Focus on Better Behavior

When I was a kid in the 70s and 80s it wasn’t uncommon to play down the street with other kids without supervision. Nor was it uncommon to walk to school, or ride your bike a fairly far distance from home to go buy ice cream. Nowadays it seems that many parents would not let their children do the same. With stories of abduction and missing children parents have more fear of letting their kids do these things without supervision. The age that children should be in order to have this freedom is really a tough call for parents. It’s important to give them their independence but at what age? It differs for several, at the age of 8 or maybe 10 years old depending on the activity. Parents need to teach their kids to be "street safe" not accepting rides from strangers and what to do if they feel that they are in an unsafe situation.