I was a free range kid in the 80s in Daytona Beach FL, i was a bit of a handful so i would literally get grounded to "outside the house" and told not to come in until the street lights where on. Ironically, Daytona Beach FL during that time was not the place for a free range kid. I remember bulletin boards full of "have you seen me" posters of missing kids and runaways at the beach arcades. As a teen I was moved to Abilene TX (culture shock to say the least) but same situation, I skated all over that little city by myself between ages 12-15. My kids today ( 16 and 14 year old boys ), are doing more and more outside but they certainly didn't has young children. My wife and I encouraged it but there was just no interest. We'd have to drag them to playgrounds and parks.

My 14 year old has gotten into mountain biking so he's on his bike a lot. It's funny how proud boys are of scrapes and bruises. My 16 year old has taken up skateboarding which warms my heart as an ex-skater so he's been doing that more and more. Plus, the 16 year old has a driver's license now so he can get to a skatepark or hang out with friends without having to coordinate with me or his mom very much.

We raised out kids in an urban setting, Dallas proper. If i had to do it over I would have raised them in a suburb. There whole setup in the northern suburbs of DFW are just better for families. The public schools are acceptable, the parks are better, no gunshots every night, no vagrants shooting up or shitting on the sidewalk, more family oriented businesses the list goes on.