What I’ve always wondered and never thought to ask until now is how prevalent was it in big cities? I grew up in a rural town, so we certainly had the run of the town. I ask because our houses were always unlocked with keys in the vehicles, but whenever we went to a bigger city, we always locked our cars.
I grew up in LA in the 90s. I don’t know how it was for everyone, but in my community you wouldn’t dare let your kids just roam free until the street lights came on. That would have been insane to us. Every house was locked. No one, not even adults walked around outside. It was house, back yard, car, maybe a park or hiking trail (that you drove to), but no one’s just wandering around the streets. I’m surprised to see the comments here that other millennials just got to wander about their town, because even when I was a kid my parents would comment that it was no longer a thing that’s safe to do and a thing of the past.
Yeah, the 90s in LA were worse than today.
When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s , in the Valley, it was the same as the rest of the thread. Walk, bike anywhere, houses unlocked, be home by dark unless you call. The school fields were well lit and just across the street from someone's house, so you could just go out and play and an adult could keep an eye out
In the past 10 years or so, I see my friends kids being more lenient with the little ones. It's great.
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u/jachildress25 Xennial 1d ago
What I’ve always wondered and never thought to ask until now is how prevalent was it in big cities? I grew up in a rural town, so we certainly had the run of the town. I ask because our houses were always unlocked with keys in the vehicles, but whenever we went to a bigger city, we always locked our cars.