Yes, my memories too are of my playful exploration, rather than living in the house with my family. Ate at home, then, run as fast as I could out the backdoor to find my playmates. When I think about the trouble I could have encountered.... But it was a different time then. Seems like there weren't so many predators.
There was a large old house around the corner from me, needing paint badly, wherein resided an old lady, wrinkled with age. She scared me, her house scared me. I'd never seen anything like it. I remember one day (can't recall how I got there) sitting in her living room, rocking in her chair, as she tried to serve me tea. I was curious, she was lonely. We formed a friendship of sorts.
I recall decorating my bike (when I was about 8), and riding it uptown to the "square" where I rode in a 4th of July parade. No one organized it, I just wanted to do it, and could. Didn't need a permit.
Lovely memories....
Today they feast their eyes and gorge their minds on the endless supply of pornography that has permeated our society.
Every town and city has "Adult" stores where videos, magazines and sex toys are available hetero and homosexuals. When these sickies want to have sex with someone other than themselves they go for our children.
There's a lot of things that must be done in this nation before it can be restored to that freedom of bygone days. One thing that has to be done is to take a cleaver to the bloated monster known as the central government and chop away until it is a thread.