This is a large part.
I grew up part year in Europe and part in California, USA. Even in CA I would leave home after breakfast, play in the foothills with the other kids, and I knew to come home when the sun started going down.
There were a number of serial killers tearing thru CA when I was a child! But the mentally was we were ok.
Now? You can't walk the street at night. You won't dare let your seven year old @arbitrarykitten run wild from dusk till Dawn...
The mentally has shifted into one of danger. And of course the children feel it, and must suffer with loss of freedoms.
I was talking about that to someone last night and they argued that things are more complicated now, more agitated, there are more cars and so on.
Thing that I don't get is, your kid has to cross the street at some point, doesn't he? and to learn to stay by himself sometimes, and just be allowed to be without supervision, cause one day he'll grow up and do those things anyway.
I think it's the job of the parent to make sure their kids are prepared to do that when the time comes.
Its definitely the job of the parent- schools do not even teach basic household budgeting, how to shop, interview, or any of the necessary little things an adult has to deal with on a daily basis.
The problem is that so many parents are so frightened of all the dangers that they enact silly laws and stifle the population. With the constant fear mongering, even the most easygoing child will feel some of it.