I agree with you Sas. I'm only 21 but I grew up in a very small town where there weren't drug problems and there weren't people trying to hurt us. It wasn't that my parents didn't care, but they let me be a kid. I ran around outside all day, but my parents always knew where i was. If my mom came outside and yelled my name I was always within earshot. I had a blast as a kid. I was outside from sunup until sundown. Riding bikes, playing soccer, tag chase, exercising my body and my mind. I didn't think that the point of the story was that parents didn't care back then, it was just that times were different. WHile I was one of those kids who was allowed to run around all day I knew my parents cared about me because as soon as i got old enough to get into real trouble and the town started changing the rules changed. It seemed the older I got the more my parents kept a short leash on me. BUt I'm glad my parents let me be a kid, because never again in my life will I be able to spend 3 months a year riding bikes and chasing fireflies and not have to worry about anything else other than what fun thing I was going to do the next day.