Remember when Opie was hanging out with that vagrant David Browne? Would you want your kid running around with seedy vagrants that drifted through town? I wonder why Andy let Opie hang out with that guy as long as he did. I think there are several instances when Andy wasn't the best of fathers and this was one of them. Andy was lucky things worked out as harmlessly as they did. Sometimes I think TAGS sends the wrong messages. It amazes me how people view Andy as a father-hero of some sort when Andy time and again allowed his only kid to wander in harm's way. I think a parent is taking a real risk in letting their kids hang out with vagrants. Don't you? If Opie was my kid, I would never have allowed him to hang out with that vagrant whether there was a lesson to be learned there or not.

In the "good old days" parents didn't keep as close an eye on their kids as they do today. So it wouldn't be unusual for the kids to wander around and talk to strangers. Mayberry was a small friendly town without much serious crime so Andy probably didn't worry that much about Opie.

Back then people could let their children play ouside at night or going walking to a neighbor's house late at night without worrying. It was another time and era...How I miss it too!