It gets crazier and crazier every year I think.
I was a free range kid.
I remember hiking for miles in the woods alone when I was 9 or 10...without *gasp* even a cell phone.
I remember riding my bike alone to town (probably 5 miles round trip) when I was 13.
I remember staying home alone, and waiting outside by myself in the car at the store for my mom to finish shopping (because I hated shopping).
...hate to see how many visits my parents would have gotten from CYS now.
My nieces are still free range kids. Parents were not amused when the nearly four year old decided to sneak out of the house in the evening, instead of taking a bath, for a tour through the woods on her bike though.
My nephew is kept on a much close watch, but living on an industrial area, with lots of trucks around all the time, that does make sense. Dead angles can be horrid killers.