Letting kids walk home as child neglect

Last updated on: January 20, 2015 at 1:26 pm by Gene Veith

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Letting kids walk home as child neglect 2015-01-20T13:26:01-05:00 Gene Veith

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A 10-year old-boy and his 6-year-old sister were walking home from a park in an affluent Maryland suburb. The police stopped them and are now investigating their parents for child neglect.

The parents are said to be part of the “free-range” parenting movement. But I walked seven blocks to and from school from the time I was in the first grade, aged six. And once I could ride a bike, the whole town was my playground. My parents, who were not part of any movement, certainly weren’t neglecting me! Are the times that much more dangerous today? Evidence would suggest not, and yet letting a six-year-old walk to school like that probably seems unthinkable to most parents. (It’s unthinkable to me, thinking of my grandchildren!)

From Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone – The Washington Post:

It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently.

Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they are being investigated for neglect for the Dec. 20 trek — in a case they say reflects a clash of ideas about how safe the world is and whether parents are free to make their own choices about raising their children.

“We wouldn’t have let them do it if we didn’t think they were ready for it,” Danielle said.

She said her son and daughter have previously paired up for walks around the block, to a nearby 7-Eleven and to a library about three-quarters of a mile away. “They have proven they are responsible,” she said. “They’ve developed these skills.”

The Meitivs say they believe in “free-range” parenting, a movement that has been a counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of “helicopter” parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world.

“The world is actually even safer than when I was a child, and I just want to give them the same freedom and independence that I had — basically an old-fashioned childhood,” she said. “I think it’s absolutely critical for their development — to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.”

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