"A mom in an upscale Atlanta suburb won't let her daughter walk out to the mailbox."

[Anjelica]

http://www.pbs.org/parents/experts/archive/2010/02/raising-a-free-range-kid.html?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=pbskids

I LOVE this!

[Anonymous]

I agree that we have all become way too worried about what could happen to our children. I have on said on here that I let my children play outside, alone, and the remarks made were almost all about how I would never be able to get to them in time if someone tries to grab them. It is, of course, a possibility but the odds are against it. They need to be able ride their bikes and use sidewalk chalk to their hearts content. They love to jump rope, climb trees, and explore in the back yard where there are snakes, spiders, and other creatures.

The world isn't much different than when I was a kid. I was able to roam fairly freely but I did have boundaries that I wasn't supposed to cross. At the age of eight I was walking blocks away to go fishing in a pond near a bank. It was on the corner of the major road we lived on. I could always count on meeting other kids from my neighborhood there and we would hang out for hours on end without seeing any of our parents. By the time I was 12 my parents let me take a train, from Albany, NY to Cleveland, OH, alone. I went to see my college aged brother and sister and the days I spent with them I was in much more danger than I was for the 8 hours on the train.

I don't think I will give my children as much freedom as my parents gave me. Not because anything bad happened, or because I think something will happen with my kids, but because we live in a more an area with too many major roads.