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Free-Range Children: Difference between revisions
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In fiction, this is usually ignored. A good deal of fiction features children who are between the ages of 7 and 9, perhaps in order to help them relate to their younger audience. At this age, such children ''should'' fall under the situation mentioned above; however, in fiction, they will wander about their town, the country, or even the world with little adult supervision or even ''concern''. They'll ride down to their friend's house on the other side of town and go to local venues that aren't anywhere close to their own house. Hell, if plot calls for it, sometimes they'll go down to the next town by themselves, or even the next state or ''country'', with little to no outcry from parents, guardians, or child protection services.
This trope is often justified up until the mid-eighties, when media-promoted fears of kidnapping and strangers caused parents and society to clamp down on the freedom of children to wander unsupervised. Before then, kids were commonly allowed much more latitude, particularly in the summer months, concerning what they did and where they went, often taking off on their bikes to local shopping centers, swimming pools, libraries, or woods. Particularly in a [[Close
In periods after the onset of these fears, these children will have [[Open-Minded Parent|Open Minded Parents]] who practice [[Hands-Off Parenting]]. Other times the parents will seem to be just like typical parents, reflecting the fact that [[Most Writers Are Adults]] who are writing from the experience of their youth, when children going off alone wasn’t anything remarkable.
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* Stewie Griffin from ''[[Family Guy]]'': A 1-year-old who is able get his hands on the parts to construct superscientific devices and weapons and is frequently far from home, with little concern from Lois. Lack of concern from Peter is expected, though. However, he's still working on how to use the toilet. Stewie, that is.
** Well, Peter too, sometimes.
* ''[[All Grown Up!]]'': One particular episode involved the 11-year-olds Tommy and Chuckie going down to a warehouse in ''another part of town at night'' where ''two possible criminals could have been working'', in order to protect Kimi. It was subverted at the end though, when it was revealed that the two characters whom they suspected of criminal activities were actually working for a charity drive.
* ''[[Captain Planet and the Planeteers]]'': The kids run all about saving the Earth, but we never hear any complaints from any of the moms and dads about what their kids are doing.
** Would you argue with the creator of the Earth? Or your kids if they had super powers they could kill you with?
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