A snapshot of views from parents in Kings Heath revealed fear of traffic was one of the main reasons they did not allow their children to go out on their own.
Mothers collecting their children from Colmore School in Kings Heath also identified a high level of concern over so-called "stranger danger".
Sadie Brown, aged 35, would never let her nine-year-old daughter Abbie out unsupervised. "We live on a main road so it is not really safe," she said.
"The traffic is a lot greater than it was when I was a youngster. I would rather have half-a-dozen children in my back garden where I know they are safe than out there on the street where I cannot watch them."
Although recalling she was allowed out on her own when she was her daughter's age, Ms Brown said greater media coverage of child abductions had changed perceptions. "It is a shame, but as a parent you just wouldn't take the risk."
Audrey Blair, aged 44, said she wouldn't let her son Tyler, aged eight, out on his own until he was in his teens.
"It's too dangerous. There is the danger of them being kidnapped. There is the danger of the roads. I have never let him out on his own, though I played out every single day," she said. "Society has changed. When I grew up there wasn't so much traffic."
Petrina Burgoyne, aged 46, regularly allows James, aged ten, out on his own.
"I am probably the exception," she said. "But I have always been quite independent. When I was James' age I would get on a bike with my best friend and drive to Evesham from Kings Heath.
"We used to go to Stratford on a train. During the summer holidays, I could be gone all day - perhaps that made me very independent from a teenager onwards."
Ms Burgoyne added: "James always has to tell me where he is going - I have an older daughter who is 16 and we sometimes send her out if we haven't seen him in a while."
Trish Kirk, aged 43, is the mother of twins Connor and Danny, aged ten, and Kieron, nine. She allows the boys to walk to Kings Heath Primary School without supervision.
"I let them do it as long as they are together," she said. "I would let them go to the park on their own because I need them to learn to be independent. You can't wrap them up in cotton wool. When they first went I was a bit worried but I have to let them do it.
"I grew up in a small village so it seemed safer because people knew everyone else. There were bad people about in those days but we weren't as aware of it."
Jenny Hudson hopes she will be confident enough to allow her son Sam out on his own by the time he is ten.
"I can see that is important but there is a difference between the principle and the reality," said the 34-year-old. "I grew up in a cul-de-sac and all the children played on a grass island in the middle of it. My parents didn't see me for hours."
