Did children once have more freedom?

I was allowed to go for walks by myself from about the age of eight, with or without the dog.

I took the train home from my day-school, first in the company of a senior girl of fourteen who left school that summer, after that on my own, again age eight.

I was never alone in the house until I was fourteen, but that was due to the fact that my father being a G.P. both the phone and the front door had to be answered at all times.

So yes, in these ways we had more freedom than modern children.

But we didn't have the freedom to choose what we wanted to eat, watch on television, wear, or whether we wanted to do our homework or use obscene language, did we?

Pushed my baby sister in her pram at age 8.
It was a traffic free area that I had to stick to.
My mum took me to school on first day after which I took myself there and back as did all my contemporaries.
There were no roads to cross.
Went up our local hill with jam sandwiches often with little sister in tow.
Long bike rides with other children in our road.
Back at tea time and out again straight afterward during summer months.

When not babysitting my sister would be looking after other children and was paid at age of 13.

Not quite the same freedom for our two offspring.
However they were always outside with neighbours children either in our garden or friends garden.
There was also an area closely that they and friends could safely play.
We always had some little person knocking at the door asking if one or t'other child could come out to play.

Sadly my grandchildren don't have the same freedoms as their parents.
Can't quite understand why

I would be out all day from a very early age, 6 or 7 either with friends or on my own. When I was on my own I would go and explore the countryside walking miles. One day a car stopped and asked if I wanted a lift home but I said no.. It turned out to be friends of mum. With friends we would go down to the river and waterfall and play, jumping in and messing about. Mum would give me something like a block of jell and a piece of cake to take with me. I gave my own children a great deal of freedom, we lived in the country and they would go out together exposing and playing. I use to send the dog with them and once he came back barking for me to follow him. Found the two children had climbed up and old war building and were stuck, they couldn't get down.

In the late 50s early 60s my brother and I aged around 6 were allowed to go out all day with our friends . There were fields , ponds and woods all around our estate . There were always at least 10 of us so safety in numbers .
Once I went to the woods with my 14 year old uncle and my brother with our dog. A stranger managed to join in with our games , isolated me from the rest of them and sexually assaulted me .
The police were involved obviously and one day whilst my uncle was doing his paper round he saw the man working on the bin lorry . He went straight to the police station and the man was arrested .
I remember going to court but nothing else about the trial .
I was still allowed to go out with my friends even after that happened

Yes we had much more freedom. I would go out for the day playing with my friends and only went home when we were hungry.
One thing I remember with horror is that my friend and,I aged about nine, were playing in the woods when a man came up to us and exposed himself. We rushed to her house and told her grandma, who she lived with, who just said, “well you shouldn’t have looked”! Can you imagine anyone saying that today?

We did have more freedom but I’m not sure that was good for me. I was left alone when I was ill as a child, made myself some soup and ended up scalding myself. I put my hand through a broken window when I was alone too. I went to school alone and back for lunch every day from age 4. I think it was quite a lonely life and I would have liked more parental involvement!

We were supposed to catch the bus to primary school but the bread delivery man piled us into his cab as his next delivery was where the bus would have stopped anyway. We also went on guide camp to wales sat on top of the tents in the back of a lorry while waving to other drivers on the motorway. No seat belts in those days?

Yes far more freedom.
We walked to school from being 6 collecting friends as we passed their house.
Sent on messages by teachers to local shops and also the Post Office with the Savings bank money on a monday aged about 10 ! Played in the water meadows , never had organised played dates,you knocked on someones door and asked if they were coming to play.
I was left on my own for short periods in the house and allowed to walk to my grans about half a mile away. I also went to the local shop on my small bike so must have been about 9.
I lived in a village on the outskirts of a busy town but we knew who were friends and if we were frightened we could knock on their door and they would take you home.
Every one knew the two odd men in the village we did not know what they had done still don't ,but we had to avoid them. I can say I had very caring parents and some rules were instilled in us not to be tempted by the town or play on the raiway lines .
My father told tales of going off on bikes for the whole day and going unacompanied across the country on trains that had to be changed to relations in his very early teens on his own. So things had changed slightly by the 50's.
Oh Happy days where have they gone.

Oh yes the bluebell woods. We would pick a big bunch for our mothers, it isn’t allowed now.

I definitely had a free range childhood, roaming the local countryside all day long. Exploring an old mine shaft, playing in a warren constructed in a hay barn, bringing in the cows for milking with another 6 year old, climbing trees. I suspect my friends and I were the local raggamuffins. One set of our GCs don’t even play with the kids next door - apparently because they don’t go to the same school.

Yes, we would be out all day in bluebell woods, we had to be back when the street lamp came on red, them it went to amber.
When I was in top juniors I had to collect my two sisters from lower juniors and infants, get some shopping on the way home and start the tea.. we always walked to school by ourselves and home.
We were very streetwise.

We were allowed out, but not to go too far away. Had to be back for dinner, sometimes lunch unless we took our sandwich with us. We went up to the river with our nets and I couldn't swim! Spent the summer at the caravan by the sea and we were at the beach, amusements and the caravan site had under 18 discos that we all went to. The freedom we had was brill, but kids are different now. We didn't cause trouble, damage people's property and you never would of been cheeky to your elders. How times have changed.

I grew up in the 60s had loadsbof freedom.Was a latch key kid f

In the 40s I went to school on the first day with my older sister, from then on I went alone. I remember aged about 6, I came home at lunchtime with a letter from my teacher telling my mum not to send me in the afternoon as she feared I would get lost in the snow. My mum did not agree and gave me 1 penny to go in the bus. I had to come home alone at 3 pm but she didn't see any problems with that. I wasn't left at home alone until I was about 16 though..

I had very little freedom. I was an only child and lived in a cul de sac near a busy main road. My father was very strict and although he was a good and decent man he was rather snobbish. I wasn’t ever allowed to play in the street and most of the local children were considered “unsuitable.” I was 8 before I was allowed out on my own and that was only to go round the corner to run an errand. I wasn’t left alone in the house until I was about 13 and then only for short periods. That meant I went on some very boring outings! I think the other posters on here had a much better time!

As a child living in Sussex there were seven or eight children living on our road. It was unmade up and very bumpy. All summer we’d play in the street with no adult supervision.

These days my two grandchildren play on their street which is a short cul de sac. The biggest difference is that I have to stand outside watching for cars and generally keeping an eye on their safety. The best times for me as a child and my grandchildren is going camping. They are more free to roam as I was and have a great time meeting other children.

I definitely think that we were more free to explore and experience being with others without the ever watchful eyes of adults. Of course we got up to some mischief and experimentation as all children do but most of the time help was not far away. It’s such a shame that this no longer seems possible for most town children.

More freedom and also more responsibility. My parents were separated so my mother had to work outside the home. We helped with household tasks particularly shopping. Mum would make a list and my brother and I would go to the high street or the small shop on the estate to buy tea, sugar, milk, bread, fruit and vegetables as well as other foodstuffs, household goods and cleaning products; Lifebuoy soap, Vim and Omo washing powder. The broken biscuit counter in Woolworths is a vivid memory and the Outdoor Girl cosmetics counter for Mum's lipstick.

I'm talking of a pre-supermarket time so we had to go to different shops for different things; meat, fish etc. I recall the first local supermarket opened when I was 11 so we were doing this when I was under 11 and my brother 7.

I don't recall when I last saw a young person in a food outlet buying anything other than sweets, crisps and soft drinks. Different times.

Yes we were certainly a lot more free. I don’t think it was illegal to leave children in the house on their own at a very young age, either. If I was sick my mum would leave me and do the shopping etc and be away for hours. I was around 5 years old. We didn’t have a phone and if anyone came to the door I ignored them. We would roam around the London suburbs most of the day when it wasn’t a school day. Walked for miles. Our grandchildren live lives of protection and privilege. Ferried everywhere by cars, buy very expensive birthday presents for their friends and are generally organised up to the hilt. They stay indoor more with TVs, computers, phones etc. They are allowed to roam round shopping malls with friends ( young teens) and dine out. Can you imagine going with a group of 13 and 14 year olds on your own to a restaurant in the 50 s and 60 s? Just wouldn’t happen. Mum or Dad pick them up later.

Like others, walking to and from school by myself by the age of 6 (it involved crossing a very busy road and I had to ask the lady or gentleman who ran the newsagents on the corner to please see me across the road!). Later I was allowed to go and visit my godmother alone which involved two buses and again crossing a busy road. And from 12 onwards, every summer holiday a few of us would get the Tube into central London and explore all day.

My eldest granddaughter said that she and her friends are nervous of doing things by themselves as they've never been shown how ...

Lots of freedom until 13/14 when we moved house to the country due to work. Parents knew no one in this area and I was not allowed to join youth group or go out at night.I missed the whole teenage experience and the first time I was allowed out was to go to a school dance with a boy. My mother disapproved and was able to sabotage the friendship. I only found out later what she had done.She had read letters and spoken to him on the phone.

I lived in north London and used to go on the bus to Trafalgar Square every week to feed the pigeons from about the age of 7. Used to get a red rover ticket in the holidays and go all over the place .

When I was 7, my sister 8 and my brother 4, Mum went out to work so we were left to fend for ourselves, we cooked our own dinner on the gas stove, including chips in a chip pan. There was 'Auntie Rose' in the flat next door who we could call upon if needed but apart from that we managed alone. We had a lot more freedom and a lot more self reliance than children do nowadays.

I remember being in a group of little chidren cycling aound the streets with tricycles - so we must have been about four or five. Also, going out for hours with friends at a very young age, and coming home as it started to get dark. However, in those days - the fifties and sixties - traffic in residential roads was negligible and there was little danger of an accident - or means of abduction - and mothers were generally at home and were a network looking out for all the children.

when I was five (1928) my mother took me to school for the first time only. Was sent to the shops with a note for purchases. My younger sister and I would play in the woods all day. Was left in the house alone with sister from the age of five. When I was twelve and started. Grammar School I had a mile walk to the train station, twenty minute journey and then a mile walk to the school. Coming home in the winter it was dark. When I was sixteen I travelled alone to stay with my cousins. This involved changing trains twice then found there were no buses that day so had to walk three miles down country lanes in the dark. Cousins had no phone so couldn’t phone home to let them know I had arrived.

Definitely. Played out in the woods with a river running through it. Had a 15 mins walk to get there. Walked to school from age 5 nearly a mile. Had sister who was 15 years older than me. When my niece arrived I was just 10 and I walked nearly two miles to and fro to take her out in her pram. Even my own AC were out playing up and down the street on trikes before they went to school then it was local wooded area building dens they thought were huge but only about 3' high. I now live on edge of a woodland park and golf course and never see any kids out playing there. They do though play football on a grassed area surrounded by access roads, parking areas and houses, tge area having Conditions of No Ball Games. Parents don't see the kids running into the roads, balls landing in the parking areas and going over garden fences, they don't live around the grassed area. About 100 houses, only one way in and out for vehicles. Children used to have 5 min walk to catch school buses until a parent complained their little cherub got wet walk to the bus. As it didn't incur extra cost the Council agreed school buses could come into the development make very awkward U-turn and pick up kids. One parent has even complained about a child bringing grass into house on shoes when the open space has been cut! I gave up years ago trying to understand why children are so cosseted nowadays and can seem to do no wrong. Yes older generations had more freedom, but it is still there for today's children, if they were allowed to take it.