We Boomers are likely the last generation to remember childhood as a time of unsupervised exploration and play in fields and forests, country roads and city alleys.

As parenting became a subject of professional discourse, it also became a prescribed set of attitudes and behaviors. Children became part of their parents' guilt and fear, ambition and control; childhood turned into a pre-career existence.

We're the last to roam freely, learn independently, make mistakes and learn from them. Poor us--we didn't have the constant supervision and guidance to make us be all that we could be.

Are children becoming better adults now that they have the benefit of 24/7 monitoring and control?