Latchkey child

Posted by David FG on May 10, 2009 at 07:57

In Reply to: Latchkey child posted by ESC on May 09, 2009 at 18:41:

: : : : : What is the meaning of 'a latchkey kid' and where does it originate?

: : : : It is a name given to children whose parents are away from the family home working, so they are given their own key to let themselves into the house or whatever. Basically, they are children who are left to fend for themselves while their parents work.

: : : : Whatever the individual circumstances, it is not generally a term of approbation.

: : : : DFG

: : : One reference has "latchkey kid" in a section devoted to Generation X (new demographic term, 1980s, taken from a 1964 book by the same name, Charles Hamblett and Jane Deverson) but says "latchkey child" dates back to 1944. "Speaking Freely: A Guided Tour of American English from Plymouth Rock to Silicon Valley" by Stuart Berg Flexner and Anne H. Soukhanov (Oxford University Press, New York, 1997).

: : The phrase "fend for themselves" is a little tendentious. ESC mentions the date 1944. In that year women were working for the war effort, which most people regard as having had a great liberating effect on women. At that time a much larger share of the population than today lived in rural areas and small towns. When schools let out around 3 p.m., the kids went home, often to an empty house or one containing only their siblings. Although today that's considered by some as a horror, in 1944 it was not considered risky. Children got their supper on time, and two or three hours of being allowed to play outside, or read and pursue hobbies inside, was not considered child abuse, either by adults or by the children.

: : I was a latchkey child, although no one ever told me so. I had no latchkey, however, as our house was never locked. Our town had almost no crime. I can recall one hit and run and one case of animal abuse, but otherwise no felonies. (The animal abuser was a Dutch farmer starving both his cows and himself, out of pure stinginess. My second-grade teacher made a sensation by chasing her mother around with a butcher knife when her mom revealed that she was pregnant. But there were no charges.) We didn't actually have a police force, which was not, and still is not, a rare condition for a hick town. (The state troopers or the sheriff could be called in if there were any felonies.)
: : SS

: When I was around 11, my mother went back to teaching after time off taking care of her parents, etc. And I was GLAD she was working. She was a lot happier. Technically I was a latchkey kid but I wasn't alone. There was usually a small army of cousins hanging around. Oh, there was one incident in the summer when my parents were gone. My grandmother and I woke up to find a strange man sitting in the living room. The night before, he and a couple of other men had been parked up a dirt road on White Oak Mountain, drinking. Party under the stars. An argument and gunfire ensued. He was the last man standing. He sobered up and walked to our house. We fed him breakfast. Then a West Virginia trooper came by to ask if we'd seen any strangers around. A neighbor had found the bodies and called the police. Our visitor said, "You're looking for me." He went peaceably.

SS, you say:

"The phrase "fend for themselves" is a little tendentious."

It wasn't meant to be. I was intending to be neutral: in many ways, I think 'fending for themselves' to a degree, is good for children. I think we are in danger of raising a generation that is wildly over-protected.

DFG

• Latchkey child Smokey Stover 10/May/09
• Latchkey child ESC 10/May/09
  • Latchkey child Smokey Stover 12/May/09