For Parents (and kids), why do you always say "it was safer when I was a kid"?

Question

Ok- my parents and many others are always saying that I cannot do things that they could because "it was safer when I was a kid"
Ok-
the murder rate is no higher than 40 years ago.
Cars have gotten SAFER, not more dangerous (seatbelts werent around back then)
yes teen pregnancy is up from back then, but it has gone down for the past 5 years straight.
Drugs and smoking are LESS of a problem. (hippies=druggies)
Rapes, abductions, etc. have not increased, only the media coverage has.

Look at statistics. This is NOT a card that parents sohuld be playing.
The population, and therefor risks, are up, but it's the SAME PROBABILITY. the number of murders are up, but in proportion to the population, they are way down. It's true for everything else, too.

What do you think?/Some other evidence

Sources: (all federal reports for greatest time range possible)
http://socds.huduser.org/fbi/property_cr...
http://socds.huduser.org/fbi/violent_cri...
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dcf/du.htm...
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments...
***
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance.htm#...
***good overview***

I'm going to let the voters best answer this one.

Answer 1

Excellent question. Consider the population explosion. Percentages may remain the same, but represents many more people than when I was growing up in the 50's. There appeared to be a more honest, sincere general attitude as well, with people more inclined to know their neighbors and a slower lifestyle generally. With the media explosion, more people turn to those for expression rather than face-face knowing people. There were problems, but the community where you lived 'knew' you more often & visa versa. AND there was no TV that projected the crimes of others or 'fed' fear, no movies that did not extol the 'good guys' as heros without a lot of violence/sex, even the violent nature of video games. Mostly, people 'played' and had fun with their families and friends, communicated more frequently than when that changed to watching TV, movies, etc. The 'world' appeared more innocent even tho there were bad things happening as well. (Civil Rights began in the 50's, altho it didn't explode until the 60's) The slower pace of life itself contributed a great deal to the attitudes of life. I'm from the Midwest and believe the safety & security in the 50's here had much to do with things that are not reflected in statistics. Does this help?

Answer 2

Growing up in the 70's & 80's I believe that the media has a lot of impact on this. Nowadays, the media is everywhere. There is some sort of accident, shooting, murder, etc.... the media is there to cover it immediately. I personally don't remember seeing too much going on back then as I do now.
Alot of attention is focused on showing all the wrong things that go on instead of more positive feed back.
I think the media has been more open to society about the "bad things" that happen.
Just my opinion.

Answer 3

Well when I was a kid it was much safer than today, by the way I'm 65. You could leave your house unlocked and nobody would bother anything. That's not saying people weren't robed from time to time. You could trust more people back then, a persons word was everything, it was their bond. There wasn't nearly as many drugs or users of drugs, Fewer people, fewer everything. People had discipline, you got in trouble at school you got a paddling, and then got another when you got home. Kids respected their elders, and behaved. The crap kids pull today, had as much chance back then as a snow ball in hell. Girls didn't have babys before marrage. People knew how to work and gave a days work for a days pay. Today people are like a bunch of wild uncontroled animals, anything goes. Thanks to Dr. Spoke and the Government we are in a lot of trouble. We didn't have much back then, but we were proud to be called Americans.

Answer 4

Parents say it because essentially it is true. It is definitely true for those who grew up in small towns. In the small town that I grew up in, doors didn't have to be locked and if you left your keys in your car at night you knew it would still be there in the morning. But now with all the gang wannabes and little punks running around you don't dare leave things unlocked. Heck, before all the school shootings started, the kids in my town would do bomb threats to get a day off from school, now they don't dare because it isn't funny anymore. So while murders and rapes and abductions are down compared to the population, thefts as far as I'm concerned are up, at least where I live. How about identity theft and fraud? From what I hear is those are going up and up every year.

Answer 5

I'm 32 and grew up in the 80s. I grew up on military bases which are generally seen as safe. When I was a kid my mom let me outside to play in the neighborhood. I knew my boundaries. I was outside playing on my own as early as age 4. My mom knew our neighbors and most of the moms in that area were home during the day. Later, when I was probably 6-10, my area grew. I was allowed to go further. My dad would whistle for us and we'd know it was time to come home. When I was out playing I was with kids around my own age. I didn't see too many older kids. They didn't frequent the playgrounds. I never ran into problems.

Fast forward to today. I'm now a military spouse. Up until recently we lived on base. There was no way in hell I'd let my kids run the neighborhood with no supervision. There are dangers that didn't exist when I was a kid. We had an 8 yr. old boy get a pair of sewing scissors and stab another kid at a nearby playground. There was a teen who was caught molesting the kids on the playground. A good friend of mine was upset when her 9 yr. old daughter hadn't come home for dinner. She was found at the playground tied to a jungle gym with rope. A group of other kids had tied her up, stole her bike and left her there. My husband and I have taken walks with the kids and have had kids as young as about 12 yell obscenities at us and make threats just because we happen to be walking past them. This is all on a military base. When I was a kid other kids didn't use scissors as weapons. Kids didn't have to worry they'd get molested at the neighborhood park. Kids were respectful of adults. Even kids who were not the best of kids would straighten up their act if an adult came around. Kids these days are just mean. My kids are 6 & 3. I've let them play in our yard but if they want to go to a park they have to have an adult with them. At our last house we lived right next to a park and I still wouldn't let them go alone. There are just too many kids with no manners, respect or conscience.

My husband feels the same. He lived in the country and at a very young age he was allowed to roam the countryside as long as he was home before dark. So, all day his mom wouldn't really know where he was or what he was up to. But he says there is no way he'd let the kids do that today. There are just too many risks.

Answer 6

It may be that a parent will naturally want to protect their children and as a parent our imaginations get the best of us. Have you had the pleasure of sitting up at night picturing your child lying in a ditch because they are 10 minutes late??

Answer 7

WOW. I think you are very smart. And if you are still a teen then you have VERY good grounds here. I always thought the same thing. Nowhere is safe anymore. But it wasn't back then either. Now we all just own televisions so we see it all. How funny.

Answer 8

Maybe it is because I have younger kids but I always say "Didn't have any of that safety cr*p when I was a kid, and we all turned out just fine."

Answer 9

The best answer to this question, you'll know what were talking about only when you become a parent.

Answer 10

if your a kid you dont drive, drink, smoke, and its way safer. you cant go to bars, or any clubs.