I've thought about this a lot. (I was born in 1973.)

1. There was the whole "nuclear bombs will end everything, probably before any of us turn 25" piece of my childhood. I learned about this threat at seven and it obsessed me. https://twitter.com/Karnythia/status/1305180859356585985

Boomers also grew up knowing about the nuclear threat but they were told comforting lies (e.g., duck-and-cover drills). By the early 1980s, people had completely given up on telling children comforting lies.

There were t-shirts that said, "In case of nuclear attack, bend down, put your head between your knees, and kiss your ass goodbye." I remember one of these t-shirts being worn by one of my classmates in 4th grade.

2. The whole "stranger danger" panic over kidnappings started in the early 1980s, but somehow we were supposed to protect ourselves from it. Like, we were warned to never take rides from strangers, never help someone look for a puppy, etc., but...

...no one ever exactly addressed the fact that we were slower, weaker, and smaller than these adults who were apparently prowling the streets waiting for a chance to snatch us.

I would play out scenarios in my mind -- run, bite, scream, kick them in the crotch, stomp on their foot -- while profoundly aware that I was not even any good at fighting kids my own age, that I was the slowest runner in my class, that none of this would work.

Fortunately, stranger kidnapping turns out to be INCREDIBLY RARE and was literally never the danger that the adults around me both believed in and clearly didn't believe in (WHY WERE THEY MAKING ME WALK TO SCHOOL ALONE IF THIS WAS A DANGER, you know? seriously, WTF).

Anyway, I've long thought that hover-parenting was in part a reaction to growing up being told that danger was everywhere and also being told at six that we should protect ourselves by just never talking to strangers (which was obviously bullshit).

Like, not the aggressive "how dare you give my precious a B" over-involvement at school type of hoverparenting but not letting your kid play in your own freaking back yard if you're not out there with them?

Totally the result of growing up believing that kidnappers were around every corner and yet being expected to walk yourself places alone anyway.

Also, to briefly touch on Action Park (I haven't seen Class Action Park yet but I've read about Action Park in the past) -- my childhood was also the period of time when a lot of really horrifyingly dangerous playground equipment was being removed and replaced.

Obviously there were adults who were concerned about playground safety, because SOMEONE was ripping out the old equipment and re-doing it, but the overwhelming response I remember was, "kids are gonna be WIMPS now!"