Children's independent mobility has declined, together with mental health. Probably not a coincidence: https://www.techdirt.com/2023/10/26/new-study-in-the-journal-of-pediatrics-says-maybe-its-not-social-media-but-helicopter-parenting-thats-making-kids-depressed/

Reading these lines while sitting at the playground with 5y old and other "supervising" parents is sad. There is no way for children in modern cities like #Copenhagen to go out and play on their own. Thanks to, mostly, car-centric transport planning.

@mszll Same! Our 2 year-old just got back from playground. Reading this made me wonder why we've had to create dedicated fenced-off places for children. Because the environments we've created are too dangerous, primarily due to transport infrastructure enabling 1+ tonne metal boxes free roam?

@robinlovelace @mszll honestly, I think that the difference is mostly due to a shift in our perception of safety and an increased need to keep our kids in a “controlled” environment. Not so much the physical change of the environment. That is in many places (not all, of course) much better now than it was when our parents grew up, yet we still restrict the free movement of kids to fenced areas.

@robinlovelace @mszll you would let your kids play in a large park where you can’t see to the other side alone anymore, even though there are no cars in there. While cars caused a lot of trouble in cities, we can’t simply blame everything on them.

@martinfleis @robinlovelace For sure it's not just one thing, but as so often in real life, co-evolution of several factors. But yes, if I were sure the child couldn't escape to the street from the large park, I'd be totally fine letting it play also out of sight (at least in a Copenhagen park - not so much in let's say NY central park).