I have read all your responses and I see valid points on both sides. This is going to be long.
I have a five year old son and we live in a good neighborhood in San Antonio. My neighbor children are allowed to run to each others houses without adult supervision. The children I'm referring to range in ages from 5 - 9. I DO NOT allow my son to go out front at all without adult supervision. PERIOD. I don't care what the other parents or kids think. I have checked and there are 2 registered sex offenders in our area. I mean within a mile of our home. There are more than I can count within 5 miles. I feel I live in a SAFE area, but I don't know who is driving down the street and what they are looking for.
When I was a junior in high school, I had 2 incidences where I could have been abducted. I lived in Kansas City at the time. Once was in broad daylight, walking to my brother's house 2 blocks away. A man approached me in a car and asked if I wanted to get ice cream. I told him "no" and quickly walked away. He followed me. I was scared to death as my brother was at work and I was on my way over to his house to let the dog out. Fortunately, one of my schoolmate's and his father were in their driveway working on their car and I walked up to them and stayed with them until we were sure the car was gone. Had they not been there, I could have been in serious trouble.
The other incident was at night after being dropped at home by my date. He didn't wait for me to get inside and I had trouble finding my house keys. My parents were asleep. When I got inside, I went to my room to change and noticed the cat was acting very strangely watching the windows. I felt uncomfortable and decided not to change. I went in to watch t.v. for a while and the cat kept acting strange. I finally turned all the lights out and went to look through the peep hole in the front door. The neighbor across the street had their porch light on so I was able to see quite clearly a man running from one end of our house to the other trying to find me. I was terrified and woke my parents. My dad went outside with a gun but didn't find anyone. We called the police and they picked up a guy walking by the high school football field (which was at the end of our street) who said he was looking for a phone. There was a gas station on the other side of the high school. Remeber, I was in HIGH SCHOOL, 17 years old. I still was not safe.
My point is, children are NOT safe these days. Yes, we have to allow them to grow up. Yes, we have to give them some freedom. However, we also have to protect them. Jaycee Dugard was 11 years old when she was abducted WALKING WITH A FRIEND to the bus stop AT THE END OF HER STREET. We all know her story now. Elizabeth Smart, another young girl abducted and put through hell. I would much rather be a little over protective than to have to watch my child go through the emotional and physical trauma that these girls went through. I talk to my son all the time and explain to him that there are bad people out there that will hurt him and that we love him so that is why we don't let him do things the other kids are being allowed to do. I think you have to decide what is right for your child. That is why God put that child with you. It's not the other parents right or responsibility to make the decision what is right for your child. Maybe they can handle it better if their child is abducted. Think about this, if you were a pedifile, where would it be easiest for you to abduct a child: in a big town where people are more protective or in a small town where everyone feels they are safe and the children roam the streets freely???? I'll be overprotective. Small freedoms and building trust, yes. Giving in to peer pressure, no way.