[gadders]

The UK used to be like that in the 70's, when it was a high trust environment.

I used to walk half a mile to the shops at age 7 or 8 to complete an errand, people left their children in pushchairs (or dogs) outside of shops etc. I wish I knew what changed the UK for the worse.

[sirsinsalot]

Well yes, but even in the 1990s, I remember talk by parents at the primary school gate along the lines of:

"Did you hear [child Y] tried to get pulled into a van?"

And it was talked about like a casual fact-of-life hazard which just happens sometimes.

In the 1990s I had an absurd amount of freedom to roam, walked myself to school from age 6 and had very little oversight. It wasn't safe, not by a LONG way, as the area was very poor and rough.

It did give me both hugely valuable life tools and an adulthood of inappropriate anxiety and hightened response to small threats.

I feel like we should work to give children the skills without the threat being so high that it causes long-term issues in adulthood. Children need safety to grow well.

[gadders]

I think another difference of then vs now is that adults would look out for other people's kids.

[VBprogrammer]

Jesus. How far we've fallen. I certainly remember kids being left outside shops growing up in the 80s.

However, reading that I had a involuntary reaction of disgust just thinking about it. I certainly wouldn't dream of doing it with my own kids and suspect the reaction would be to call the police if I did.