I probably ought not to follow that link lest my head explode.

public transportation in tennessee is pretty laughable. so i never had that particular childhood experience, but my parents had no problem letting me and my (2 years younger) BFF ride our bikes about a mile away to a greenhouse that was quite popular for the kids to meet and hang out. i was probably 9 or 10. when i got a little older my little brother would come with me and he is six years younger than me.

now? i doubt i'd let my kids(if i had any) do the same thing.

I was riding the city bus at 10 or 11. And I'd bike off by myself for hours as long as I stayed between 4 roads in a rough 1 mile square from 7? 8? (they were boundries because they were the busiest roads and scary to cross. You could get a dispensation to cross them, though. Parents just had to know beforehand.)

I know I was at least walking around the block by myself when I was 4. That's how I met my friend Candy Richardson! Within a couple of years of that I was riding my bike and walking all over the small town I grew up in by myself. But there wasn't a bus system to speak of. And my mobility was drastically cut (it seemed to me) when we moved to the suburbs of Wilmington when I was 11. But I think that had more to do with not having many friends who lived close enough to walk or bike to see. Plus still no good bus system and no train at all.

I was working in the kitchen (humm, cleaning didn't happen. Me making muffins, however, did), and my roommate came and started cooking as well.

My CD player was on the toaster oven, which she turned on. I didn't notice that.

12 minutes later, I try to take it back to my room. The plastic from the bottom of it melted and it was glued to the toaster oven.

(enter almost heart attack)

It still works. Next time, I'll put it on the refrigerator.

But what does Calvin say?

You're all going to hell?

There was no place to go when I was a kid. and who knows if who have wanted to . But I am assuming that if you have been riding the subway or other transportation since you were a baby, you would have a fair idea of how it worked. And I'm guessing, just like you have kids help chose the apples at the grocery store you'd have them help get around on the subway. I'm sure it was scary for mo, but if you kid wants to explore - this was a good way to start - better than sneaking out possibly without enough $$ . I actually made a friend come into SF with me - and bring her kids. Because I though her kids needed to have some idea of how to get around in SF, just in case they got curious.

I think the issue is not about whether the kid might get lost, but about the Awful Evil Child Snatchers who are Waiting to Snatch Your Child.

Of course, such things do happen, but I think she's right that it's nowhere near as frequent as a weekend full of NCIS and Wire in the Blood tends to leave one thinking.

The flip side to all of this is my friend who started drinking after school at like 13, because once the school bus dropped her off at home, there was nothing to do. She couldn't ride her bike anywhere because they lived on a big street. Sometimes she went out back and started fires -- OK, maybe she was just a bad seed. But still! I could do things that were still slightly bad but not nearly as dangerous at that age, thanks to public transportation.

I walked a mile and a half to and from kindergarden. This was in LA, so there was no snow. It may well have been uphill both ways. By the time was in 2nd grade, I was stopping by the liquor store on the way home to buy comic books - which were in front of the counter where they sold cigarettes and bubble gum.