Question: I am a student in germany and in my early 20s. When I look back, for example at my summer holidays, we were biking for miles to spend the afternoon a

Question: I am a student in germany and in my early 20s. When I look back, for example at my summer holidays, we were biking for miles to spend the afternoon at a public swimming pool in a neighbouring village (approx. 40 min bike ride, maybe more). Or we were filming a lord of the rings-type movie deep in the woods, complete with building a small "castle". We also had a river in the woods my parents were always warning me that I can't get in there because I might drown, since it was more rapid than it looked like. So in elementary school I had nightmares for a few weeks of drowning inside the river, but that was all. I was still allowed to play there with my friends. For example, we once were building paper boats and see which one makes it the farthest. Friends in the city were allowed to use the public transport (it's how every got to school...) to move around freely in the city. Also, i clearly remember waiting in the car for my mom to get something. I can't imagine growing up without being allowed to explore the world, be it nature or man-made. Is this really different in the US?