My parents left us well alone, and it served us very, very well in life. Probably one of the best things they did was to tell us they trusted us, to teach us how to properly use stoves and knives at a shockingly young age. As a result, they were able to leave us at home alone for weeks at a time by the time I was fifteen. I didn't do anything terribly illegal, I didn't throw wild parties myself, and now I'm able to run the family business, travel, choose my own major. I think parents do a lot of these things due to societal pressures. No longer do kids have to fend for themselves because the parents are just plain busy keeping a roof over their heads. While in the 1800's mom might have been "home", she also had a house to run, which was significantly more difficult to do then. The best thing my parents ever did for me was give me the ability to live, screw up, heal myself, and move on - it's made me a much better, stronger, more empathetic person than I ever could have been otherwise, and I cannot imagine denying that to my children.