And of their infrastructure where everyone wants to have their own suburban kingdom with large back yard, swimming pool, garage for two SUVs and workshop.
Americans don't like living in small apartments like Europeans and Asians so this is what they get.
"This is what they get" is false causation, these things have been present for decades. Helicopter parenting, liability for walking around alone, special snowflake treatment are all newly-introduced ideas.
A few generations ago, the trend was that US kids had a broad range of appealing places to roam and were generally free to do so.
Presently the US trend is that kids have few if any appealing places to go. And should they roam anyway, they and their parents risk legal (and increasingly permanent) consequences.