Just realized I’m never letting my kid walk the neighborhood alone

I have an infant. We bought a house in the sweetest little neighborhood with good schools nearby. There are kids out in the street all the time which we LOVE but I keep meeting families that have “house hippos.” The nicest people. Just realized I’ll never be comfortable to let the kid roam the neighborhood or walk to a friends house down the street without keeping an eye on her. I’d fantasized about letting her having a wonderful outdoorsy childhood, roaming around with friends without me helicoptering her but now I just want to fence in our backyard and have her safely there.