How children lost the right to roam in four generations...

My friends and I talk about the differences in the amount of freedoms we were allowed and how “overprotective” we all feel because we can’t let our children ride their bikes all day long, or play with friends for hours without a search and rescue team being called.
The world seems much more dangerous than when I was growing up. But, is it really? Or is it that now that I am a certified “adult” I watch the news for several hours a day; and, this in turn feeds my worries about my son’s safety. When I was a kid we rode our bikes everywhere. My little sister and I walked 2 miles to school and 2 miles back. Nowadays, everything is so different with gang and drug violence, pedophilia and other assorted freaks that prey on the innocence of our children to satisfy their own sick fantasy’s.
Personally, I think the human race is turning on itself. Even those adults we thought we could trust with our children (teachers, priests, etc.) can turn out to be a murderer, rapist, pedophile, drug dealer, drug addict…everyone & everything that once was considered a perversion has been “OK’ d” by the Internet. As a 45 y/o woman, I didn’t grow up with the Internet. I learned about this brand new world when I was in my 30’s. I knew right off the bat that the people I spoke with on the Internet might be dangerous. Unfortunately, young people that surf the net are easy targets for the thousands of perverted people the Internet has created and then enables them to stalk and abuse children.

The contrast between Edward and George's childhoods is highlighted in a
report which warns that the mental health of 21st-century children is at risk
because they are missing out on the exposure to the natural world enjoyed by
past generations. The report says the change in attitudes is reflected in four generations of the Thomas family in Sheffield.
The oldest member, George, was allowed to roam for six miles from home unaccompanied when he was eight. His home was tiny and crowded and he spent most of his time outside, playing games and making dens.
Mr Thomas, who went on to become a carpenter, has never lost some of the habits picked up as a child and, aged 88, is still a keen walker.
His son-in-law, Jack Hattersley, 63, was also given freedom to roam. He was aged eight in 1950, and was allowed to walk for about one mile on his own to the local woods. Again, he walked to school and never travelled by car.

By 1979, when his daughter Vicky Grant was eight, there were signs that children's independence was being eroded. "I was able to go out quite freely - I'd ride my bike around the estate, play with friends in the park and walk to the swimming pool and to school," said Mrs Grant, 36. "There was a lot less traffic then - and families had only one car. People didn't make all these short journeys."

Today, her son Edward spends little time on his own outside his garden in their quiet suburban street. She takes him by car to school to ensure she gets to her part-time job as a medical librarian on time.

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Source: How children lost the right to roam in four generations the Daily Mail

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