No way can my children head out the door and return hours later.....sadly alot of children don't return. The perverts steal our children so we have to have safe places for them to play.
Summer camp is about it and even then you still worry about the pervs molesting them at camp.
Parents have to work during summer and can't just leave the kids to play stick ball or roller skate unattended... So I think most parent just want their children to have some fun activities in the time they have and organize in that way.
We do what we can and adapt to our suroundings.
No way can my children head out the door and return hours later.....sadly alot of children don't return. The perverts steal our children so we have to have safe places for them to play. It depends on where you live. Like the author of this post, I have great memories of unfettered, simple summers in my New Jersey youth. My daughters (ages 10 and 13) now enjoy the same sort of summers. When you live in a small Wyoming town 100+ miles from the nearest interstate, the possibility of perverts kidnapping your children isn't even on the radar screen. That's not to say it couldn't happen, but a lightning strike is more likely. BTW, my wife and I would probably be considered over-protective by most people's standards.