Are you talking about the Paris suburbs? Sure towns are quite small but in a 10km radius there are still more people than in many other places in Europe and e.g. the city where I grew up and we all always road around on bikes. 10km was not a large distance for us after turning 10-12.

Regarding rough winters, I grew up in Germany and live in Sweden now, so saying winter in France is rough is quite funny (my French partner is laughing quite hard now)

Right, I was talking about the parents' point of view. There are always rougher winters until you get to the north pole I guess, but that doesn't change the local people's perception. Also, do they leave the snow on the road, like in France, or do they clear it up? I've also heard Canadians (from Quebec) complain about the rough winters in Paris, so there's that.

I don't know where you grew up in Germany nor am I familiar with the country, but the places I've visited (in Baden-Württemberg, around Schwäbisch Hall mostly) had amazing bike infrastructure, with paved paths in very good shape and several meters away from car roads, separated by grass, dirt, etc. I can see why parents would have absolutely no problem letting the kids bike around these paths. Also, drivers seemed much less crazy than around Paris.

I grew up in a smallish university town (USA) and have lots of fun memories biking around. It was three or four miles to downtown along a river with a trail through the woods most of the way there. Thinking back it was awesome to be able to go down to grocery store or the downtown when I was 12-16.