Yeah, it seems different parts of the country adopted this differently, then. I grew up in suburban Minnesota in the late 90's/early 2000's, and all us kids would just get on our bikes and go wherever we wanted all day. I remember frequently biking to a convenience store I liked that was about 2 miles away all on my own in 1st grade so I could buy candy with my spare change. The only kids whose parents cared at all to check in were the ones that the other parents complained were too nosy, and only those kids had cell phones before the mid 2000's came around and it seemed everyone's parents finally gave in and got them a cell phone. I didn't see people care about where their kids were until they already had the technology to do so.