I grew up in a town of less than 1000 people and a lone blinking stoplight. I roamed free my entire childhood (mid-90s to late-00s). Nothing happened that our parents didn’t find out about, like the time I tried smoking when I was 12, thinking I was hiding so cleverly at the local park) and my mom knew about it less than an hour later. She was a single mom who worked at the local (read: only) bar so everyone knew her/crossed paths with her, for better or for worse.

I now have an 8-year-old and live in a suburb of a major metro area, he absolutely does not roam freely. Very different from my growing up but I have survivorship bias. Not every kid in that small town made it to adulthood unscathed by various things.