While I place the blame for children having no freedom to just play outside on pervs, there are other reasons. Mothers are now working outside the home leaving entire neighborhoods empty. When I was a child there were women home in nearly every house. Today? Not. Families are smaller, less children and those that are there are in day care somewhere. The rare mother home with her children has no playmates for them, thus no gangs of children playing in a neighborhood game of baseball. Very sad state of affairs, children have no idea what they are missing. Exercise being the least of those things. The loss of freedom is something they do not even know to miss.
This would make a great study and book.
I quite agree. You just never see these groups of kids roaming around anymore. Very sad.