That's the way it was in my neighborhood too ladelfina, we were outside all day no matter what season, had to be home before the streetlights came on and usually had to be called for dinner because we were so busy playing. We had the most cool stuff in our backyard so that's where we all played but we also used the neighbors yard across the street for baseball games or the horse pasture next to my friends house. We built forts in the woods and tree houses, organized our own parades, rode our bikes everywhere, went ice skating on the pond one street over, went sliding on the big hill at the end of the street, went fishing in the stream down the road. We knew the old man down the street was werid and stayed away from him and we knew which mothers were home and would take care of any injuries.
I know there are kids in my neighborhood, I see them in the back seats of the SUVS that drive by my house, I feel bad for them.