I had the opposite experience- in the US, the kids were driven everywhere by Mom and Dad but when I lived in Tokyo she could get everywhere on her own using public transit- felt it was a much more normal life than the US. No public transport whatsoever where we lived...
Of course, if you don't LET your kids out, they will never have the positive (and negative) experiences of being independent and sorting out how to get places on their own.
As many other posters have noted, everything is relative to your own experiences. My daughter has a massive level of independence in HK that she has never had anywhere else we have lived. When we lived in the Middle East there was little or no public transport, so she had to be driven everywhere. As I worked, this meant that she often missed out on things, especially during the holidays, as I simply couldn’t get to the play date / meet up / summer camp venue and pick her up because I’d be at work. Here she happily takes the bus and the MTR, meets up with friends all over the city, and makes her own arrangements. Obviously she keeps us informed, but she has really loved being able to get herself to and from places without depending on me.
That did make me laugh
Just curious did anyone hear about that us is requesting Americans to leave now? I saw something like this in YouTube,but didn't see formal news... There used to be 80k+ Americans in HK, not sure how many of them left so far? Will the us consulate stay here?