>I'm with you on this one as I posted to Nicholas...
>
>When my daughter turned 13 I was, *finally* according to my daughter, allowing her and a friend to walk around the mall together while I waited for them at the mall. They had to walk by me every 30 minutes or else. They were not dropped off by me to roam at the mall by themselves until they were 14. If I had a son, I may look at it differently, but I'm not sure. I'm too aware of the kidnapping of teens here in the U.S. for the underground sex slave market (over 100,000) to have risked it.


Well there are quite a few differences between many european societies and american. First of all, many american stores are in a big mall and remote. You almost always have to get there by car. You won't see many people walking to the store. The american society is certainly not optimized for walking and cycling. As a result there are less people on the street, so social control is less. As I remember an american friend telling me. Up here there nothing to walk to. There is nothing an 1.5 mile radius. And you don't want to take a bike. Traffic is not used to cylcists. Second, the american society is much more fearfull and less safe (again beating a dead horse).

Personally, I was 6 years old to walk to school all by myself. It was safe. My son, 7 years old, sometimes walks from school to home by himself (about a 1 kilometer). It is safe. I've told the kids (my daugther is 5) not to talk to strangers and not to go with them.


Walter,