Did children once have more freedom?

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?

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!

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?

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

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.

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 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?

My sister and I would go off on our bikes in the school holidays and be gone for hours. We often took a sandwich and fruit. My mum had no idea where we went, although we knew not to accept lifts from strangers

Thanks for all the lovely posts, they've brought back somany memories. I remember the bluebells and once taking home some huge branches of flowering May. My mother refused to have it in the house she said it was unlucky.

I was born in 1939, and played in the street from an early age. No traffic risks then. I took myself the half mile to and from school as soon as I had settled in. I do remember sitting on the doorstep crying, one day, because Mum wasn’t there when I got home. It was unheard of, and I was convinced that something awful had happened. She turned up a few minutes later.
Once I reached the age of around 8 I was out all day. We were surrounded by parks, and not far from the River Mersey, so there was always lots to do. Apart from the usual warnings about talking to strangers we were given free rein. I often cycled, on my gear-lesss bike, the 50 mile round trip to Southport.
My own children also had lots of freedom. We have a large tract of common land opposite our house, and dozens of local children played there, from the age of 3 or so. The older ones kept an eye on the youngsters, and the parents kept an eye on them all from the windows and front gardens. Parenting was a joint responsibility then, and we all felt free to discipline bad behaviour, no matter whose child it was.
The grass was all worn away, in the summer. From the tramp of many small feet, and football matches. Now I never see children playing there, which is such a shame.
All the freedom we had, as children, instilled self-discipline, self-confidence and common sense. Today’s over-protected children seem very poorly equipped for life in comparison.

We used to be able to go out in the morning, pop back for lunch and then out again until either dinner time or at the very least, a time that we were set.
As a teenager I was never set a curfew - I just knew that if I wasn't in home and bed by at the latest, 9pm during the week and 10pm at the weekends that I would not be able to be up in time to catch my bus at 7.50am to go to school.
I was allowed to stay home for a few hours on my own from about 13 and while my parents and younger siblings from 16.

I went on the bus to primary school when I was 8. At 11 I went on a train, crossed a busy road, and then a bus to Grammar school. All in reverse in the evening. Biggest worry was plaiting my hair on the way there and unplaiting on the way home as the school insisted and my mother wouldn't agree! Both thought they had won the argument!

sprigishere that made me laugh .

Yes, parks, walking to school. Getting on buses. Going to the library from the age of 7. Saturday morning pictures from that age as well. Playing on bomb sites ( told off about that when found out). Going to the cinema in the afternoons during school holidays. Going to the South Kensington museums when a friend knocked for me. Sat drawing the costumes in the Victoria and Albert. Walked through the door that magically opened as I walked towards it in the science museum! Used to ask to take babies out and even crossed busy roads with the siblings hanging onto the pram. No one seemed to worry much. Did a lot of errands going to the shops for various things.

Do you remember the amount of prams left outside shops while the mums were inside, completely oblivious of any danger of them being harmed or taken ?
It's what you did, leave baby outside usually sleeping or well harnessed and sitting watching the world go by while people stopped to talked to them or even play.

Grew up in the 60s/70s. Definitely had more freedom than today's children. However, a lot of that changed when I reached about 7. A little girl called Christine Darby was murdered (she had got into a stranger's car if I remember rightly). From then on it was stranger danger.
I can still remember a little poem I saw written down about it as follows.
If while you are out at play
A friendly stranger comes your way.
Who offers sweets and stops to talk.
And asks you to come for a walk.
Or in his car to have a ride.
Never, never step inside.
Tell your Mum, she knows the dangers.
It's best you shouldn't talk to strangers.....

EV I remember calling with a friend at someone’s house and asking if we could take their baby for a walk - and they let us!!?

We were given free reign to go and play in the local brook, went with the boy next door! I was once approached by a stranger in a car who wanted me to get in, and I ran straight home. The police were called, but never heard any more. We were not allowed to stay on our own in the house however. After we moved I had made an arrangement with the boy I used to play with that he would come round to the new house. My father wanted to take the family out for a drive, I said I wanted to wait for my friend, and locked myself in the downstairs loo! Unfortunately the window was open, and my father managed to squeeze in through that, and gave me a severe spanking!

Much freer, I used to take a baby out for a walk in the pram, aged around 10, the mum was friend of my mum and nobody seemed to have a problem. My best friend and I were sent out to buy the bread on Saturdays and once this was done we were allowed to go off to the shops and wander around, this was in London in the late 50's. In fact we were freer as children than as teenagers when strict dads stepped in to lay down the law. My AC were bought up in the country and were always making camps in the woods with the other local children, that would be late 70's early 80's. Their children are heavily supervised including being taken to and from school.

My friend and I used to walk across a park to our primary school. We were supposed to stick to the path but used to go all over the park on our way home. One day a flasher came out of the bushes and wanted us to play with him. We weren't sure what he was on about but refused and went home. We had no idea what he was doing but we were wise enough to know that if we told our mothers the walks through the park would probably be stopped so we never told any one.

I remember disappearing for the day during the summer months, also in Winter moaning to be allowed out when it was raining. Playing in the snow until I was wet and cold and being told to come inside. No one bothered ever if I disappeared. ( probably hoped I'd disappear for good ?) I was always in trouble for climbing trees and coming home covered in scratches and bruises from falling down them. My legs were often a mess covered scabs etc. It's not like that in today's world. I've noticed children are much more afraid than we ever were.

When I was 7 or 8 years old, after breakfast during the school holidays Mum would make me a sandwich and drink and I would skip off for the day, roaming over fields with my friends. We fished for frogs in a pond and swung on a rope over a stream, climbed trees and played, and didn’t go home until it was time for our evening meal. By the time I was 10 I was trusted to babysit my 4 younger siblings while my parents went food shopping. At 10 I was regularly put on a train by myself to travel from Bristol to London, to stay with family friends (collected by them at the other end). I am still so grateful for such a happy and carefree childhood. Also that I never came to any harm!

Yes and no.

Kids had less freedom where safety is involved but opportunity wise, careers, scholarships, it is more freedom than before.

I remember being sent to play on the street in conditions they should have unacceptable then - next to a super busy road and with a ball, you can imagine where I am going

We also played next to the back door of a famous prostitution bar and we would see very drunk, drugged, etc customers come out at noon the next day after partying all night

I am able to have my professional career in my field due to breaking barriers with gender assigned roles.

I also could marry my husband as I doubt decades ago, an interracial marriage would have been accepted.

Around the end of WW1, every Saturday morning my aunt, aged 8, would travel alone from Bermondsey where she lived to one of the major music colleges in central London, for piano lessons.

She had won a scholarship to be taught there and her mother could not afford the time nor the money to accompany her there and back.