Now days, the back yard for many families is a public green area shared by many homes or a centrally located area in the middle of the neighborhood /more like a front yard. You can't ride scooters in your back yard. Or it's an apt complex parking lot.
It's sad that kids can't play like they used to. Parents are now having to police internet, police bike ridding, police text messaging, police tv, police the settings of their kids' friends' internet. It has to be impossible for two full time working parents to juggle all that policing, plus dinner, plus homework, plus extracurricular activities. In fact, I'm certain it would be for a full time working mother with multiple children. There aren't enough hours in the day. When my 7 year old rode her scooter, I was usually coking dinner or tutoring my 12.5 year old in math all the while making sure my 13 year old wasn't on some stupid website called hawrse- supposedly innocent but there's chatting so definitely not, while making sure my 3 year old wasn't doing something crazy. My husband works until 8pm some nights, so those hours at home with all 4 kids are hectic and yes, I allowed my 7 year old to ride her scooter on the sidewalk in front of our home and the two neighbor's homes.
Unplugging completely and living off the grid would make it possible I guess. There wouldn't be much to police.
I do think kids - especially Boys- that aren't ever allowed to bike ride, walk over to the neighborhood pool etc without their parents hovering over them are more likely to be that kid that can't ever get out their own way, thus ends up living at their parents home the rest of their lives- which is another bizarre new trend.
You drop A kid off on a huge college campus that has never ridden his bike unsupervised and has been ninnied all his life, he's likely to fail, go wild at the mere scent of freedom, or return home still needing his momma to raise him until he's in his late 30s. But hey, that kid is alive- he wasn't strangled by a predator. It's not easy raising kids in the state of the world we live in. They can't go to the movies now either 😞.
I don't know. I guess we are getting off topic, but either way, I have to say that there's really NOT an easy answer. I respect both sides as well as see pitfalls in both sides. There's no perfect answer/method