Fears of abduction and sex criminals had been rising since the 1980s, but even still, the general pattern for children in elementary and middle school up through the 1980s was that after school and on the weekends, kids were on their own to play in their neighborhoods in mixed-age groups, seek thrills, have adventures, work out conflicts, engage in antiphobic risk-taking, develop their intrinsic antifragility, enjoy being in discover mode together—and come home when the streetlights came on. Those after-school hours were probably more valuable for social development and mental health than
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