>So I ask, have things changed that much? Do parents really worry over
>safety and un-warranted after school fucking around?
It's too early to say for me because my kid just turned 11. I think these days if you left a kid that age unsupervised you could get in trouble for child endangerment. I'm not kidding.
Saturday I took the kid and another 11 year old to the amusement park at Santa Monica Pier. They stayed for hours and I didn't hover but did hang out elsewhere on the pier. The cell phone comes in handy in a situation like that because you can keep checking up without having to hover.
>My kid wondered loose around Berkeley,
>Oakland, Albany, or where ever after about eleven (seventh grade) with
>his up to no good friends
Let's say in a year or two I feel ok letting the kid run around a little. I don't know how many of her friends' parents would feel the same. Then I'd have to wonder whether she should run around alone.