Flying solo

It's been a while since I've posted, but this has been on my mind a lot lately, and well, it's a little too long for a Facebook post.


"Whoa. Kill the motor, dude. Let us see what Squirt does flying solo." - Crush (Finding Nemo)

I really wish someone could explain to me how parenting has changed so much these days. When I was a child, not so very long ago, my parents left us home alone at the ages of 12 and 8. We rode our bikes to the end of the road (a mile) and back. We hiked through the woods and came home hours later. We sat in the car while they ran into the store. We had our own keys and went completely unsupervised for 10 hours a day.

Now, parents are arrested for leaving a 9 year old in the car while they go into the gas station for 2 minutes. CPS is called when latch-key kids forget their key and (gasp!) play outside until their parents get home from work. Delivery men peak in the window if they hear kids inside but no parent answers the door.
*All real (recent) cases.

Why is it that an 8 year old in Chicago can ride the subway alone to and from school, but an 8 year old in Nashville can't play in the yard without mom or dad sitting on the porch? Why can't kids sit in a car for 2 minutes while mom walks to the ATM and back?

Call me old-school. Call me free-range. I want my kids to learn independence. I want them to test their boundaries and learn their lessons. I want them to have the freedom to explore without my hovering over them every minute. And I don't want to live in fear that Nosy McNeighbor is going to call the law because I send my kids outside to play so the baby can sleep longer than 15 minutes at a time.

I know the world is full of predators. I know there are more cars on the roads now. And I know that too many kids die in locked cars on a sunny day. But at what point does it go too far? Can we label our kids "fragile" so many times, that as an adult, they shatter the first time we wander away? When do we give up our freedom as parents to the government and let Nosy McNeighbor decide our future? 

I'm all for keeping our kids safe, but I want to raise my kids the way my parents raised me. I don't need someone else to dictate my house rules. And I'm tired of constantly being worried about Nosy seeing my kids playing alone. 

Disclaimer: Yes, I did let my child wear his shoes on the wrong feet. I don't think that's against the law... Yet.