Free Range Parenting?

I was reading an article* this morning about a couple of parents in Silver Spring, MD who are in a bit of trouble because they allowed their two children to walk home alone from a park. The kids in this case are ten and six years old and the park was about a mile from their home.

After the police were called by neighbors, it was explained that this was a case of "free range parenting". I had never heard of this term before, so I looked it up. Basically, this is where the kids are given the freedom to do as much as possible on their own. The theory is that this will build self-confidence and self-sufficiency. While I'll agree with this to an extent, I believe that are some common-sense factors that need to be followed. For instance, in the Silver Spring case, I personally think it's crazy to allow a 6-year-old to walk a mile with minimum supervision (aka a 10-year-old). For those who don't know, Silver Spring is a very busy suburb of Washington DC. It's probably not the best place to allow your young kids to "free range". Additionally, Maryland state law states that any child under 8-years-old must be accompanied by someone who is at least thirteen. 

However, with all of this being said, I do think that the majority of today's parents tend to overprotective. Hey, I understand it. Your kids are your life. I get that. But the down side of being so overprotective is that the kids never learn to be self-sufficient nor do they develop the social skills that will be so valuable later in life. I sometimes see kids, even in their late teens, clinging to their parents anytime their out in public. I've even heard of parents going to job interviews with their 16 and 17-year-olds. What are these kids going to do when Mommy's not around to hold their hand anymore? There's a fine line between guiding your kids and babying them.

When I hear about things like "free range parenting", I always tend to reminisce about the "way it was when we grew up". At 10-years-old, most of us walked to school by ourselves. After school, many of us would congregate at the local park, where again we would walk to all by ourselves. Yeah, yeah, I know it's a different world out there today. But I think we still tend to go overboard with the way we shelter modern day kids. For instance, I sometimes see parents in my neighborhood drive to the bus stop to pick up their kids after school. On the surface, it might seem normal. However, these kids only live a few houses away from the bus stop. Would a short walk and some fresh air be so bad? I'm not judging these parents, I'm just trying to point out the contrast in the times.

Everyone has their own idea of what good parenting is. And, let's face it, it's tough and sometimes cruel world out there. While protecting our kids should definitely be our top priority, we also need to allow them to learn and grow. One thing's for sure, it's not as easy as it sounds......

kw

* http://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2015/01/15/md-parents-under-fire-after-letting-kids-walk-home-alone/