Saturday I took the kid and another 11 year old to the amusement park at Santa Monica Pier.'' Dennis Claxton
Child endangerment---that's too bad. As a dad, I only worried about traffic. This is a really safe feeling place certainly compared to a lot of neighborhoods I lived in as a kid. I should qualify this a little. I had two families one in the city and the other out in Valley. It was at the beginning of the large suburban development. When I was with the city family, where were usually a lot of kids around to play with nearby. When I was out in the Valley there were few kids my age. Most were too young. My father out in the Valley worked at the City Desk downtown. I figured out much later why he was always so paranoid. He went through the crime blotter copy to see what was the most outstanding crime of the day.
Anyway, I always thought Santa Monica pier had certain `creep' element, back when. This was at a time when it was getting run down. One of the scarier rides was the old roller coaster built out of something that looked like match sticks. After a couple of big drops, it then picked up speed and took a long wide turn directly over the ocean. It was fun to scare myself nuts on this thing. Another ride I like was the open rotating pontoon things connected with bar that also rotated. Like the roller coaster, it only had a hip bar for restraint. Part of what made them scary was the beat-up condition.
``Let's say in a year or two I feel ok letting the kid run around a little.'' DC
I am not advocating, really. Everybody does what they think is best. I am thinking with a certain nostalgia about a lost sense of freedom. Also I had a boy. If I imagine a daughter now I would probably feel a lot different.
``I gently--I am able to be gentle at times--point out that our fears are not and can't be based on actual incidence of malfeasance, since crime rates are lower across the board from when we were kids...'' Eric Beck
It's a sensibility or perception issue, maybe. It's interesting to try to dissect it a little. What I was mostly worried about as a kid wasn't the creeps, but other kids. Also I remember taking orchestra class after school. The school provided the instruments. Mine was a violin (foolish choice). I don't think music class lasted until five, maybe to four. I practiced before the parents got home. I had asked to take orchestra.
This reminds me that parents these days seemed highly motivated to set up after school activities. It's very understandable with kids under about nine or ten with working parents.
On the other hand (I assume) there are a lot of after school places like gyms, sports clubs, music, etc and these are pretty expensive. There was an after school program at the climbing gym for example and the place was pretty full with kids after 3:00 to around 6:00p. I thought it was great idea, but expensive.
Berkeley must still have a pretty good after school program, because I see a lot of younger kids playing on the playgrounds at the two elementary schools nearby.
Another interesting thing is that when I watch news video clips from really dangerous places like Iraq and Afghanistan, there are often herds of boys running around on the streets. It's hard to imagine telling a kid in Kabul to go outside and play. Jesus.
CG