Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ How Far Did You Roam As A Child?

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

Aug 17, 2008

Originally posted on Half an Hour, August 17, 2008.

John Larkin links to Bill Kerr along with an article in the Guardian, Kids need the adventure of risky play and an article in the Mail online, How children lost the right to roam in four generations.

The premise is that children today have lost their right to roam, and that this sort of protective attitude is harming them.

Maybe. I ranged far and wide as a child: below is a map of the places I visited on my bicycle between the ages 10-14:



After I was 14, I got a part time job in Ottawa, and my attention was focused on the city. Between the ages of 14 and 16 I wandered in and out of the city pretty much at will, and my range included the entire city. At 16 I got a motocycle, which gave me a range of about 300 miles in diameter. I also traveled to Britain with a school group (which I ditched once we hit London, giving me that entire city to roam).

Update

Here is my range at age 78, in Candiac, on the south shore of Montreal.



Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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