Society was encouraged by policies that remove kids from danger (eg transport them in a metal box instead of walking. Don't trust anyone! Stay away from roads!)

Society was encouraged by policies that remove kids from danger (eg transport them in a metal box instead of walking. Don't trust anyone! Stay away from roads!) in place of removing danger from kids (eg road calming measures and shared streets around towns and schools, or pointing out the vanishingly small chance of stalkers and sex offenders being strangers outside institutions or family). Thus letting go becomes seen as irresponsible parenting and so it escalates. We chose to resist this trend with our kids as much as possible and to hell with what anyone else thought.