I was a kid once. I also raised 3 boys. For me, the freedom in childhood wasn't quite the way you described. It was all the bike rides and playing in the woods for hours on end, that's true. But my mom was very involved in who I could associate with. She required name, rank, serial number, church affiliation, marital status of parents, etc before I was allowed at a friend's home. The consequence of that was a sheltered existence which led to me not being exposed to things I probably should have learned about and learned how to handle.

With my boys, times had changed, it was the late 90s to the 2010s. I gave them more freedom than I had, but always made sure I knew the parents of the kids my boys hung with. That honestly only lasts so long. Once a kid hits a certain age, the truth is, you really can't protect them. You just have to let them out there and hope they've internalized the lessons and values we tried to instill.