The thing that doesn't work with that argument is that our crime rates really were substantially higher back when we let our kids roam free. We aren't as safe as some countries but we're a lot safer than we were in, say, 1980 or 1990.
The urban crime wave of the 1970s - 1990s really was pretty awful.
So what you're saying is...the kids were the real criminals all along.
Re:Motherhood in the Age of Fear
by closetohome on Friday July 27, 2018 @06:13PM
(#17629881)
Everything is fine now that we got all those little hooligans off the streets.
Re:Motherhood in the Age of Fear
by paulddraper on Saturday July 28, 2018 @12:18PM
(#17633760)
> This is a cultural problem.
Obviously.
> why not just look at what other humans in other countries are doing?
Like some sort of top-down policy...what exactly are you referring to?
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api conjectured about the cause of the US culture shift over the past few decades, but never said that child protectionism had a univariate relationship.
I completely disagree. Even with our crime rates being much lower than decades ago, the US is still nowhere near as safe as Japan, yet in Japan they're not remotely as risk-averse as we are (particularly in regards to kids being outside without their parents). It's very much part of their culture to have kids walk themselves to school at an early age.
I'm pretty sure it's similar in western European and Scandinavian countries: they're very safe too (particularly the Scandinavian ones), and don't treat kids and parents this way.
This is something unique to the US.
And this really touches on something I think Americans are really, really horrible at: thinking about the rest of the world. Instead of looking at our brains and trying to use psychology to figure this out, why not just look at what other humans in other countries are doing? Americans are not biologically unique. This is a cultural problem.