My wife pointed me at this article in the Consumerist which touched on the policies regarding unaccompanied minors for various airlines. Several of the commentators were shocked that Southwest officially did not escort children of 12+ years; and in general that children of 10-13 or so were not treated as defenseless to the world.

By the time I was 13 (I say that because it was 20 years ago, and my memory is hazy for which summers some of this happened in) I had done or was allowed to do pretty much at whim (in no particular order):

• Learned to fire a bow, rifle, and shotgun (and the rules of safety for each) and did so regularly over the summer (hay bales, paper targets, and skeet, respectively)
• Learnt the rudiments of 2 different forms of martial arts and was prevented from learning more of each only by my own lack of dedication
• Knew both theory and practice of land navigation and orienteering using a map and compass, along with how to find north via either via a watch or a tall stick and some sunshine
• Had for a short period of time walked to school 1 mile each way on suburban streets (with sidewalks, admittedly) - my brother spent an entire school year doing so when he was the same age
• Rode my bicycle almost a mile one-way to go swimming at the county rec center whenever I could scrape up the cost of admission with no more than a "see ya, be back later" to my parents (or riding off to friend's houses, etc)
• Had been camping, including cooking my own food over a can of sterno or a camp stove (and, technically, over the campfire)
• Knew the theory and practice of starting a fire with a knife, a flint, and whatever materials I could scrounge in the woods
• Carried a Swiss Army knife almost everywhere I went
• Had killed, plucked, cooked, and eaten my own chicken dinner (Scoutmaster's parent owned a farm and were willing to sacrifice some chickens one summer)
• Regularly cooked food for myself, my brother, and our friends on the stove at home (mainly Kraft Mac & Cheese from a box, admittedly, but still that involves a fairly large amount of boiling water and a gas range at the time)
• Ridden the Metrobus home every day from Alexandria City to the bus route terminus over a mile from my house, and walked the rest of the way (summer school at a private school) almost a mile
• Learned to swim like a fish, as well as one-handing a canoe and how to row a boat
• Learned the rudiments of first aid - again stopped from learning more by my lack of dedication

And I was not any kind of a prodigy - these were almost all group activities with peers of my age. Most of it was learned in the Boy Scouts, admittedly - by the time I was 13 I had been a Boy Scout for 2+ years. (But it was not in the Scouts that I learned to shoot, and I wasn't a particularly dedicated Scout - I dropped out without making Star, and I don't believe I made First Class in my first year). This wasn't all that long ago - I was 12 in the summer of 1986. Nor was this in a particularly rural area - that part of Fairfax County, VA hasn't been rural for quite some time.

I certainly wasn't an adult at 12-13. But I certainly wasn't helpless, defenseless, or hapless. I no longer needed the kind of close supervision a young child might need - I was allowed to operate within fairly loose guidelines (in some ways, looser guidelines than I was when I was in my later teens, because I did have somewhat less responsibility). Nonetheless, I'm quite sure that had the need arisen for me to fly unaccompanied, my parents would have made sure the people at the other end knew my flight info, and then dropped me off at the airport (accompanying me to the gate if possible under time constraints), and expected me to make my way onto the plane, into my seats, and off the other end to the people I was going to without expecting much, if any, official support form the airline. Admittedly, by the time I was 12 or so I was not unfamiliar with airports (living in 3 countries for 8 of your first 10 years will do that) - but an airport is a far more structured environment than the ones I had to deal with on a regular basis.

I can't believe that the world we live in now is any less safe on the individual child's level than it was 20 years ago; if anything I would expect it to be slightly safer. There's more sensationalism - and more attention paid to tragedies, but I believe that's due in large measure to the increasing rarity of reported incidents. The advent of cheap cellphones alone makes it that much safer to be out on your own; not having to be dependent on finding a landline that is accessible and working. So why is what was common 20 years ago so unusual today?