Until I was 8 I lived in a rural neighborhood that could be described as "sketchy" based on around 2-3 of the 12 houses along our road. One of my earliest memories, from when I was three or four was of my friend's older brother and his friends, who were allowed to roam the neighborhood with .22's shooting squirrels, shouting "freeze" and I looked up to see him and his friends leveling their rifles at me and his sister. They eventually moved to their grandparent's after their parents were arrested but after that there were still sketchy happenings along our street. Never once did my parents force me to stay inside or hover over me when I rode my bike around or wandered the woods with my friends. Later on I moved to a suburb that bordered a forest and park, fairly safe but still relatively remote but sketchy, there were two or three drug related murders in the park next to the forest. Yet again I roamed around every weekend, wandering the neighborhood, the forest, and the park, totally on my own and free to do whatever, ran into the occasional sketchy person in the woods but otherwise no problem. I think the overall experience made me a better person. I've also worked as a summer camp counselor during college and it is frustrating how expectant kids are to be supervised or entertained when given the option to otherwise wander around the woods on their own while camping. I did the same program for a few summers as a kid and was fine wandering off to collect firewood or fuck around in the woods by myself until mealtime, now it's more common to have campers sitting around watching me cook meals and take care of the campsite, when I suggest they go off and explore for a little bit they are completely clueless as to what that entails. Kids need freedom, especially when they still have young imaginations, to be on their own or with friends and explore otherwise they become drone-like and unable to operate without orders.