Reading this article, I can forsee comments about how American kids are being messed up since they can't go and do things freely, pointing to this story about J

Reading this article, I can forsee comments about how American kids are being messed up since they can't go and do things freely, pointing to this story about Japan as an example. While I myself would wish to live in a community where this kind of behavior is OK or encouraged (I'd like for my son to be able to walk to the grocery store a quarter mile away at age 6 or 7 without fear of societal repercussions), I also reject some of the narrative that this article seems to be putting forth (and I predict the comments here will also put forth) that if we let our kids be independent, they'll turn out better. They might, they might not. They'll definitely have a different set of problems, just like every generation before them.