[tchvil]

In Belgium, we had Dutroux a serial rapist and child kidnapper that traumatised the country ~30 years ago. As a kid I remember living like you describe in Norway. Not anymore. Parents are still to this day worried letting their kids go outside.

Fast forward to spring 2020. The country is locked down. The weather is surprisingly excellent. It took me a lot of effort to leave my 8y old girl go play with her friend to the small wood nearby. Initially I even asked her to go with the dog. I could see the disapprovals of other parents I was talking to about this. But little by little other kids joined.

They had a blast. No school for months. Living in the sunny woods all day, just coming back to eat and sleep.

She's 10 now and as you can imagine a very independent girl.

[nanidin]

I blame this transition to overprotection on Mean World Syndrome[0]. Our media picks up alarming stories and amplifies them in a way that wasn't happening before.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mean_world_syndrome

[sneak]

I concur. It's not just children, women are afraid to walk alone at night, when men are way more likely than women to incur violent attack from strangers.

Women and children are almost always preyed upon by people who know them, not strangers.