After allowing their six and ten year old children to walk a mile home by themselves, a Maryland couple are fighting accusations of child neglect. The case has inflamed a familiar argument over how much supervision and independence children need. We’ll look behind the clichés and get the range of views on free-range parenting.
This program was originally broadcast on April 9, 2015.
Guests:
- Julie M. Green: Canadian freelance writer and blogger whose work regularly appears in Huffington Post, YummyMummyClub, Today's Parent, The Globe and Mail, and ParentsCanada.
- Hanna Rosin: senior editor at The Atlantic and a founder and editor of DoubleX.
- Elisabeth Fairfield Stokes: writing teacher at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Time, The Washington Post, and elsewhere.
Show Highlights:
CALLER: bigger diversity of parenting beliefs today; other parents might expose your kids to things you don't like. — The Exchange (@NHPRExchange) April 9, 2015
@NHPRExchange Yes we need to discuss how far the over protection has moved. Sensationalist topic, overtones of culture divide come through.
— tedjas (@tedjas) April 9, 2015
CALLER: there haven't been more child abductions, just more media attention to the same tiny number of problems.— The Exchange (@NHPRExchange) April 9, 2015
Fear of being perceived as a 'helicopter parent' can lead to standing back, even if intervention is nec.- @efstokes. http://t.co/dnflxjHe34
— The Exchange (@NHPRExchange) April 9, 2015
Lost sense of community over recent decades informs parenting choices, sense of fear about surroundings- @hannarosin. http://t.co/dnflxjHe34
— The Exchange (@NHPRExchange) April 9, 2015
If kids walking alone don't look lost, it shouldn't be the business of neighbors or the police to worry- @HannaRosin.— The Exchange (@NHPRExchange) April 9, 2015