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Well, The chance of getting struck by lightning goes way up when you play outside in a thunderstorm. If everyone just let their pre-teens runs free miles, or in this case blocks away from home, "stereotypical kidnappings" would go up. I'm all for sending the kids outside and I spent almost all of my days outside playing. I also remember my mother outside watering her plants, washing her car, picking up crap in the yard, or reading a book on the porch. To us, she wasn't watching us, but now I'm pretty sure she was listening and watching when we were in sight. I don't worry so much when they're together with a few other kids a few blocks away but there's no way I could trust a 9 year old alone in a city. It's not a question of what if something horrible happens, It's a question of how does a kid deal with the situations that aren't so rare. He gets on the wrong train/bus and gets off his route. He'll try to get back himself and get even farther off course. Does he know what to do if his bus is late or he misses it? Can he handle a homeless person begging for change, or he falls into an open manhole!(I heard that happens alot...) It's not the threats you prepare them for, It's the threats you don't know to warn him about because you don't see it as a threat.
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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry
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