> The parents are practically committing a crime if they let their kids do this.

Not in the European countries I know

Or in the rural US.

My neighborhood has kids roaming freely through it. The little biker gangs are total hoodlums. For context, I’m in suburbia in South Carolina.

I’ve lived in wealthy neighborhoods in a bunch of cities (Atlanta, Chicago, New York City, Baltimore, DC) and you barely see kids period, much less ones running around unsupervised.

They are absolutely everywhere in Chicago, running around everywhere unsupervised.

Same for NYC. Maybe rayiner stuck to neighbourhoods where they don't uncap fire hydrants in summer.

Do wealthy neighborhoods in NYC uncap fire hydrants in the summer?

How wealthy? Perfectly regular neighbourhoods do and are also full of unsupervised kids.

Less kids more people is interesting,

During the pandemic lock-down, I walked around my neighborhood once or twice a day (a Washington, DC, neighborhood nearly all of free-standing houses). I constantly saw kids out playing minimally supervised--i.e. Mom or Dad might have looked out the window every half hour, but Mom and Dad weren't out with them. I still see boys throwing baseballs or footballs in the street not far from here.