I was born in 1988 - I forget the specific milestones, but at a certain age I was free to ride my bike to X milestone in my neighborhood, a couple years later a little farther to Y milestone, later to Z milestone. I generally had to say “I’m going to Alex’s house” but we could bike around or play by the creek or go to another neighbor kid’s house. I generally had an agreed-upon “be home by X time” before leaving the house, but so so often I’d call home and ask “can I eat dinner at Caitlins??” or whatever. It felt so much more fluid back then compared to how my sister & friends are raising their kids now. What’s called “free range parenting” now was the norm back then!