Oddbean

Exactly. There are extremes on both ends. My environment was hazardous, but not in the way some parts of Alaska, for example, would be for even trained adults. I don't think there's ever truly been a universal glory days when children everywhere could just venture off safely. It always has and always will be relative. Some people tend to romanticize the past as if everything has only gotten worse. Some hazards have merely been replaced by others, while some have been mostly eliminated. People who grew up in areas like mine decades before me had to worry about diseases caused by malnutrition while I didn't because of modern technology. Tradeoffs have always existed.

Kids here used to trigger mines, left by the wars. Or get accidentally killed by farming machines. And if you have domestic violence problems or suffer from depression or disability, and live out in the middle of nowhere, then it sucks to be you.

It looks so romantic and idyllic to visitors, but people kill themselves accidentally or in purpose, on the regular. Not in the least because many women hate it out here and run away to the town, as soon as the kids are old enough. I have remote work and Nostr and church, to keep me sane. 🙏🏻 Everyone thinks about "where to raise kids" and ignores the "where to house your wife" aspect, but that's the aspect that dominates the majority of your life together.

I've seen this exact situation play out. The man is oblivious, the wife leaves for someone older who goes on exotic vacations. The house in the small town has to be sold or the ex-husband buys her half from her at great cost. He's confused and bitter why she's ruined everything. She feels like she escaped something, but what exactly did she escape is unclear to her husband and son.