A caveat to all of this is that my older, and only brother, died at 12. I was 10. Right before my eyes. He died from an asthma attack, so it isn't the same as being abducted and murdered, but I do have some serious PTSD symptoms toward my son, not sure how to word that. But I have seen the pain of losing a child first hand, my parents are much stronger than I am. Even still, my mom has never been the same. My dad has coped well, though.
To the point, the PTSD I have makes me be more safe than sorry, I guess is the way I'll put it.

Fair enough. I get that.

I will assume that everyone responding here is considering what they would permit with their 7 year old in their ENVIORNMENT. There are places all over where it is probably not a good idea to let a child run without supervision. Still, there are literally millions of towns across this great country where kids this age do this every day. Safely.

The media sensationalizes the exception. We see the media daily and they train us to be afraid. Sometimes this is helpful, more often it serves them by selling us more stuff.

We are offering much to give the OP something to think about. He knows his enviornment best. This is what influences the degree of caution. My world is not your world. In my small town I would trust a child of seven to be just about anywhere his bicycle could take him/her.

Go by your gut with a measure of safety. The talk about strangers we will assume has been deeply imbedded in your childs upbringing.

How about a Tile? The app works so it shows a last location, if lost, and any other phone running the app will tattle if it comes within 100 feet.
https://www.thetileapp.com/en-us/how-it-works

Luck,

Bruce

I used to walk and ride my one-speed for miles. Parents just knew that I'd be home for dinner or I'd call to tell them I'm eating at some one else's house.

We played in the creek, played football, built bike ramps, went to the pool, played army, etc. No one spent any time watching us or worrying about us.

When my girls were little I used to chase them out of the house and say "go explore." My wife was the one always wanting them within view of the house. When she wasn't around I told them to go play. I wanted them to get out and learn stuff on their own.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
What's the issue with him walking around in America? It teaches independence and responsibility.

So your children get to roam the streets of Loudoun County VA?

Our daughter did. The catch is my subdivision has houses spaced far apart, so walking six houses down the street is half a mile. She took to riding her bike.

Here in Texas, we can go on line to see where convicted sex offenders live. It is a real eye opener. If your state offers the same service, your ex needs to see it. Keep in mind that those convicted of other violent crimes don't show up on the sex offender list.

Your son might like to learn how to detect and react to threats and some martial arts skills.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Just because the risk is low doesn't mean it's nonexistent.

Agreed. My son was almost abducted less than 100 yards from our house and his grandparents - he was walking to their house, as he did often.

Thankfully he was a bit older (10) and did what we told him (departed the situation at rapid speed and told his grandparents the second he ran through the door). If the guy had a puppy and my son been 7, who knows what might have happened..?

The Sheriff was called and by all accounts they had heard of this guy and his van, and considering the weather (clear skies), it wasn't a good Samaritan.

Add in the fact my best friend drowned in a pool at the age of 5, because his parents were those "have fun" types, and that probably explains why we are a little more hands on and protective.

I grew up in a far different time and place. We had ponds, woods, marshes and creeks all around us. My mother had me and my brother read Huckleberry Finn because we were just like him. There wasn't a tree in our neighborhood that I didn't climb. In fact I fell out of one and must have hit 50 or so limbs on the way down. I went home with tears in my eyes and my mom looked at me and said "You fell out of a tree, didn't you. Well come here and let me patch you up" and that was all that was said about it. No rules, just be home by 6:00 for dinner.

Both of my parents were raised the same way, so it was natural for them to raise us the way they did.

After all of that, would I raise a kid like that today. I don't think so. They would have boundaries and restraints that I never had. Like I said "different times and place".

Jim

It's odd that being on your own was practically government mandated in the past.
When we lived in Maine I had to walk to school because we were .94 miles away and minimum was a mile. So I was accustomed to doing it and took my ass all over Brunswick.

I grew up in Europe in the early 90s. At the age of 9 I was taking the bus and subway across town by myself, in a city of 1.3 million. My friends and I roamed the suburb that we lived in daily, often over a mile from home...and there were no cell phones or GPS trackers back then...at least not that we had.

I'm not going to claim that nothing ever happened. There were a couple of local perverts that tried to mess with us, but we always succeeded in either running away or fighting them off. I gouged one guy's eye and kicked him in the nuts. I saw guns pulled 3x in the 9 years I lived there, was accosted by drunks a few times, mugged once (for a stupid, broken $5 watch of all things), and almost got jumped by a gang of gypsies one night on the subway.

When I list it all out like that, it sounds really bad, but we never really felt unsafe there (except for a few very specific instances). My friends and I ran in groups whenever possible, made good choices about where we went, and learned street smarts and to be observant of what was going on around us. Yeah, bad things can happen, and when they do, everybody gets to hear the shocking news story. But if your kid has his head screwed on straight, the odds are very much in his favor that he'll be fine.

quote:

Originally posted by wolffy88:
I think that I live in a different world than most of you guys.

I'm not saying not to let him be a kid, I'm saying that he can be a kid and I still watch over him, as I should.

Why do any of you carry a pistol? The majority of posters here claim to carry a pistol all the time, even while mowing, or walking about in your own houses.
I do neither, BTW.
But you are telling me that some of us feel the need to have a pistol on our hips in our own living rooms, but at the same time it is safe enough for your 7 year old to wander the neighborhood?

That is spot on. No way you should feel comfortable or ok with a 7yr old running around unsupervised.

I think the "snowflake" stuff we are seeing now in college kids is a direct result of too many people raising kids in a sterile atmosphere filled with parental oversight. They leave home alone for the first time when they are already grown and haven't a clue as to how to act when mommy isn't watching or solving their problems for them.

quote:

Originally posted by njauto:

quote:

Originally posted by wolffy88:
I think that I live in a different world than most of you guys.

I'm not saying not to let him be a kid, I'm saying that he can be a kid and I still watch over him, as I should.

Why do any of you carry a pistol? The majority of posters here claim to carry a pistol all the time, even while mowing, or walking about in your own houses.
I do neither, BTW.
But you are telling me that some of us feel the need to have a pistol on our hips in our own living rooms, but at the same time it is safe enough for your 7 year old to wander the neighborhood?

That is spot on. No way you should feel comfortable or ok with a 7yr old running around unsupervised.

Most everyone who has posted in this thread has completely ignored that statement. Or the other I made after it about the same thing.

So I'll say it again and see if anyone changes their mind.

Do any of you carry a gun inside your home or outside while doing yard work and such?

WHY?

No. I don't feel unsafe when in and around my home. I'm "out in the boonies" - exactly where I want to be.

If I lived in the city or a high crime area - I'd move. I wouldn't want to live in a place where I felt unsafe or felt like my kids couldn't roam and play.

However - I grew up just outside of 285 in Atlanta and I roamed at will all summer long.

quote:

Originally posted by SBrooks:
No. I don't feel unsafe when in and around my home. I'm "out in the boonies" - exactly where I want to be.

If I lived in the city or a high crime area - I'd move. I wouldn't want to live in a place where I felt unsafe or felt like my kids couldn't roam and play.

However - I grew up just outside of 285 in Atlanta and I roamed at will all summer long.

That is not what I asked. I asked if you carry a pistol, or have one available to you in your home?

I don't feel unsafe either, ever. I grew up in Memphis. I live in one of the most tame areas I know of, now. But I still have a gun in my night stand.

Yes Wolff, I do carry 80% of the time. Why? Why not? About the only time I don't carry is when my wife isn't home. Then I have things out in quickly reachable spots in the house. My wife, who carries herself doesn't care about guns sitting around but she does get tired of moving them so when she is home it is on my side. This also makes it easier for me to react in what I consider a less than 100th of a percent chance that I will ever actually need it.

That changes when we are up at the farm. All kinds of critters walking around out there. I stay armed 100% there

I too grew up leaving in the morning and coming home when it got dark. If I showed up in the middle of the day my mother or grandmother (depends on who was stuck with me that day) shooed me back out side with a scolding to not come back until dinner time.

Yes, it was a different time.

I agree that we hear a lot more about it now than we did back in the day.

I agree that statistics show the world is safer. Where I disagree is the reason. I think it is because parents keep their children locked up in the house to keep them safe and this is why we have a ton of overweight kids addicted to video games.

In the end none of us can really help you do what you want to do. Only you can make the decision that will make you happy. The tough thing is being a good parent and making the best decision you can make while allowing your child to have the best life possible. A LOT of my decision making process now was formed by getting lost or my dirt bike breaking down when I was riding where I shouldn't have been or something else that would get me in trouble. The ability to get home or get the bike fixed or get my friends to help me get to an "approved" place helped me with decision making and formed some friendship bonds for life...

When I was 7, me and my trailer park buddies spent weekends hunting for hobbos. Never did find any though. Lol

quote:

Originally posted by billnchristy:
< snip >
When we lived in Maine I had to walk to school ...

Up hill both ways, no less.

Wild animals will first avoid mankind and his habitat, after a while, the wild animals will become accostomed and loose the fear or trepedation, in summary, they will learn to override their instinct.

They also will "teach" their offspring to be less wary.

And add to that, people that feed and otherwise encourage interaction, as well as not securing garbage and food stuffs.

The result is more encounters with wildlife, where it did not occur before.

Now, replace "wildlife" with "predatory persons", and the similar actions of mankind, in the area of lessor punishments, more accepting of perverse lifestyles and more, and the danger to children, while on a graph, may appear less, the actual danger specific to a child, should an encounter occur, is more likley to be a very bad outcome.

And yeah, I live in a neighborhood of many Special Forces and Special Ops folks, both active and retired, and still carry in and around my home, lock my doors all the time and keep my head on a swivel constantly.

As a kid, I ran the world over, in the country, in other countries, and in big cities, hitchiked all over, typically alone and had very few dangerous encounters.

I would not do many of those things today as a grown, armed and prepared, man. I will not put myself in places I consider to be likley to encounter trouble.

And many here have agreed to such actions and thought many times before.

But expect it unreasonable to consider the threat to a 7 year old to not be endowed with the same level we allow, no, demend of ourselves?

The world has changed.
I have changed.

I stand with the OP.