How #90s kids were robbed of their childhood independence. #shorts #genz

In the 1990s, as the crime rate was plummeting and American life was getting safer and safer, Americans freaked out and thought that if they took their eyes off their children, the children would be abducted. The fear was stoked by cable TV. In the 1980s, there were a few high-profile abductions, but it's not until the 1990s that we really started locking kids up and saying you cannot be outside until you're 14 or 15.

We took this essential period of childhood, from about 8 to 12, when kids throughout history have practiced independence, have gotten into adventures, have made rafts and floated down the Mississippi River. We took that period and said you don't get to practice independence until it's too late, until that period is over. Now, a couple of years before you go to college, now you can go outside.

Oh, okay, go off to college. A lot of them are not ready; they're just not used to being independent. When they get to college, they're asking adults for more help. "Protect me from this. Punish him for saying that. Protect me from that book." This, we think, is part of the problem.