I always let me kids play outside until the street light came on. Of course, I also checked on them regularly. All the kids in the neighborhood played in my yard. The school was across the street and all the kids who had bikes would ride them in the parking lot and around the block. Yes, there were creeps 30 yrs ago, but they were not as protected by the law as they are now. Pedophile live on your block, you don't like that, guess what? They stay and you move.