Would you call 911 on another parent?

[dumbcat]

9. When I was growing up (in the 50's)

the age of eight was the normal age to be allowed to roam around by yourself and with friends. On my 8th birthday my Dad gave me my first pocketknife, a Cub Scout folding camping type knife, and told me that I was now old enough to wander around the neighborhood, over to the park, the high school grounds, the pond in the woods, or the Hudson River to go swimming, and generally had about a 2 mile radius where everyone was happy. My buddies and I would go to the woods and build forts, go to the river and build rafts like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and waste away our days. The rule was be home before dark, but we usually got hungry before that in the summertime. This was the norm in my area of upstate NY.

At 14 I could come home from school on the bus Friday afternoon, change clothes, grab my pack, some food and my .22 rifle and inform my parents that I was going out camping with my buddies for the weekend, probably down by the Hudson River where we would plink at random things floating by for the weekend. My parents would usually just ask what time I planned to be home on Sunday. Nobody got upset, nobody cared. No one called the police about 3 or 4 kids on bicycles pedaling down the road with .22 rifles over their shoulders heading for the hobo camps near the river.

And amazingly enough, no one I ever knew was killed, attacked or hurt (well beyond maybe a broken bone or two) on these trips.

Times have changed.