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I disagree. I think they are serously overstepping bounds.
I agree. Maryland is notoriously liberal and nanny. There is no reason a responsible 10 year old can't watch a six year old. That judgement should be left to the parents.
OP = Helicopter Parent
Just wait until their kids get out on their own, boys/girls gone wild!
I don't have parenting to worry about anymore. My children are grown. I did not let them wander the streets of NYC when they were 6 and 10. I knew who their friends' parents were (that's important to me). If I didn't like the parents, my children did not spend the night and were not invited into my home. I played a very active role in my raising my children.
I let my son go to school on his own (school bus) when he turned twelve. I let my daughter who is older than he go to school on public transportation by twelve also but was very unsure about that. I knew when to let my kids take on every new responsibility they needed to have.
My personal opinion is that at 6 years and 10 years its still just too dangerous for them.
Just fine, thanks. I have a degree from a good university, a great job, no debt, ready to buy a house in full, and am happily married.
And no, I've never been kidnapped.
Good. I have two degrees, I have two grown children with degrees. The oldest has two (graduate). Both gainfully employed and turned out just fine. No, they don't live at home either. Because I took the approach not to let my kids roam around unattended while they were 6 and 10 doesn't seem so astonishing after all does it?
Perhaps, but the child abduction rate wasn't nearly as high. Many of the pedophiles weren't even born then.
You couldn't be more wrong. The rate of abduction of children by strangers is estimated to be 115 annually, or one 100th of 1 percent of all missing children.
Perhaps, but the child abduction rate wasn't nearly as high. Many of the pedophiles weren't even born then.
...and many of the pedophiles of the 70s weren't yet born during the 50s. Odd logic there.
And again, the reported child abduction rate wasn't as high as it is now *because* there was less media coverage then. The real rate is likely comparable.
You couldn't be more wrong. The rate of abduction of children by strangers is estimated to be 115 annually, or one 100th of 1 percent of all missing children.
Perhaps, but the child abduction rate wasn't nearly as high. Many of the pedophiles weren't even born then.
You do realize that nearly all pedophiles are preying on their own family members? Kids are SAFER in a public park than at home in the same house as the pedophile to whom they are related!
I want to slap these people. This is actually a rearing belief. "Free range" like chickens. They sound like lazy parents to me. Why have them if you don't want to take care of them?
And your idea of parenting would be perhaps helicopter parenting, "protecting" a kid from everything/anything, following them around everywhere, transporting them everywhere, which seems to be the "norm" these days? If I understand the story correctly, the people you are referencing also live in a very low crime area.
Based on what I hear, I think kids can't be kids anymore today and it's sad.
I grew up in the 70's/80's and my parents were strict in many ways but I was out of the house from the morning until evening hanging around fishing, riding my bike, playing in the woods, etc and I somehow came out ok. Did I do stupid things as a kid that scraped my skin and broke a finger bone once. Sure, but I learned from these experiences and wasn't sheltered from reality. And my parents didn't need to know where I was every minute, setting up "play dates" for me or some other nonsense that parents seem to do this days to act like control freaks in my book. And yes, I'd be willing to bet there were just as many scary people/molesters/murders then as there are now. So the "world is much more dangerous today" is bunk in my view. Somehow I don't think molesters/wackos were a new genetic mutation that arose in the last 20 years. It's amazing how paranoid people have gotten on so many levels. And yes, unfortunately, bad stuff happens sometimes in life but stats show it's a very small minority, especially in low crime areas. So how have we reached the point that overreacting to the level that parents have over the last many years to say normal is hovering over every action/step/word of a kid in the name of "caring" and not taking into all the negative aspects this has on the development of a child?
And now I understand kids in certain areas can't even play by themselves in their own backyard, fenced or not, and the parents can get arrested if they leave them alone in the backyard to play while mom and or/dad hang out in the house. Good gravy. I really feel sorry for kids today and how their control freak parents are going to turn these kids into dependent/non-functioning/emotional rec "adults". Look at some "adults" in their 20's now who grew up this way. I even know of a woman in her 40's who is going on 14 in mental age because of her parents who did everything for her/protected her and she's messed up big time emotionally and can't function as an adult.
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If I understand the story correctly, the people you are referencing also live in a very low crime area. 
