Me too. I didn't see a lot of hyperbole on her site. Well, except for the news stories quoted there (Pencils banned as 'weapons" by teacher; parents sue school district because child breaks arm falling off swing. School district removes all swingsets from schools...).
I let my two sons (8 & 10) go trick-or-treating alone this year. I've been letting DS10 go to the park with a friend for a while (two years?).
DH and I give the kids more freedom when we're confident that they'll look in every direction before crossing a road. My six-year-old is now allowed to cross our very quiet street to go play with the neighbors.
About 2 1/2 years ago, DS10 was at a birthday party in a park playing hide-and-seek. He walked too far, got lost, and ended up outside the park. He knew he was close to his friend's house but couldn't find it. So he asked a pedestrian if he could borrow his cell phone to call me. Problem solved. I was
very proud of him.
I understand that people are concerned about the threat of predators, but the risks are overstated in the media.
Here's a paper that discusses the real risk of abduction by a stranger (1:600,000). The paper says that children under age five are actually the
least likely ones to be kidnapped by a stranger. But when it happens, the story is broadcast around the country, so everyone remembers the abducted child and not the tens of millions of non-abducted ones.
Here's another article that cites a paper saying that over 90% of sexual abuse happens at home, rather than at the hands of strangers.
Alternatively, here are some sobering
statistics about childhood deaths and injuries due to car accidents.
I understand that there are bad people out there, but for my husband and I, the risk that one of them will get to our kids is extremely low, and we prefer to let them learn to stretch their wings. YMMV.
Just my two cents.
Val
