The themes of "over parenting", "helicopter parenting", and how different parenting is now (as compared to when I was a kid) have come up in multiple conversations of late. I remember being gone for HOURS at a time starting when I was pretty little. Playing in empty lots, running around with the neighbor kids, going to the park, walking up the dry creek bed and hoping there wasn't a flash flood in the mountains that blasted down and washed us away before we knew what had happened (because that happened sometimes and we all had stories about hearing the loud rush of water as it tumbled boulders downstream), catching weird worm-like creatures and pollywogs in the pools left behind after a rain, I bet our parents knew where we were considerably less than half the time.