Free Range Parenting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Here's a link to an NPR article on the subject, citing cases of parents in trouble for letting children manage on their own, at home or in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/free-range-parenting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Free Range Parenting\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Here's a link to an NPR article on the subject, citing cases of parents in trouble for letting children manage on their own, at home or in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/free-range-parenting.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jane 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{"id":33,"date":"2015-02-18T15:54:00","date_gmt":"2015-02-18T21:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/free-range-parenting.html"},"modified":"2015-02-24T21:12:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-25T03:12:21","slug":"free-range-parenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/02\/free-range-parenting.html","title":{"rendered":"Free Range Parenting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here\u2019s a link to an NPR article<\/a> on the subject, citing cases of parents in trouble for letting children manage on their own, at home or in the neighborhood, according to which my home state has the highest \u201cage below which it\u2019s illegal to permit your kids to be at home alone.\u201d \u00a0Age 14 \u2014 wow, that\u2019s nuts!<\/p>\n

Why? \u00a0How did it happen that children, even middle-school children, are expected to need constant supervision.<\/p>\n

Yes, of course, a part of it is the all-out-of-proportion worry about child abduction, starting with the Adam Walsh case. <\/p>\n

Here are a couple other guesses:<\/p>\n

Is it a consequence of the suburban life with lots of scheduled activities? \u2014 which means that your kid is less likely to be roaming the neighborhood with a pack, because everyone\u2019s got soccer or basketball, and, if you\u2019re going to allow them to roam, it more likely means roaming alone. <\/p>\n

Did it ironically get worse when cell phones came into common use? \u00a0Yes, I know that\u2019s counter-intuitive, but I wonder if they generated an expectation that we can \u2014 and should \u2014 be able to know where our kids are at all times.<\/p>\n

Is it because, in the suburbs, parents drive their kids everywhere, and, in many neighborhoods, there just aren\u2019t many places a kid can get to on his own, so that the very notion of a kid being on his own becomes foreign?<\/p>\n

It is true that one difference we noticed quite clearly between the US and Germany is a different perception of risk. \u00a0There was no obsessive fear of \u201cstranger danger\u201d and, starting at gymnasium-age, kids travel significant distances on public transportation to get to school. \u00a0There was not the same fear of drowning as in the U.S. \u2014 public pools generally didn\u2019t have lifeguards, and non-swimmers were expected to put water wings on and hop in, regardless of pool depth. \u00a0At the same time, there was a much greater fear of chemicals, so that organics were much more common, and advertised even at Aldi-type stores. <\/p>\n

What do you think? \u00a0At what age would you let your kid be home alone, or out and about?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"