Was childhood it better back in the day or was it insanely dangerous?

We spent way more time unsupervised and outdoors. That worked then but can't now. If I look at photos of our street - out of about 120 houses, only about twelve had cars. Now all houses have a car, some have two. The amount of traffic on the roads makes playing out a lot more dangerous.

Where I live there is a small council housing estate with big patches of grass. The kids play out until dusk. They chalk the pavements, they build ramps for their bikes - most importantly - the toddlers are supervised by the eight year olds who interact with the tweens. They are not stuck in a single age friendship dynamic. I often think they have a way more interesting childhood than the better off DC with scheduled activities and secluded gardens.

We had more freedom and virtually no supervision so we went and did whatever we liked,we weren't supposed to play on building sites or in abandoned old houses , old railway lines, swim in rivers, take sweets or money from strangers but we did. We always had a gang of kids of all ages from tots to teens to play with & nobody was ever left on their own, we all looked out for each other and luckily no major accidents or incidents occurred, we were very, very lucky indeed.

My sister got badly scalded in a chip pan incident. And we had chimney fires almost every year!

I was born in the 60s and had a typically dangerous childhood. Only 1 of all my my classmates throughout school died and that was because she was driving aged 18 on a dual carriageway. She was hit by a car that was coming up the slip road and he went into the side of her. She was the kindest most decent person you could wish to meet. I still think about her now.

Chip pan fires and chimney fires were a thing. I remember having both in our little house.

It was drilled and I mean really drilled into us at school that we must never play on the railway line or swim in the quarry. They didn’t seem so bothered about the canal or the river although my DM told me not to play near the river until I had my Gold survival swimming badge. One boy ran across the dual carriage way and was killed. So we all knew not to do that although I did i guess that could still happen today.

I think parents smoking and letting us ride in the boot of an estate car was far more dangerous than anything we got up to while playing out unsupervised.

Glaswegian living in South of England. It's not you know. The children living beside me playing out and about just like I did as a child and my children did in Glasgow. They have started going in earlier now that the schools are back though sadly, but I have seen them all get up to the same games children everywhere get up to throughout the summer ... hide and seek, dens , rounders etc( see it when walking my dog )

I was chatting to a colleague a while back, and she reckon her dd was two years behind where she was at that stage (dd aged around 19) in terms of independence and experience.

Child of the 80s.

A friend died walking to school. Crossing a 40 mph road. He was 7!

From about age 8 or 9 we had freedom to explore the countryside on the edge of town. Turns out there was a future (or past who knows) child killer living very nearby.

My DC were lucky to grow up still playing out. But they are severely lacking social sills and independence in their teens now! And the online world scares me on their behalf.

So I think I’d quite like a middle road.

Oh my god I'd forgotten going over the top on the swings 😄

and the gocarts that we hurtled down the steepest roads we could find till we always fell off at high speed - so much lost skin from that

The ice slides we made on pavements as well - we got clipped round the ear for creating a hugely dangerous slalom one winter - no-one could get to the shop

I've just remembered - I've still got a scar the size of a 50p on my knee because I fell on it so much it didn't heal for 2 years at one point - there was so much grit in it. Cotton wool soaked in dettol and boiling water daily pressed onto it with tweezers was my mums remedy for that. God that hurt 😨

It was both insanely dangerous and better 😀 Whole days out playing without seeing parents from breakfast till teatime (we'd take a jam sandwich with us), lighting bonfires in the woods, buying bangers from the newsagents, lighting them, and riding your bike over them before they went off 😂
Every boy and a lot of the girls had a penknife. Making 'trolleys' to ride on out of bits of found wood and old pram wheels. Tree climbing. Going 'over the top' on the swings. Diving boards at the swimming pool. Playing hide and seek with the patients at the local mental hospital...
It was a fun childhood, and probably dangerous, but so what 😊

My teenager has never had a classmate die. This is completely bizarre to me as someone born in the 70s.

Childhood is definitely less dangerous, but I’m still not sure it is better. We had a freedom that her generation will never know.

This. “Safer” is not always better. Especially as humans we are pretty terrible at assessing and managing risk, and tend to try to take all the risks out of life but only considering certain scenarios while completely ignoring others - we do not balance risk well. Such as children constantly being supervised to keep them “safe” while completely ignoring the risks of this approach to their development of essential life skills.

In the school holidays we’d leave home after breakfast and not return until about 5 pm. We’d be off exploring an old tin mine, swimming in a lake 2 miles from home, making dens, climbing hay bales on local farms. Even climbed onto a barn roof aged 6 with my brothers so we could dive onto the bales below.
We’d make go karts from bits of wood and old pram wheels and ride them down the hill on the road outside our house, while keeping an eye out for the local boy racers in there VWGolf’s and Ford Escorts.
It was carefree and fun but wouldnt ( didnt)let my own kids do that !
I was a child of the 70’s.
As others have said, less anxiety and mental health issues and less childhood obesity, generally.

It was far more dangerous, but everyone here lived to tell the tale so we are biased. There were three children at my school who died in accidents. Another had a serious injury jumping from a hay bale. Lots of sexual activity in under 16s and grooming from men aged 19-25 towards 15-17 year old girls. Teenage pregnancy. Lots of underage drinking to the point of hospitalisation/not knowing where you are. Also drug taking among under 14s. Teachers could be pretty nasty and rarely listened to any concerns a child might have, they largely just taught their subject and that was that. Open hostility towards people who didn’t fit in, police brutality. Safeguarding means a lot of extra work for many people; it costs a lot to do the right thing.

I was a child of the 70s and we'd go out all day like OP. Play in the woods, down by the river, we were expressly told not to cross the railway line.

Walked to school from age 8. Cycled everywhere. My dc didn't do any of that, just didn't seem as interested in being independent.

A couple of kids did drown in the river. And there were car accidents, but you could as easily have that nowadays.

My childhood was in the 70s/80s, and I would tend to say better. While there were some injuries among kids in my neighbourhood, none were serious/life threatening. And I think the kids were far more competent, empowered, capable of living in the world, and healthier, than kids are now.

I think a lot of the current problems kids are having with anxiety and fear of being self-sufficient and starting life as adults stems from how sheltered they are.

Insanely dangerous but so much fun!

Between the ages of 4 and 9 I:

• played armies on a neglected building site - we built walls and threw bricks at each other
• was given piggy backs on brothers and neighbours bikes going fast downhill on residential streets
• hitched lifts from strangers with my mates into town and back again - whilst there made prank calls from phone boxes
• set fire to a phone box
• walked to school alone from the age of 6 (everyone did this though so it was busy)
• went in and out of dozens of friends houses and no-one ever knew where any of us were and parents did not know any other parents
• played on cliff edges and clambered around cliff fall areas completely unsupervised and a mile from home
• taunted the local flashers (there was one up in the window of the cul-de-sac down our road (we threw stones at his windows), and one who hung around the primary school railing and would play a 'try and grab us' game if we went near the edges of the playground. We called him awful names.
• played out till dark and often missed meals as we were so far from home

I am lucky nothing ever happened to me except a few minor injuries and the odd stitches.

It was soooooooooo much fun.

I am glad I grew up without mobiles, but I’m also glad my children have better child protection around them, that they don’t drink or smoke like we did and that we make sure they are safer. My uncle was a farmer, my cousin and I would play in the grain store, the adults were oblivious, we were out of their hair, so incredibly dangerous and we had no idea - possibly my cousin did, but I had no idea how dangerous a farm was, yet completely free to roam.

We were all smoking by about 12. Sent off to various residential trips with no safeguarding checks. My parents were fine with me drinking from 15 (I had a job, so was considered pretty much adult) I was in clubs by 16. Knew a couple of girls with drink problems by then, spent a lot of time in my mid teens with lads in their 20s, who thankfully were fairly decent but definitely could have groomed us if they were that way inclined. And obviously there was no one who was gay at my school - homophobia was quite violent. I don’t think it was better on balance.

Agree I think there's a different attitude to this in Scotland.

My kids do still jump off hay bales, play in the woods unsupervised, go guising without adults from age 10. We've only had one broken bone so far touch wood and that happened in the house!

Sometimes I do feel nervous about them but that kind of freedom is so good for them, the way they're forced to negotiate with each other, look out for each other, etc.

It was both better and insanely dangerous.

We once ran across 4 lanes of motor way as a short to the reservoir where we played… 😳

Both better and worse. I had aot of freedom & didn't think twice about roaming with the kids in the (rural) street, even at night. I couldn't comprehend my friend in town asking permission to go to the shop 200m away & getting a lecture on safety & come right back, no stopping!

However, my freedom was from disengaged parents. I have an abundance of bad memories & was sexually assaulted many times, as I had no guidance, support or idea of how to protect myself. I never divulged because it would have been pushed under the carpet or made out to be my fault as it would have been inconvenient. DB became involved in drugs & illegal activities. Plus both drinking, DB driving unlicensed etc. It's surprising we both came out alive, let alone learn to be functioning adults. It's why we're so restrictive on our own DC.

My DM admits 'it never crossed her mind ' to know where we were or actively parent us. I think she has realised, after seeing how engaged DB & I are with our DC, that they were wrong in how they parented. I occasionally let something we did slip & she's horrified.

My DC might be more restricted but they have more opportunities, parents they can bring anything to, and hopefully won't have the horrific experiences we had.

I think there are plenty of places for children to play; I’ve spent the summer with my children at the beach, in the woods, exploring ponds and rivers and going to parks.

But I have been with them, as I’d expect (they are very young)

I remember in the 80s walking to school alone and letting myself into an empty house after school from being in what is now year 3 onwards and I didn’t like it. Also remember a lot of upsetting things happening when adults weren’t supervising. Children can quickly get a bit of a pack mentality without guidance.

70s rural Irish childhood on a council estate in a village. Adults were busy working but we did look after each other. Gangs of kids look out for each other. Mothers on doorsteps, with fag's had an eye out too. We were all independent at 18, left home, worked etc.

We were able to navigate the world in a way l can't imagine 18 year olds do now. Able to get on with it. Parenting was very shared then, everyone including the older kids kept an eye out.

I'm a teacher and most of the 16/17 years l teach seem totally unequipped for 'real' life. Think someone is going to solve everything. Normal concerns are clouded in the language of mental health. They can't seem to defend on their peers. Huge pressure on parents.

Yes - whenever I get a bit misty-eyed with nostalgia, I remember Jimmy Saville. At least 450 victims aged from 5 to 75. Likely many many more. Committed his crimes in hospitals and schools, amongst other places. And we didn’t find out until he died in 2011.