The Ongoing Parental Debate: What freedoms/responsibilities are age-appropriate for our kids?

One one side, you have self-proclaimed “free range” parents who considered the neighbor to be overly nosy and even too cautious for reporting the mother to the authorities. These parents are champions for raising kids with extensive freedom even when it comes to their education. They want to have the freedom to raise their kids as they see fit (within the law, of course), and they believe that kids who grow up with greater freedom to choose for themselves and have responsibility yields better adjusted adults later on. On the other side…