> After moving to Europe and seeing how mobile kids are without cars even, i wish i had that growing up, as just seems so much nicer to be able to meet friends

> After moving to Europe and seeing how mobile kids are without cars even, i wish i had that growing up, as just seems so much nicer to be able to meet friends and do things without needing a car or having to survive biking in traffic. Same, but in regards to moving to NYC recently. Seeing just random groups of kids who look no older than middle schoolers riding on subway along with everyone else and just going about their day and visiting places on weekends makes me feel happy for them. Just knowing that people are able to have that kind of experiences I only could dream of having as a child. Makes me feel hopeful, knowing that at least some of the kids in get to grow up like this. I am very confident that helicopter parenting was the biggest hindrance when it came time for me to get out into the real world. The level of preparedness that those kids growing up in NYC will have is a great advantage. Quite a few of my friends who grew up in NYC (and other places with similar cultures around public transport usage; ofc almost all of those other ones were outside of the US) definitely have that “just built different” feel to them. And that feel mostly extends to things like going to places, trying new things, independence/drive, etc., which all feel like extensions of those experiences I described above. Not trying to say “NYC-grown people are special, and people from the rest of the US is all the same and lame,” that’s entirely false. Lots of different parts of the US with people who grew up there having their own unique culture and “built different” feel (SoCal, south-east, north-east, PNW, Texas, etc.). But in terms of that independence and just being able to go places and do things on your own from a very early age (way before you can get a driver’s permit/license in any US state), it absolutely feels like it gives people something that is very difficult to replicate otherwise.