Are some parents today to overprotective of their children compared to another time? I do not feel comfortable allowing my children(10 and 5) to play alone in the front yard, go walking around the neighborhood by themselves, walk to and from school alone, etc. My husband and his mother have called me out on these things and other things recently and it got me thinking. I was allowed to do all these things as a child and most of my friends were also.. They think I am overprotective and need to give them more freedom to do "kid things". But I feel like the world is a different place now-Why? I honestly have no idea why I even feel that way. Is the world different or are parents just different? We use to live in a neighborhood where nobody locked their doors and everybody knew everybody else and we watched out for each other. It's not the same for me anymore and I have trouble trusting my kids to be out there in this world at times.