Elkhound

Have you talked to the Children's Services people at your local public library?

bragi

Speaking as a teacher, I know of no kid who has very much unsupervised time. I certainly don't know any kids who roam the neighborhood at will on bikes, as kids in my generation did. Almost all of my students have scheduled activities that take them through the whole day, from dawn until bedtime. I'm not sure of the long-term effects of such a parenting plan. It's certainly safe, but I'm not sure it's healthy. That may partly explain kids' total immersion in texting, etc.: it provides them with one of the only environments in which they are more or less fully in control.

jdmitch

I'm of the same opinion. If you actually look at the statistics child damage from unsupervision (injuries, crimes, etc) are actually LOWER per capita now than at any other time in our nations history. The difference is, with the proliferation of media EVERYONE knows about every little thing that happens to a kid. In reality kids are safer on the streets now, than they were in the past.

Elkhound

Parents are terrified that if they let the kids out of their sight, they'll be molested or kidnapped or something else horrible happen to them. Sad, really.

Roody

Some have theorized that with lower birth rates, each individual child seems more precious to the parents. Therefore they coddle and overprotect the child. I guess this has been especially evident in China and southern Europe, where there birth rates are even lower.