The big change you'd see there is walkability...

An 8 year old going to the bodego on their block alone happens everyday still.

My mom grew up over 10 miles from the nearest neighbor with a single mom who didn't have a driver's license. How the fuck was she going to the store alone as a kid?

Those are two insanely different scenarios to count as "going to the store alone".

Like, you think you're being inclusive with "small towns" but you have no idea that actual rural has more people and is nowhere near the same.

But the main difference is we went from a bunch of small stores around where people live, and to big box stores that you can only really visit via car, which obviously limits people under 16 from being independent.

But going to a store alone is still such a small part of parenting, that this is all completely insignificant