Anecdotally I was born in 1990, I spent the first 10 years of my life in Tacoma WA, USA where during summers I would leave in the morning and be gone all day, a

Anecdotally I was born in 1990, I spent the first 10 years of my life in Tacoma WA, USA where during summers I would leave in the morning and be gone all day, all of the neighborhood kids would do the same. When I was 10 we moved to San Diego, CA USA, where I lived until adulthood. During the summers had the same freedom, I would roam free with the neighborhood kids all day long. Now I'm married with children of my own (3 and 0) and think about the scariness of letting them roam free, but they're really young so I think that is normal. However, I also have 2 stepsons who are 13 and 11. During the summers they roam free, we have a field behind our backyard which butts up against a forest and an industrial park, and sometimes they're gone for the entire day. The only real difference is they have cell phones now, and can call us if there is an emergency.