[r00fus]

There's a ton of reasons, but mostly - kids don't have autonomy any more. Both due to hyperactive child protective services government oversight (ill-used I may add) and lots more sprawl/roads/cars and longer distances between activities, it's became untenable to let kids roam.

I also remember doing all sorts of stuff by myself and getting bussed around as needed (school/camp/afterschool) - my parents at first didn't even have a car out of college.

Curious - now that everyone has to drive everywhere for their kids - Auto/Petroluem industries thrive with that.