Not when the strip was written! There are even children’s books about it. I was 8 when I started coming home alone, and was on the earlier side of average for where we lived, but I did know people that did it younger (even outside of books) and in some areas it would even have been very common. The fact the kids don’t have the keys, the neighbour does, is actually quite a supervisory step!
My mother went back to work when I was in second grade (7) and my brother in first grade (6). We came home after school and let ourselves in with a key hidden in the garage. We changed our clothes and went out to play. Many kids in the neighborhood did this. And no, we are not “inner city kids”. We lived in suburbia in one of the wealthiest counties in the USA in NY. This was 60s and 70s. It was common. We also were left in a car while parents shopped (but not for more than 30 minutes) and rode bikes without helmets and all those things that are part of another era. It was a different world.
Lynn’s Notes:In this strip, I was able to say hello to both Charles Schulz and my friend, Beth Scott. Surprising friends by mentioning them in the paper was great fun.-Free range children only these kids do have adults in their life when their Mother isn’t home. I was that.
Good for you, Elly! That’s the way to raise self-confident, autonomous kids! I was home by myself after school ever since first grade, both my parents working till 5 or 6 p.m. I’d also take the tram to go to dance class when I was 7. When my brother entered kindergarten, I’d occasionally pick him up there and then cook something for the both of us. I was 10 then.
dlkrueger33Apparently it is still the case in most of Europe. Maybe that is why they have a higher standard of living, education, and health, as do the civilized part of the rest of the world. We just have paranoids and military.
Oh no, we couldn’t listen to the radio.1. it will(not could) run the battery down.2. If we even thought about changing the station, we would get whopped.3. We couldn’t listen to the radio at home, because Rock and roll was just “jungle music”.4. Those “twangy guitars” were not musical instruments.5. The only way we could listen was with the ear plug in our transistor radio – batteries were expensive, we had to save for them.
Templo S.U.D. over 7 years ago
hallelujah, Elly… hallelujah
sbischof over 7 years ago
Not when the strip was written! There are even children’s books about it. I was 8 when I started coming home alone, and was on the earlier side of average for where we lived, but I did know people that did it younger (even outside of books) and in some areas it would even have been very common. The fact the kids don’t have the keys, the neighbour does, is actually quite a supervisory step!
dlkrueger33 over 7 years ago
My mother went back to work when I was in second grade (7) and my brother in first grade (6). We came home after school and let ourselves in with a key hidden in the garage. We changed our clothes and went out to play. Many kids in the neighborhood did this. And no, we are not “inner city kids”. We lived in suburbia in one of the wealthiest counties in the USA in NY. This was 60s and 70s. It was common. We also were left in a car while parents shopped (but not for more than 30 minutes) and rode bikes without helmets and all those things that are part of another era. It was a different world.
hcarpenter1 over 7 years ago
i really find the way the world haas become, not very good and not to my liking. so sad how things are.
davidf42 over 7 years ago
I’ve just started reading this strip and I’m kind of at a loss. Can someone please tell me what was the original date for the current strip?
Prey over 7 years ago
Mikes white shirt didn´t last long.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 7 years ago
Lynn’s Notes:In this strip, I was able to say hello to both Charles Schulz and my friend, Beth Scott. Surprising friends by mentioning them in the paper was great fun.-Free range children only these kids do have adults in their life when their Mother isn’t home. I was that.
Adele Derwald over 7 years ago
Good for you, Elly! That’s the way to raise self-confident, autonomous kids! I was home by myself after school ever since first grade, both my parents working till 5 or 6 p.m. I’d also take the tram to go to dance class when I was 7. When my brother entered kindergarten, I’d occasionally pick him up there and then cook something for the both of us. I was 10 then.
summerdog86 over 7 years ago
I knew friends in grade school who wore the house key around their neck for afterschool.
hippogriff over 7 years ago
dlkrueger33Apparently it is still the case in most of Europe. Maybe that is why they have a higher standard of living, education, and health, as do the civilized part of the rest of the world. We just have paranoids and military.
joanb over 7 years ago
I miss SUSAN NEWMAN who would cut elly in half and cut to the chase…. WHERE ARE YOU SUSAN WHEN I NEED YOU.
route66paul over 7 years ago
Oh no, we couldn’t listen to the radio.1. it will(not could) run the battery down.2. If we even thought about changing the station, we would get whopped.3. We couldn’t listen to the radio at home, because Rock and roll was just “jungle music”.4. Those “twangy guitars” were not musical instruments.5. The only way we could listen was with the ear plug in our transistor radio – batteries were expensive, we had to save for them.
Life sucks when you are a kid with crappy parents