You couldn't go home on your own? I was doing that since first grade. Selecting accommodation location to match that was quite important, schools would take local kids as priority. Remote folks took a bus on their own. Learning to cross busy roads from very young age.
I think we go somehow more retarded as society and got properly scared with pedophiles and kidnappings (maybe compensating subconsciously for lack of time dedicated to kids). The worst thing is, this helicopter parenting seriously harms kids development and resiliency.
It was the early 2000s in San Francisco. I started going back home on my own in middle school and the other parents where slightly horrified. Some of it is paranoia, some of it is that public spaces feel less .. friendly? ... with more and more mentally ill people in public. It's mostly safe, but it feels not great.. I grew up in the Castro and I definitely had a few incidents of old men following me on public transit - but nothing too serious or where I actually was afraid for my safety. I think that's just something you can shrug off and a normal part of life - but in the modern climate that's "stranger danger" and the pedophiles are gunna kidnap you
I think we go somehow more retarded as society and got properly scared with pedophiles and kidnappings (maybe compensating subconsciously for lack of time dedicated to kids). The worst thing is, this helicopter parenting seriously harms kids development and resiliency.