Andrew, our 12 year-old, asked me the last summer if he could ride his bike down to a friend’s house about a mile away or so. I told him it is a smidge too far, and he answered back:
“But Dad, I can Grip, Dip & Spin™, what’s the big deal?”
My wife Julie and I love the fact our children feel in control of their own safety -:) I told Andrew it is not so much about that, but all the construction trucks speeding around two house being built nearby.
So I asked Andrew to think of some different options and he said, “How about this idea. I’ll go first and you can follow behind me on your bike.”
I answered, “Andrew that’s a great idea!”, and so we rode off with me trailing behind a few yards back.
This situation brought back memories of my childhood 30 years ago, when I would say goodbye to my mom after breakfast and then play all day long, until I heard them ring our dinner bell to come home.
And it got me thinking, “Would my mom have felt comfortable allowing me to stay away for hours if the internet was around and she could find 17 sex offenders living two miles all around our zip code?”
Probably not. Those days are long gone.
The reality is, sex offenders have always been living among us, with or without the internet. But if your child is trained to escape automatically without worrying about it. Isn’t this what we want for our kids?
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