I was raised prior generation (I'm Boomer/Gen X cusp) and pretty much on my own during the day at 4-years-old. Just around the block thing. And I totally agree

I was raised prior generation (I'm Boomer/Gen X cusp) and pretty much on my own during the day at 4-years-old. Just around the block thing. And I totally agree with you. Same with the "everyone gets a participation trophy" bullshit - it's not the kids, it is the parents. Kids don't have control over that. The answer is "the media." There's a saying in media, "If it bleeds, it leads." Meaning horrible stories are the best stories. And so, with the advent of the 1980s and cable, then with internet exploding media channels in 2000, the world is awash with bad stories. And it seeps into society. People get in actual trouble now if they let their child walk 1 mile to school and if it is elementary school. Police car trouble. The actual crime rate is way, way declined over time, across the board. However, the perception of crime rate is it is going up. So parents want to protect their children against all these manufactured bad things.