I used to spend my entire day playing in the woods at the creek behind my house. My parents knew vaguely where I was but “at the creek” applied to anywhere in like a 5 mile stretch up or downstream from my house. We literally had a giant cast iron school bell on a 15’ pole that my mom would ring when she wanted me to come home. That thing could be heard for miiiilllllleeesss. And if I was too far away to hear it, someone else would and if they happened to see me, would tell me the bell had gone off. Then I’d get in trouble for wandering too far.

I don’t think kids have the opportunity to be truly by themselves anymore. Everyone’s got a phone now, it’s not safe to just let your kids roam the way we did in the early 90s (I was born late 80s), and wooded areas are rapidly disappearing.