Yes, that difference in the sense of safety is so profound. In a depressed moment I could think it means the world is going down the drain, but then I realize your daughters have less safety and more power. It’s a mix. This lets me bend my mind back again towards optimism.

Jerry

As my kids grew older and began to participate in some of the same activities I did when I was young, the contrast became more and more pronounced – and it wasn’t all good.

I would never think of allowing my seven year old to walk to the store for a carton of milk or giving my ten year old daughter permission to wander the neighborhood aimlessly on a Friday night with her friends, yet I did these things back in the sixties without a second thought from my parents.

Now that they’re older and involved in the workforce and higher education, their experiences align closely with those of your niece, Caroline, and I’m grateful, especially for my three daughters, that American society has come as far as we have.

But it still blows their minds when I recount a tale of walking through the woods at the age of nine to the local movie theater with my buddies, or riding my bike to the neighborhood deli to pick up an order that my mom had phoned in earlier that day and getting a free nickel candy bar from the owner.

My kids feel cheated that they never had the chance to live in such innocent times, but like Caroline, I’m sure one of these days something will knock the patina of time off the past for them, and they’ll appreciate the innocence of their own time.