I’m a millennial and free range parenting wasn’t a term when I was growing up in American suburbs. I’m not sure what the norms are now. Seems to be a complete 180 degree shift that I don't think came from an even lower trust society than before.
I grew up in the 90s in a low-density suburb in Michigan and was allowed to bicycle around the neighborhood and hang out with other kids (although, I was also pretty introverted and usually not interested in that). I rode a school bus to school along with most of my classmates. That said, access to things like nature, shops and restaurants, and the library all required a car - not being able to access those independently made me feel somewhat restricted compared to how my parents described their childhoods (dad in a walkable college town, mom in a rural area where kids played in the woods) and compared to kids I read about in books.
One very noticeable recent-ish norm shift seems to be parents dropping off and picking up elementary and middle-school age kids at school. I don't know exactly when the trend started, but it seemed to hit critical mass after 9/11, and over the course of the following decade seemed to become the norm to the extent that suburban schools started remodeling their grounds and parking lots to accommodate a waiting line of parents in cars - something I've seen now in multiple states.
