[mothballed]

More like the state (at least in places like USA) cracked down on children roaming freely so now people hide their kids inside playing video games so a Karen doesn't call CPS when mommy has other things to do all day besides play helicopter parent staring down at their kid all day.

[rd]

Is there any hard evidence that this is true compared to say 20 years ago. I’ve heard it repeated a million times but no one’s ever provided evidence

[thewebguyd]

Neglect laws are written too broadly, giving too much discretion to CPS to decide what constitutes neglect or inadequate supervision. There have been a couple cases IIRC in Florida where parents were arrested for letting their kids walk/play in parks alone, albeit these were very young children.

Outside of that, there's increased traffic and the US as a whole is way too car centric. Suburbs are horribly designed, and we prioritize moving cars instead of moving people, and any kind of infrastructure design that might slow down traffic, reduce the need to drive, or mildly inconvenience a driver gets shot down.

There is a very real danger of getting killed by a distracted idiot in a car, and that risk is much higher today. I commute on I5 every day for work and every single day I see multiple people, going 80MPH watching tiktoks on their phone on the dash mount, or obviously looking down texting. I can't blame anyone for not wanting their kids running around the neighborhood when we can't even be responsible enough to pay attention when we are driving 2 ton death machines.

[webstrand]

If nothing else the _perception_ of it is enough to have had a chilling effect, my own parents were concerned and affected by it enough to tell me where not to play outside so that I wouldn't be seen by randoms.

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[bpt3]

You live in a very strange area to say the least.

None of those are true in my area, and how did the "Karen" even get to your child on your private road?

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[bpt3]

I'm sorry, the "Karen" drove onto your private road to interrogate your kid?

These things don't happen on a liberal/conservative axis in my experience.

I've lived all over the place, though not as much with kids, and have had none of these issues (including having mixed race kids who look much more like their other parent than me).

You really need to look at why you're living where you do.

[jen20]

A "private road" typically means one not maintained by the city. I live on one, but so do two other households, who have equal right to drive on it.

[kubb]

This was done because of the "personal responsibility" crowd. Easier to blame the parents than make the communities safer.