You should check out a Japanese show called "Old Enough!".

I have a 7 year old and a 4 year old. The 7 year old started back at school after the summer holidays and some of her friends had to be taken into class early, showed signs of having anxiety attacks and distress. While I'm slightly hypocritical here, we live on a busy road so it's not really suitable for them to go wandering alone, we do try to give them as much autonomy as we can.

I'm pretty sure the societal pressure to helicopter around children constantly is a net negative to their well-being.