My boys know that whenever I begin a sentence with “Back in ‘my day…’” they are about to be launched into a memory from mom’s Big Book of Remembrance where there is no yawning allowed. However, this memory from my past is both true and important (aren’t they all?) for keeping them safe.
You see, when I was a child, my parents thought nothing of letting me and my six siblings disappear deep into the neighborhood for hours on end, returning only when absolutely starving or bleeding severely. We played in other people’s houses, we walked many blocks to and from school, rode our bikes clear across town to swim with friends at the river, all this and more with no adult supervision, ever!
