This kind of stuff is happening across most of the state for the most part.
As an attorney I’ve represented parents who were charged with Felony Child Endangerment for letting their kids walk from home to the corner store two blocks away.
When I was a kid this would have been unthinkable. My brothers and I would bicycle all over the neighborhood and play unsupervised for hours at a time.
The only way to stop this crap is to yank the funding from CPS and law enforcement. If they have to make due with the bare minimum then they won’t have the resources to go around trying to nanny the entire populace.
I remember. Yeah, we were gone from sun up to sun down during the summer, just to make sure no one would find some chores for us to do. When I was 5ish I loaded my buddies into my mom's VW Beetle and drove to the dime store (and the swedish smorgasbord, yum!). I remember when carrying a pocket knife was a mark of manly virtue and how the school teacher would ask one of us to cut something (we never questioned why they didn't just pull out their own knife). I remember learning how to start up the campfire for breakfast without burning the prairie down.
That was the Texas (and Austin!) I remember.
Being of the Greatest Generation’ and WWII vets, my older brother and I often were out of town either on the Mississippi River that bordered the town on the East or off at other places outside of town. We often spent our days ‘exploring’ far off places. I don’t see such happy days available to the youth of today. I tend to believe the change/breakdown occurred after WWII when the ‘feely-goody’ crowd came on scene and the crud of the world (along with the many good)were allowed into the USA. It is still happening today so I see the possibility of even worse conditions. Of course I probably should not be so cynical because the USA is now a haven for good times with it’s ballgames, porno movies and stage shows, and fun time homo sexuals, etc.