A dad was arrested because he let his daughter walk alone. Besides the infrastructure itself, neighbors and cops interfere with healthy childhood development.
I grew up as a child of the suburbs in the 1960s-early 1970s. We built many tree forts in the woods, and rode our bikes everywhere, including school. I was able to walk to school in high school. It was less than 1/4 mile from my house, taking a path through the woods. Why did we play outside? As you said, that's what we did.
It's interesting how your upbringing as a Generation Xer was similar to my upbringing as a Baby Boomer. The main difference was, and still is, technology. We didn't have the X Boxes or the surveilance apps on our cell phones. Oops! We didn't have cell phones either. We had the freedom to create our own fun times with minimal adult supervision; there was always a parent nearby, but unless things got out of hand, they left us alone. The Control State has been slowly building, and is now getting out of hand.
If anything the use of tech should make parenting more hands off. Like now if a kid gets lost or feels endangered, they can just call their parent or emergency services themselves. They don't (or shouldn't) need an adult hovering around them all teh time.
I grew up as a child of the suburbs in the 1960s-early 1970s. We built many tree forts in the woods, and rode our bikes everywhere, including school. I was able to walk to school in high school. It was less than 1/4 mile from my house, taking a path through the woods. Why did we play outside? As you said, that's what we did.
It's interesting how your upbringing as a Generation Xer was similar to my upbringing as a Baby Boomer. The main difference was, and still is, technology. We didn't have the X Boxes or the surveilance apps on our cell phones. Oops! We didn't have cell phones either. We had the freedom to create our own fun times with minimal adult supervision; there was always a parent nearby, but unless things got out of hand, they left us alone. The Control State has been slowly building, and is now getting out of hand.
If anything the use of tech should make parenting more hands off. Like now if a kid gets lost or feels endangered, they can just call their parent or emergency services themselves. They don't (or shouldn't) need an adult hovering around them all teh time.
Worst case if stranded, call a parent at home/work from a phone in a stranger's house or a store. "It's a local call? Ok, go ahead." ;)