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FTFYstop arguing on the interwebz
Maybe I'll be a terrible parent because I won't see danger around every corner (or maybe I'll change my tune when I'm a dad), but seriously? I used to walk 10 blocks to school each way. I just don't get the paranoia.
I think you can blame the rise of sensationalist news. People seem to believe that the modern era is vastly more dangerous than when they were kids. Possibly true in some areas that were very rural 30 years ago and are much more developed now, but mostly it's totally wrong. But they'll never believe it, because that one kid got abducted/killed/raped that one time.
My in-laws were one of the really early generation helicopter parents, and it pretty much started when there was some famous kidnapping that got reported 24/7 for weeks. It was one of those "cute little girl snatched from grocery store!" things. They still talk about it, patting themselves on the back about how my wife survived because they wouldn't let her ride her bike without an adult until she was old enough to drink (only slightly exaggerating).
I know I'm going to sound like an old man but we walked about 1/2 a mile to the school bus stop daily, rain, shine, blizzard, what have you. In the summer we'd take off after breakfast and often not return until dark. No wonder so many adults seem to lack agency these days.
There was one on my local neighborhood board that was "suspicious man chained bike to tree in neighborhood." Half the replies were on the "zomg I can't believe the city won't do something about these scoundrels", the other half were "Uhhh...what's suspicious about that?"Oh, I agree. There were a bunch of social media posts by parents going "be alert there was a suspicious white van in our neighborhood" a few weeks ago.