Texwiz:

I think that to whatever extent that kids don't roam anymore, they don't roam mainly because parents are more protective. I don't think there are more pedophiles and kidnappers today than there were 30 years ago, but people are much more aware of the possibility and react accordingly...

In fact, if you want to see a trend, the overscheduling of middle class kids has been well documented and widely commented on. Perhaps the scarcity of kids on swing sets is due to them having no time after all their little league and pottery classes that their parents ship them off to.

Actually, according to StatsCan, there are far LESS kidnappings now than there were in the 70's and 80s, but since they've gotten so much more media attention in the 90's and since (a la Jon Benet), parents are definitely overprotective of their children. Another stat is that these children that are kidnapped are more likely to be by people they already know and trust, and not a random stranger walking down the street (although I recognize that it does happen, and it's terrible when it does). Also, it's apparent that 'free' time has been greatly devalued since I was growing up as it always has to be filled with some regimented activity these days, and kids are also given massive amounts of homework comparatively.

I think that my brother and I (29 and 31 respectively) are among the last of the kids who spent most of their time outdoors playing along the street in everybody's yards, when we weren't riding our bikes or walking to the nearest public pool or park. Yes, my brother had one or two scheduled activities at different times in the year to go to (summer was ball hockey and winter was bowling, and I had after-school drama rehearsals), but these activities didn't eat up all of our 'free' time. And hey, we were definitely watching TV too.

Also, when the heck did kids get start to get shuttled around to each and every one of their activities, whether they be trips to the park, to school, whatever? I'm beginning to think I was extremely lucky and had a nique childhood experience living in a very well planned community within the city throughout my childhood, and am really grateful my parents didn't move to the suburbs until after I had moved out to go to college. I walked everywhere, and I mean everywhere, and my parents would have scoffed at a request for a ride.

I think kids now don't have enough free time when they have to amuse themselves and be imaginitive about it (playing video games does not count despite the increased hand-eye coordination). Parents overschedule their children and keep them in the house (or in their private yard) out of unfounded fears. That doesn't do their kids any favours- creative thought comes not out of regimented activities, but out of enough time to let the brain do it's magic (a la Archimedes' Eureka moment).

It's very telling to me that Gen Y is described as not having the same level of rebellion as previous generations, although that's somewhat of a generalization. Not enough self-determination or self-reliance for enternainment must have effects though.