I guess fifty-sixty years ago most parents would have been in jail if they would have been punished for letting their kids play unsupervised. And there were many more chlldren running around then. I remember being four or five years old and running around the neighborhood and beyond far out of sight of my parents. With other kids of course.
I let my 5-year old play outside unsupervised. We live in a quiet neighborhood and he doesn't go far. If I'm hanging out in the garage with the door open, I'll let his 3-year old brother join him. I've already gotten an earful from some of the busybody neighborhood moms and I know I'm risking a visit by child services for doing this but I don't want to raise a bunch of wussy kids.
They way I see it is that all those other kids will someday be working for my kids, who are being raised with confidence and self-reliance.
I hate to say it this way, but I walked to school about a mile both ways at that age! LOL. All the kids did. And we all walked home too, even took shortcuts over creeks and stopped at the Big & Little store for a 10 cent candy on the way.
The public pool too was just as far away and we’d go there every day early morning swimteam and late afternoon just for fun. Only adults around were the lifeguards and pool director. There was never any trouble.