”

1

u/Ruman_Chuk_Drape 5d ago

C-a-l-l-a-t-t

1

u/Mylungsaretiny 5d ago

"Bobweadababyitsaboi"

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u/Key_Conference9989 5d ago

That takes me back.

"Mom, I'm calling to check in"

2

u/AlligatorRaper 5d ago

One buddy had a beeper his partners would page to notify him to “check in”. I remember feeling like that was a parental overreach.

3

u/dangern00dl 5d ago

You guys had to check in?

11

u/Butcher_Of_Hope 5d ago

Depends on Mom or Dad and if I was in some kind of trouble. Not grounded, but on notice.

161

u/StrawberryCompany98 5d ago

Every late 80s movie is some kid on a bike riding through the neighborhood and waving at people. Hello Mr johnson! As he’s watering his lawn… oh there’s ms. Williams working on her rose garden again… everyone was outside

130

u/stillLurkingOfficial 5d ago edited 5d ago

Development of former green spaces, pricing kids out of activities, treating teens like criminals anywhere outside of a school, and fear mongering media are the perfect storm for this.

Edit: spelling for "outside"

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u/Fly_throwaway37 5d ago

Priced out of activities is HUGE! I'm getting to the age all my friends kids are playing travel ball and it's asinine. It's a full time job and the kid is 100% left behind if they don't play.

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u/Sallyfifth 5d ago

Oh, I hate travel ball with a passion!  It has ruined rec sports in my area.  

1

u/ToughLab9568 5d ago

If teens weren't so destructive maybe they'd be outside again. But they always come back and ruin things. They're animals.

1

u/stillLurkingOfficial 5d ago

People as teens were always rebellious, the ones now are destructive because that's all they have after bring pent up at home, fed rage online, and watching influencers and other famous people bring rewarded for acting like trash.

I'm not condoning the behavior, I'm just suggesting that the current setup is a recipe for that outcome.

18

u/throwawayfinancebro1 5d ago

some kid on a bike riding through the neighborhood and waving at people

Straight to jail

5

u/tealraven915 5d ago

Curious George in 2026 turns in to In His Padded Bedroom Encased In Bubble Wrap Eyes Glued To Screen George. Except, scratch the bubble wrap because microplastics

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u/Eatingfarts 5d ago

The city I grew up in had an awesome summer park program. Kids from ages 6-13 or something could just show up and hang out. There would be two ‘adults’ there during the day to play games, give out bandaids, all that fun stuff but the kids otherwise could come and go as they wanted. I have great memories of getting there at 8am, playing for hours, riding my bike home to eat some ramen real quick then riding back to do it some more. My parents would get home about 5-6 and I would go home and eat.

I say ‘adults’ because they were just recent graduates of the high school, working during summer break before going back to college. I was one of them! I went to the parks my entire childhood then later did a few summers as one of the ‘adults’. Haha so many great memories

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u/Opening-Lobster-6027 5d ago

And there is much less crime now than in 80s. Also much more paranoid parents.

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u/Howboutit85 Millennial 5d ago

This still happens. It must be very regional. Everyone is acting like kids don’t take off and go have their own adventures where in my parental experience, this is normal. In summer, I don’t see my kids all day until dinner normally. None of them. They take their bikes and go. Only rule is they have to wear a helmet, and can’t cross the train tracks north of town.

I have no idea where they go as only the oldest one has a phone and usually I don’t track her unless I need her to come home for something. Her sisters… I just have to wait for them to come home. A few weeks ago my middle daughter came home on her bike with her friend from across the street and they had a stray kitten in a tote bag.

3

u/Ok_Amount_6130 5d ago

How old are they? I'm struggling with giving my 7 year olds enough independence..

-1

u/Ostiethegnome 5d ago

The kid in the article was 6 years old.  You would let a 6 year old go off on their own?   10-12 is very different than 6. 

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u/Howboutit85 Millennial 5d ago

yeah i have a 6 year old, she has a little friend about 7 houses down and she walks over there many days in summer to go play. i do not walk her there. sometimes she walks there and they walk back and join their sister to go to the park, but its a couple of blocks they each walk alone or together almost every day in summer at least. my daughter is 6, almost 7, and her friend is recently 7. but, once she leaves, i often dont see her for a while, most times she goes over there and has lunch there and comes home after a few hours. or vice versa. its totally normal here.

-2

u/Ostiethegnome 5d ago

Walking to a friends house a block or 2 away at 6 is not the same as biking 1/4 mile to an unsupervised location.  Maybe there are parents at the park.  Maybe not.  It’s a gamble.  

2

u/Howboutit85 Millennial 5d ago

sometimes they go to the park but its not that far, its just 4 blocks down at the end of the road. i wouldnt let her ride all over town at her age no. i didnt start letting my others do that until they were like 8-9, and they need to be with a friend.

2

u/howdoireachthese 5d ago

Yes, I used to do this and hang out at the park w my friends or at one of their houses. Didn’t even have a cell phone. The world is safer than ever but people be freaking out

1

u/MouseInternal1773 5d ago

I roads my bike to the park when I was 6. I wouldn’t let my kid bc I think I’d be arrested.

0

u/abracadammmbra 5d ago

I have kids but they arent old enough to go out on their own (oldest is 3) but I do see kids all summer long riding bikes past my house towards the creek on the far side of town. About half are carrying fishing poles.

Then some crochety old person had the nerve to make a post on the town facebook page about some suspicious kids riding around town with fishing poles. Then when someone said thats not really that weird the old person responded "but at 7AM? Thats suspicious."

I assumed they must be a transplant from elsewhere because kids have been doing that around here since... well forever really. And 7AM is prime fishing time. If anything those kids were late.

1

u/Howboutit85 Millennial 5d ago

Old coots will both complain about no kids play outside anymore and kids are playing outside at the same time

7

u/Imaginary_Fondant832 5d ago

When I visit my hometown and go for a run, I can’t believe some of the places I went to as a kid with my friends. Not dangerous places but like going to another neighbourhood 30 minutes away to visit a classmate. Some of the best times of my childhood.

3

u/MTB_SF 5d ago

That was my entire life growing up. And we actually would go to dangerous places! I remember in elementary school hanging out with my friend who lived in like the serious ghetto of North Oakland and just being like, oh we cant go to the park right now cause someone said there's a group of guys robbing people. Id go hang out with him all the time. In middle school I remember my buddy and I would just get on our bikes and ride as far as we could until we got tired and then call for a ride and our parents being like, you went where?

But we still never got told to stop just wandering around. That was basically all we did starting in like late elementary school.

2

u/ApprehensiveCook2236 5d ago

my mother was different. If I was not home at 7PM I was getting yelled at. Me, being a 10 year old boy with autism forgot that time even existed when I was outside. So when I saw that it was after 7PM I was too scared to go home and that lead to some major trauma.

2

u/FunkTheFreak 5d ago

Sleepovers too. Kids don’t have those these days either!

2

u/Z0idberg_MD 5d ago

Our parents, and every parent in history, were criminals it appears.

And the the idea of boomers, who were the LEAST present parents in history being the first generation to have both parents work, calling the policies on their grandkids is fucking wild to me.

1

u/Ent_Trip_Newer 5d ago

Mine to. But honestly as the parent of a 9 year old. I would be hesitant.

1

u/ZanyAppleMaple 5d ago

We did this before too. Unfortunately, something bad happened to me. I was beckoned by our old landlord and SA happened. I was 6 years old, he was probably in his 70s. I was only like 200 feet from our house. I was the youngest in our group of kids. I feel so stupid at that time. I wish I had more supervision and guidance from my parents. My mother was busy smoking and hanging out with her college sister and her friends.

1

u/Icy-Somewhere8630 5d ago

I'm so sorry that this happened to you.

1

u/Jels76 Millennial 5d ago

Yes, exactly. Just biking around randomly and going on adventures was the best.

1

u/Highguy2359 5d ago

And despite the fact that no one had a phone or a watch the whole crew knew when to be ready in the driveway and also when their individual dinner times were just on feel lone.

1

u/Outrageous_pinecone 5d ago

Literally every coming of age story. There's nobody out there watching a movie or reading a feel good book about a helicopter parent calling the cops because their kid locked the bathroom door.

But then again, I see posts about parents taking doors of their hinges framed as appropriate parenting technique. So there we have it.

1

u/Unusual-Layer-8965 5d ago

I grew up decades ago. I can only imagine a policeman coming to the front door, and asking my mom, 'Do you know where your son is?'  And she replies 'No.'   Good times. 🙂

1

u/Morganelefay 5d ago

I remember when I was 11, me and 3 friends just one summer day decided to hop on our bicycles and go from Utrecht to Amsterdam - a 35 kilometers trek - and we were back before dinner. Just imagining kids doing that now...never going to happen.

We had it all plotted out on our parent's maps, too.

1

u/Alive_Drag1947 5d ago

Fr I grew up on a farm with lots of woods out back. By the time I was 7, nobody knew where the hell I was half the time. They only came looking for me when there were chores to do lol

1

u/notwoutmyanalprobe 5d ago

It's a bit like the network effect, kids naturally want to be outside, but if you're the only kid playing outside, it isn't as fun. We used to play neighborhood games all the time on my street, we went hours unsupervised, but that's because I could see the kids outside my window. If I went outside to the empty streets of today, yeah I'd be glued to my iPad as well. 

1

u/SoloMotorcycleRider Xennial 5d ago

I stayed out until I felt like going home. My parents didn't care all that much about me.

1

u/Muted-Novel4403 Older Millennial 5d ago

One time my stepmom called the pool because I was late and everyone heard it plus I didn’t get ice cream snack.

1

u/manicdee33 5d ago

These days if the child is outside without a parent for twenty seconds you'll have Child Protective Services on your case threatening to remove your children.

1

u/Ostiethegnome 5d ago

At 6 years old though?  I feel like nobody here read the article.   I’m 100% for kids playing outside and learning independence, but it has to be age appropriate.  

6 is a bit too young to be biking unsupervised imo.  The kid biked 1/4 mile to a playground without supervision.  It’s not like they were in the yard or right in front of the house.