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Running away from home?


shootingstar

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Though we were raised by somewhat strict parents, I never  wanted to run away from home. I knew I would have to find a place to  live and food to eat. I didn't have any money to run away with nor a place elsewhere to stay.  I guess I was too logical in that way even though I was a kid.

But then I was lucky:  I wasn't abused at home. I was raised by parents who respected one another.

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8 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

Logistics stopped me.  I remember when I was 14, I thought "Only 4 more years".  College was wonderful, because it was college.

Yes, I was mulling over in that way too.  However I didn't do my getaway until after 2nd yr. university when I transferred to a different university elsewhere. I lived in a home city with 2 local university choices.

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3 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

But they wanted to send you away?

No. It was my idea. I was a poor fit to local education system. I was attending a prep school a county over that was challenging enough, but the bus ride with all the stops was two hours each way. I got fed up with that, so boarding school it was. 

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I lived in NYC,  I didn't want to be outside after dark.  But I did like the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler and the idea of running away to the Metropolitan and hiding out among the museum exhibits.

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14 minutes ago, Allen said:

No. It was my idea. I was a poor fit to local education system. I was attending a prep school a county over that was challenging enough, but the bus ride with all the stops was two hours each way. I got fed up with that, so boarding school it was. 

You were an independent thinker already!  I think being the eldest I just saw what my parents had to do to support us and of course, I got roped into certain chores..which made me dream occasionally about running away. I was certain my friends didn't do the amount of babysitting I had to do, for several younger siblings since my parents couldn't afford external babysitter.  Friends would be off playing or going camping in summer with family.

7 minutes ago, Kirby said:

I lived in NYC,  I didn't want to be outside after dark.  But I did like the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler and the idea of running away to the Metropolitan and hiding out among the museum exhibits.

I loved that book too!

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Did I ever share the time I went missing as a child?  I had heard my mom tell the story and a couple of years ago was talking to my moms neighbor (who just passed..) and she told me about the time my mom came to her door frantically looking for me.  

They searched all over looking for me only to realize I had crawled under the dining room table, up onto the seats and fell asleep!  With the table cloth draped down I couldn’t be seen  unless you pulled a chair out from under the table.  
 

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46 minutes ago, petitepedal said:

I ran away..down the alley stopped at the house at the end of the block..and played with the large family I met there..my mom came looking for me worried..I had only played with the kid next door or directly across the street before :dontknow:...I was probably 5 or 6

I got lost for about 15 min. when I wandered away from my mother who was looking at sewing pattern catalogue inside a dept. store.  I was panicking....

I was 5 yrs. old.  I didn't know  English. As a kid, when I knew I couldn't even speak/ not understand much of the dominant society's language, I wanted to stay closer to home.

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7 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

No.  Much of my youth was spent combing the streets of Vancouver looking for my sister who did run away. 

It took a year and a half to find her and another year and a half to convince her to come home. 

How was she out on the streets at that time and afterwards at home? 

I was a little stunned to  learn 1 of my work colleagues who is a pleasant woman that seems so well-adjusted, responsible and conscientious as an employee and parent with her hubby, she ran away from home for 3 years of her life as a teen.

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Just now, shootingstar said:

How was she out on the streets at that time and afterwards at home? 

I was a little stunned to  learn 1 of my work colleagues who is a pleasant woman that seems so well-adjusted, responsible as an employee and parent with her hubby, she ran away from home for 3 years of her life as a teen.

She still thinks being a former user of every kind of street drug makes her sound cool and relatable.  Then, she was 13, "shacked up" with a 40 year old addict and turning tricks for a living.  She caused a lot of hardship within the family and to this day is a constant source of problems although she lives a modest, somewhat normal life having bilked a disability pension from her federal government job since age 30.  She counters me in every way possible yet, I am the one she runs to when she problems.  You can't chose your family. 

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24 minutes ago, Wilbur said:

She still thinks being a former user of every kind of street drug makes her sound cool and relatable.  Then, she was 13, "shacked up" with a 40 year old addict and turning tricks for a living.  She caused a lot of hardship within the family and to this day is a constant source of problems although she lives a modest, somewhat normal life having bilked a disability pension from her federal government job since age 30.  She counters me in every way possible yet, I am the one she runs to when she problems.  You can't chose your family. 

It must have shocked your parents and caused enormous concern. :unsure:

Well, true one doesn't choose family members. It's setting reasonable boundaries against well....usury of repeated emotions, too much money. Quite different in my family, more of us siblings banding together as a united front/ supporting one another in the past, against my parents. Yes.  As  siblings, we're loosely linked /coordinated in that way...  And losing a sister so tragically, accentuates those importance of those lifelong links even more.

So when I hear of blow-ups in other families, where 1 sibling fussed over 1 tiny offense/misunderstanding, I think to myself:  Get over your silly anger. One day that sibling just wont' be around on earth.

 

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4 hours ago, Kirby said:

I lived in NYC,  I didn't want to be outside after dark.  But I did like the book From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs Basil E Frankweiler and the idea of running away to the Metropolitan and hiding out among the museum exhibits.

Great book

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I never did not have inclination to. However, with a driver's license and cheap gas escaped by driving my car all over where knew the roads like back of hand.

Fast forward to first job out of college - juvenile probation officer in Daytona Beach. All those northern kids running away to Disney. Hitchhike down I4 and crash on the beach. Problem is, sleeping on beach was illegal so that is where they would be caught...and it became my problem.:angry:

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10 minutes ago, Tizeye said:

I never did not have inclination to. However, with a driver's license and cheap gas escaped by driving my car all over where knew the roads like back of hand.

Fast forward to first job out of college - juvenile probation officer in Daytona Beach. All those northern kids running away to Disney. Hitchhike down I4 and crash on the beach. Problem is, sleeping on beach was illegal so that is where they would be caught...and it became my problem.:angry:

In Canada, there was the rare sr. high school kid but more university/college kids from Metro Toronto heading down to Florida during March break. It amazed me because myself and friends didn't have the money to go across the Canada-U.S. border.

Then summer they would go north into cottage country by the lakes for party times.

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8 hours ago, shootingstar said:

As a kid/teen did you ever run away from home?  Or you just thought about it..and waited until your getaway when you were an adult?

I never thought running away would solve any problems and, even though I was a child, my teachers kept telling me I had the brains to get somewhere in life and I knew I wasn't going to get the skills I needed without a solid home base to support me - no matter how poor we were.  All I knew about running away came from Huckleberry Finn and Oliver Twist and I didn't like the prospects.

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9 hours ago, shootingstar said:

In Canada, there was the rare sr. high school kid but more university/college kids from Metro Toronto heading down to Florida during March break. It amazed me because myself and friends didn't have the money to go across the Canada-U.S. border.

Then summer they would go north into cottage country by the lakes for party times.

College students on Spring Break (or Bike Week) is one thing and hardly the intent to "run away".  It is more get away, unwind, party hard and get laid.  Likewise would be high schooler with overnighter "daytrips" to participate in the activities.

The problem years are 13-15 where are socially stuck without the transportation freedom and jobs that the 16+ enjoy. Also, they are in an age group that are not expected to have parental supervision in tow with their daily interactions so they don't really stand out like a pre-teen would. The 13-15 y/o are really the worst years, not only for run away, but other crimes like breaking and entering, shoplifting, or worse.  

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