Quotes / Free-Range Children

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The sun's dying down, but Mikoto has lived here her whole life, and it's Hinamizawa, and everyone knows everyone, so Keiichi, who has to lock up, sees her off to walk home alone without a worry. Little Mikoto scampers off down the path with her little backpack, but then she turns back, and very swiftly, without a word, hugs Keiichi tight. It lasts a few moments. Then she rushes off, faster than before.

It’s all so simple. Children do it all the time. At the age of ten, they’re allowed to pick a Starter Pokémon and begin their journey. And Goh kept rambling on and on and on about how he wanted Mew to be his partner (before Scorbunny came hopping along).
If he could do it, so could she. She could run away and leave the city behind and go on a journey by herself.

I was born in Muncie, Indiana. My family moved to Chicago when I was eleven. The school to which I had gone until our move was made up of the children of a group of friends; the total enrollment was fourteen ... Since we covered a considerable range in age we could not be taught as a unit. Therefore, each child, finishing an assignment, could work outside in good weather in his garden. In Chicago I was enrolled at the Faulkner School for Girls. On the first day, finishing an arithmetic assignment, I left the classroom and the building. There was no garden and a very limited space to explore so I investigated the neighborhood. I came back to find Miss Faulkner, my mother and a policeman at the gate. This was my first awareness of a difference between small towns and cities.

Holland March: You're supposed to be at Jessica's.
Jessica: Yeah, sorry, Mr. March. My sister kicked us out. She's having a guy over.

"Hey, hold on, lady! I'm not the one who let her kids out on a school night to break into other peoples' lairs, okay?! I mean, Jesus, what kind of an absentee mother are you?!"

Uncle Gumbo: Fuck this! Where are your parents?
Rufus & Remi: Ask CPS!
Uncle Gumbo: You boys have been alone? For how long? They never sent you to foster care or anything?
Remi: They tried!
(Remi points to the corpse of a CPS worker, lying on the floor with two bullet holes in his head)

Bridgette: Where's Candice? She isn't in her room.
Alex: I don't know. She said she was gonna go grab dinner.
Bridgette: Five year olds don't just "grab dinner"! You have to order it on GrubHub for them.