I grew up pretty unsupervised to run round town since I was around 7 or 8 growing up and definitely want the same for my son. He's 8 now and I got him an apple watch as I don't want him to have a large screen to distract him from the world but still be able to call/text his friends or get in touch w us in an emergency. I do not ever monitor his location (and told him as much) unless he reaches out to me and allows me to for help.

As with all things it's a tool and will depend on how the parents use it. If I break his trust by spying on him, well, thats on me and of course a rather difficult one to rebuild. I also told him if he ever wants to turn off location services we can do that but he's okey with it for now.