At six?
I live in a major city, but reading the news, it doesn’t matter much these days where you live.
There are sex offenders out there who focus on children. There’s no chance I would allow a six year old to play 150 yards from home with no supervision.
Even if I was standing on the front porch watching the kid, it would take me time to get there. By then he would be gone.
If we’re talking about kids 10-14 years of age, as long as there are decent older kids participating, sure, let them run around. It’s part of growing up. Six? Nope.
Until I was 13, I lived in a small town where I knew everybody, their parents and grandparents. Knew the churches they attended, or not, and where they lived. Everybody’s eyes were on you wherever you went. If you got into mischief, your parents would know about it before you got home.
We moved to Birmingham, Alabama when I was 14 in 1969. I still had no fear of going anywhere I pleased, even downtown to record stores and shopping, which was maybe four miles away from home. Even left my bike outside the stores unlocked..............................
Walked 4 miles from a semi-rural location on the edge of a university city to the elementary school in town and back, rain or shine, at the age of 7. Walked, rode a bicycle, picked up groceries, delivered 5 daily newspapers, rode a horse, drove a sulky, camped, hunted, and fished out to a radius of 12 miles from a village with a population of 700 at age 9 and older. Sometimes carried a rifle when doing so, and waved hello to the state police as they drove by. Can’t do that now....