I was definitely a 'free range' child; growing up in the late 30s and early 40s with both parents working--especially during WW 2-- there was no other way to be.

Walking to and from school about 3/4 of a mile each way--and that was taking the short cut through the woods--in all kinds of weather was the only way we had to get to school. Washington, D.C. didn't have school buses, and it wasn't till Jr. High School --7th grade--that we rode Capitol Transit, the public transportation system. Tickets were three cents a piece and a book of 30 of them could be bought for $1.O0!

So, yes, I think I was a free range child. Of course, it really WAS a different world, then.

At least compared to today, I could tentatively say yes. I was alone after school, and often ranged 4-5 miles from home out in the woods before dinner or on weekends. I was escorted by my dog and usually my cat, so I wasn't alone...I guess ? :)
Wildlife sighted by myself included coyotes, bobcats, many kinds of snakes, skunks, etc. I fondly remember playing with baby coyotes...and count myself fortunate that the mother didn't come. They were just old enough to get out of the den by themselves and pretty much like any puppies, maybe just a tad shier. Next day, the den had been moved though.
So..yes, I grew up wild.

Dbarron, I'd much sooner see a child hanging around wild woodland critters than the human kind that's roaming our streets nowadays. But anyway, I was pretty much free-range, too, riding for hours on my bike without anyone knowing where to, walked to and from school (yes, elementary), played in the woods and swamps, throwing rocks at gigantic aligators. If we stayed indoors too long we got kicked out of the house. There were a few close calls with some shady characters so I guess I was lucky, but I'm afraid nowadays there isn't much hope for children being free to explore the world safely, but then again, maybe with all the video games and indoor stuff they do they wouldn't want to live that way now anyway.

Well, I can say I don't remember any of those wild animals ever hurting me. In fact, I was pretty much ignored...as if I belonged there. The only wild animal I remember ever being aggressive was/were/is cottonmouth snakes...they hate me and make a beeline toward me. I've never stood still long enough to see if they'll just climb on me or just bite me (lol). I don't remember ever seeing one that it doesn't take off directly toward me...unlike any other species of snake I've encountered.

Very much so. I went by myself mushroom hunting, berry picking in the surrounding forrests and often took off in the morming and came back hours later. Well I told in what general dirction I was going, but I never knew what I could find where and the food was very welcome in the lean WWII years. Wildlife was not much of a problem in Germany, we have in the area just one poisonous snake with specific enviromental requirements. Today the whole family would have been in trouble about my roaming, mostly alone.

Not me so much, but I let my kids pretty much go where their little legs could run. We lived on a seven mile long island and they pretty much knew how to travel by trail to friends homes, By the time they could ride bikes they were gone all day on adventures. If they got to a destination most of the time they would check in by phone.They had a lot of memories of knowing people of many ages. No problems or close calls and they are adventurous, successful, creative adults as are all of the "free roaming" kids of that generation. Most the kids in the same area today do not have the same freedom.

Hi Janis, nice to see you post.
Yes, I was a free range child, but with borders that expanded as I grew older.
Lol, first I was allowed to cross the street by myself, then go to the corner store, then go down the block etc...
Eventually I was allowed to take buses and street cars by myself.
I learned the rules of the road so to speak and since then I've been comfortable roaming the road and the "range" in a lot of places.

I walked to the main road probably a mile from home to my school bus stop. It seemed like a long way to a little kid like me.
I was lucky there were other kids to walk with.

I roamed the woods with my mom's butcher knife looking for grape vines to hack off so I could swing like Tarzan. I guess if anyone saw me swing from tree to tree they would have thought I was a monkey.

I did get a switching with a little hickory switch once when I talked some of the other neighborhood kids into going down to the BIG creek. We all came home with leeches all over us.
My mother explained as she was stinging my legs that I was
never ever to go swimming in that nasty creek again. I got the message loud and clear.

Of course the next day I took a pick and shovel, gathered the other kids and supervised the digging of our very own swimming pool. I think it was about a foot deep and five feet
round when it was abandoned for some other adventure.

dbarron if I had seen a coyote, I would have peed my pants.

This is a fun thread. It sounds as if most of you are kindred spirits.

I always wonder how my brother, sister and I survived our free range fun. In the summer we spent a lot of days in our woods and fields not exactly under the watchful eye of our mother. We climbed trees, swung on grape vines, built play houses and rode our one bicycle while we pretended to be Tim, Martha and Molly--not our real names.

At three different houses just up the road we had cousins who joined us for other adventures--building roads in the dirt for our toy cars, playing cowboys and indians and engaging in severe corncob battles. We even got to take dips in the cow pasture pond.

When we needed other distractions, we always had a dog to help us, several cats that we sometimes dressed in baby clothes, chickens, an old tom turkey and a shetland pony who joined in some of our fun.

We even got to walk to the country store a mile away to buy our favorite soft drink without worrying about boogie men or being run over by traffic.

I enjoyed every minute of my free range childhood. When adulthood becomes too serious, I escape back there in those happy days with those people and those parents who loved me.

If only children today could have such a free range childhood, wouldn't it be great?

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This post was edited by sweet_betsy on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 7:52

I wish George could still post.
I know he was a free range kid.
We have heard a few of his stories.
Would have loved to have heard more.

We built playhouses and our imaginations were working overtime
on most days. Two cans and a string served us well as a telephone
and we talked for hours back and forth from playhouse to playhouse discussing our imaginary kids, relatives and school.
We built churches, had services and a preacher.
I was the envy of the neighborhood when I added a tv to my
house. An old gutted radio cabinet with a page from a comic book glued across
the opening. I picked wild flowers for my dinner table and cooked to my hearts content. My mud pies would have won a
blue ribbon at the fair.

It is so much fun to read the posts about the free range you all had. I was a city girl so my free range was the city of Oslo, Norway. Walking to downtown, visit department stores and ride elevators up and down, ride the street cars, go down to the wharf and watch the ships come in from foreign lands, skate on frozen ponds, spend hours making snow men, igloos and snow jumps.
It's a different "Free Range", but the sentiment is the same.

The freest of the free range. We ran, and jumped, and played wherever and whenever we wanted. I never had a curfew and we played football, tag, volleyball, even after the sun went down. Maybe it was ok because we were in our neighborhood still? We even rode our bikes without adult supervision at Big Sur. It's a wonder we didn't get lost in all that forest!

Growing up in the mid-60's, I'm kinda shocked how much freedom my siblings and I had. My mother was a housewife, so she was around, but we kids could pretty much do what we wanted. Granted, it was a small town, but I remember my brother and I taking off on our bikes to explore the town dump for a good part of the day, our mother never worried where we were. We'd even walk through the woods in the winter to go skating on a lake a good mile behind the house. We'd skate around the areas that hadn't frozen yet. It's a miracle none of us drowned! I was always surprised when I'd ask a friend to accompany us on our adventures, but the parents wouldn't let them. Now I understand why.

It was normal back then for kids to be kicked out of the house after breakfast and not really wanted back in to make a mess until lunchtime

Having a bike meant not only freedom, but it was the only way you could get places. People didn't have two cars then, and the father took it to work so mothers weren't driving you anywhere.

no helmets, either

people would have looked at you like you had two heads

This has been such a great post! So many interesting responses, whether we lived in the country, a small town, or a big city, we all had the luxury of being a 'free range child'. I have especially enjoyed the messages from folks who don't post too often. Please stay with us and add to the conversation.

Janis, thanks for getting us started!

I grew up in Northern Pennsylvania. It was very mountainous there. My mom told me not to climb the mountain in the spring time because she thought we would be attacked by a momma bear. Of course we went anyway. It was about long climb. We would stop halfway up and rest. The only animal we saw were a few chipmunks. We trapped two baby skunks once thinking they were too small to spray. Needless to say we got sprayed. It's a wonder I didn't get spanked that day. I used to play in the creek near my house all alone when I was about 6 years old. I quit going there when I saw a snake in the water. We played outside all day long, all year round when we were young. No adult supervision. It's a small town, so kids could still probably do that there.

This is an interesting post!

Was I free-range? Yes and no; I had chores (a really long list that usually took to noon or mid-afternoon to finish), but then -as long as someone knew where I was at or at least the direction I was heading towards, I was free to go and go I did! I took a newspaper route in order to buy my own bike and that bike took me all over the southern portion of the county. But it truly was a different world; most roads were gravel and the few that were paved had so little traffic you could hear the car coming from a half-mile away -plenty of time to get off the road and wait until it passed. Drivers fell into two groups, people I knew (that is, I knew their name and where they lived) and Strangers. Whether afoot or a-bike, I knew to keep a safe distance from Strangers. Known or not, everyone waved as they went passed. I saw the changes as they came: when I began delivering papers to 50 customers, all the 5-mile route was in bank-gravel roads; then they were bluestone gravel, within 3 years I had nearly 150 customers and the roads were almost all paved. I saw a report the other day: back then the county population was about 6,000 (mostly residents in the eastern and northern parts) and now the population is well over a million. The fields, streams, and forests I grew up with are now either paved, subdivisions or shopping centers. The drivers are now almost always utter Strangers, and no body waves as they pass.