Parents protect kids from 'real life' but let them roam freely online

America's kids get few restrictions on screen time, lots of restrictions on outdoor activities, according to an Institute of Family Studies report. The normal American childhood is supervised by adults: Sixty-one percent of 17-year-olds aren't allowed to leave their neighborhood on their own.

Starting on the first day of kindergarten, I walked to school with my six-year-old sister (and a horde of other Baby Boomer kids). That was the norm. Many of our mothers had younger kids at home. They didn't have the time to be "helicopter" or "snowplow" parents.

Parents with more education are more likely to limit their children's screen time, and somewhat less likely to think 8- to 12-year-olds need constant supervision, the study found. However, "even parents who would describe their parenting style as low tech and who encourage free-range play allow their three-year-old children, on average, 3.5 hours per week of time on internet-enabled devices," concludes High Tech, Low Play. "Three-year-old children of parents who encourage tech average 6 hours per week using such devices."

Nearly half of three-year-olds use a Tablet, iPad or Kindle, often with few or no restrictions. By 11, more than 60 percent of children have a smartphone, which they use to access the Internet with few restrictions.