We literally bought our house in the subdivision next to my parents to make that work more easily. And we still rely on them HEAVILY.

The other issue with our current culture is that neighborhoods aren't close communities any more. As a kid growing up, we were close to EVERYONE in our sub. We were closer then to folks who lived four streets over to us than we are now to our literal next door neighbors. I have to have my wife remind me of our next door neighbors names all the time. Kids in the sub don't play with each other like we used to.

So that's one of the reasons that growing up in the 80's we were able to be home alone - neighbors looked out for each other. Younger kids would often be at in home daycares down the street. Stuff just isn't the same any more...