# How Old were You before Your Parents let You Go Out by Yourself? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 5, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005 "2018-11-05T14:16:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/41 "2018-11-05T21:42:31Z")
Born 1954. Even though we were living on the mean streets of Bethesda at the time, I remember walking on my own to friends’ homes a few houses down the street when I was 5. The next year, when I was 6, I was walking to and from school unsupervised. That year, a group of us kids trick-or-treated together, but no parents were along, nor were they in subsequent years. Back at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, we were free-range kids pretty much as soon as we felt we were ready to be. It helped that, in those baby-boom years, there were always lots of other kids around. First you’d explore the woods with your friends, and after doing that a few times, wandering the woods by yourself was no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/42 "2018-11-05T21:52:32Z")
I was about 4 or 5 and I was allowed to wander off into nearby fields to play (playing consisted mostly of catching lizards). I was told not to cross any main roads. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/43 "2018-11-05T21:55:42Z")
In first grade in our small town the sibs and I all walked in together. But I was let out earlier so I walked home alone. 3 blocks. A brother a few years old was the town newsboy. I’d go with him to collect since some people also gave out candy when we showed up. Sometimes I’d walk back home alone when the “good” places had already been visited. My little sister was 3 and would take off to go see her dad at work. Across a creek and everything. My mom would notice her missing and call to let them to know to expect her. No big deal. Moved to the suburbs of a larger city. Rode buses. But still we rambled around all over the place on our own. No parent ever went trick or treating with kids unless they had toddlers or there abouts. Starting about 3rd grade I went berry picking with my sibs. Get up at 6am or so, walked out to the main road, waiting for the farm bus. Later I was doing this on my own. I’d earn $5-$6 a day. In a recent thread I mentioned pedaling several miles with my friends to go to the county fair and hang out there all day. Maybe 11+. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/44 "2018-11-06T00:40:08Z")
First grade. Wealthy suburb, school was about a mile away. This was in 1960. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/45 "2018-11-06T00:50:38Z")
Born in 1951, lived in Queens, but the part relatively far from the city. I walked to school by myself in first grade, and I don’t ever remember my parents coming trick or treating with my brother (2 years younger than me) and me. And by second grade we were walking three long blocks to the candy stores there to get comics and gum and stuff. At 13 my friends and I went to the Worlds Fair alone. It was one bus ride and one subway stop from out house. No big deal - we did it frequently. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/46 "2018-11-06T01:02:44Z")
We moved between my kindergarten and 1st grade years. My dad taught at the school I attended, so I generally got a ride in the morning, but was walking home alone pretty much from the beginning of first grade. It was between one-quarter and half a mile. In second grade I was riding my bike both ways except during winter. I don’t recall ever going trick-or-treating with parents. I went with my sister 2 1/2 years older and younger siblings as they could go. I do not recall going trick-or treating before first grade, but I probably did. Around 3rd grade I was given boundaries, busy streets marking of an area about a mile square. I could go within that are without limitation. I could also cross the busy street at the walk lights to go to either the library or drug store (where they sold comics) that were just on the other side of two of the busy streets. I did have to leave my brother behind when buying comics though for several years. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/47 "2018-11-06T01:46:56Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I would guess by the age of 5 or so (1966) I would walk to my friends’ houses (a block or 2) to play. I think I was probably 8 when my friends and I first went trick or treating without an adult. I still remember on Halloween evening, my sisters and I were so excited to get out there and trick or treat. We finished our supper around 5:15 or so and we were ready to head out. My dad said, “no, you can’t go trick or treating until it’s dark outside”!!! 😕 Another instance where I can say, “how times have changed”. That’s not really fair. Daylight Saving Time’s end was moved in 2005 from the last Sunday in October to the first Sunday in November. Halloween is between the two dates, usually. It gets dark literally an hour later now than when you were a kid. How (clock) times have changed, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/48 "2018-11-06T05:00:07Z")
I’m pretty sure I was accompanied back and forth to kindergarten (1954-55), and I don’t remember 1st grade; I had an older sister who might have accompanied me both ways. I do remember going by myself in 2nd grade. Grade school was about 1/2 mile away. Residential neighborhood all the way, not suburban but not commercial. More adventurously, when I was little I had to have allergy shots twice a week for a few years, then once a week. So on Tuesdays (after school) and Saturdays I walked three blocks from home to the bus and took two buses each way clear across town to our family doctor, a trip that took (depending on connections) at least 45 minutes each way, up to 1 hour 15 minutes. On Tuesdays it was a race to see if I would get home in time for dinner at 6:00. My family didn’t hold dinner for me, but they were at least still eating when I got there and there was food left for me. I had $1.50 mad money in case the buses weren’t running and I had to take a taxi. Those shots might as well have been saline for all the good they ever did me. My allergies became manageable when I hit puberty and not before. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/49 "2018-11-06T09:22:24Z")
I can’t remember, but I was a latchkey kid born in the mid-60s. I don’t remember ever not being allowed to go out by myself, but there must have been a time. I remember that on weekends and the summer, you’d just grab your bike and be gone most of the day from a very early age. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/50 "2018-11-06T10:12:26Z")
Born in the late fifties. I was driven to kindergarten, but walked to elementary school (or rode my bike). Google shows the distance as 0.7 miles. FWIW: Google shows the middle school I walked to as 1.9 miles away, and we had to cross an interstate (parents insisted we use the bridge, we often didn’t). During weekends or the summer, I was expected to get out of the house and play with my friends all day and come home when the streetlights came on. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/51 "2018-11-06T10:18:20Z")
I went out for Halloween when I was in the fourth grade. This would have been in 1964. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/52 "2018-11-06T17:07:12Z")
For trick-or-treating specifically, it basically never happened. Not because they were helicopter parents, but because we moved when I was young to a place with few nearby houses. So, when I was really young, they accompanied me, and then they wound up driving me to their old neighborhoods when I was older, so they had to be nearby to pick me up. Then, older still but still a kid, we started going to our church-run party instead, though we might also do a trunk or treat if there was one early. But actually going out by myself in general? It was gradual. Playing outside alone was normal when we first moved here. When I learned to ride my bike, I could go to the end of the street alone. Then eventually I could go to the creek up the road, which was probably by 10 or 11. At 12 and 13, I was allowed to walk to my grandparents house that was nearby the school, albeit up a hill, so it took maybe 15 minutes to walk there. I’d hang out with them until my parents got off work. I also think 11 and 12 was around the age I was left home alone at times. But, if I actually were to walk home after school, along a winding highway, it would take me longer than if my parents picked me up. And it was faster to walk to Nana’s than for the bus to get me home. And I don’t think a single school friend rode the same bus I’d have to use. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/53 "2018-11-06T17:30:03Z")
At four going on five I was allowed to roam the woods in back of our house and our neighbors’ house. Stay on this side of the canyon. I _did_, in fact, get lost once and knocked on a random door and asked to use their phone, and knew our household phone number, and my parents came and fetched us. Walked to and from kindergarten daily at ~ the same age. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/54 "2018-11-07T15:53:00Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > and we had to cross an interstate (parents insisted we use the bridge, we often didn’t). Wait. You crossed an interstate highway _on foot?_ Fast kids. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/55 "2018-11-07T18:56:49Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I do not remember adults ever and I mean ever, going trick or treating with children in the 1960’s. Nor do I remember any adults dressing in costumes. At that time it was entirely a children’s one-evening holiday, period. > > The streets were full of children on Halloween. There were a lot more children then, most kids I knew had two or more siblings. It was usual for the older kids to supervise the younger ones, whether they were your own siblings or not. So nobody was alone. Alone means alone, not no adults, unless I’m misunderstanding the OP’d question. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/56 "2018-11-07T20:40:08Z")
I don’t recall but I assume I walked to kindergarten by myself. My earliest memory was in 3rd grade where I had a several block walk and passed a parochial school where kids would taunt me and steal my lunch money until I found a different route. We moved again in the summer I was starting 5th grade and I had to cross route 1 to get to school. There was a traffic light and it was no big deal. When I got home from school, I threw my school bag inside the house and went out and played with the other kids unsupervised until dark. Our games were in the street but in the late 40s there was so little daytime traffic on these small streets that it didn’t interfere. From that time, I would also take a trolley to go downtown. My mother had severe agoraphobia and would rarely venture out of the house. So she would order stuff over the phone from a department store, have it delivered and it was my job to return what she didn’t want the following Saturday. This is in contrast to my 19 yo old grandson who is not allowed to walk the three blocks from home to school by himself. Times have sure changed. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/57 "2018-11-07T20:50:06Z")
I don’t remember any rules growing up. I do remember my mom calling the police several times to report me missing. They knew they would find me in a big field near the house. After a while my mom just gave up as long as I was home by nightfall. I think I was about 8 before I started crossing any major streets to go to the field. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/58 "2018-11-07T21:49:49Z")
I started walking to school alone at 5 1/2. It was on the next block, so it wasn’t a great distance. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/59 "2018-11-07T22:12:02Z")
I don’t recall ever having any restrictions. Up to 3 years old we lived in a converted nurses’ residence in a small city outside Glasgow. There was a playground out back and we’d hang out there with neighbours. From 3-6 we lived in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, on a cul de sac with a field between us and the main Street. It never entered my mind to cross the main street. At 6 years old we moved to southern Ontario, Canada. We were in a neighbourhood with lots of young families and kids. All the kids just left the house and played wherever. I’ve thought about this often and raised my kids in a similar fashion. Go outside. Go where you want. Come home when it’s dark please. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2018, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005/60 "2018-11-08T12:01:49Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Come home when it’s dark please. I remember having to go home when the street lights turned on. My first venture into rules lawyering occurred when our streetlights failed to come on. I convinced my friends that we could stay out as long as we wanted. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-old-were-you-before-your-parents-let-you-go-out-by-yourself/824005.md?page=4)