Busybodies And Extreme Risk Adversity: The Greatest Threat To Today's Kids?

Is the world today's generation of children are growing up in really that different from the world I grew up in, where nobody batted an eyelid when they saw a couple of kids climbing trees together without adult supervision, and in which people would have been more concerned to learn of kids stuck indoors much of the time?

Yes, and no. There are more cars on the roads today than there were then. Though awareness of child predators has increased, certainly a good thing, I do not believe there were really fewer predators around back when I was a child. What we did have, however, was a community spirit that seems to have disappeared today. If you needed assistance, you could be expected to get it from any of your neighbors, all of whom knew you by name and were aware where you lived. Those neighbors weren't afraid to discipline you if you got up to no good or rescue you if you needed rescuing.

Today's parents are facing exactly that threat. When a mom and dad from Silver Spring, Md., allowed their six and 10 year old children to walk home from a park a mile away, they found themselves under investigation for neglect. When the mom of a nine year old allowed her daughter to play at a nearby park by herself rather than hang around her workplace doing nothing, the state took custody of the child. When the single mother of a two year old and six month old left her kids in her car in mild weather during a job interview in the hope to offer them a better future, she was sentenced to 18 years probation.

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Treat your children like the competent and curious young people they are, allow them to develop the skills they need for adult life while they are still kids, try to serve them as best you can, and you may face trouble with the law. Is today's society really doing the best we can by our young people? Does stripping children of the chance to learn adult skills really prepare them to be productive members of society?