In general the approach of giving kids more responsibility is a good one, but in my opinion the Free Range Kids movement is characterized by hyperbole, mischaracterization, and a little too much wide-eyed zeal.
I can tell you that with two front-page reports in the last year of child molesters arrested in my non-urban area for actively soliciting minors, there's no way I'm leaving my seven-year-old alone at the park:
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/...he-park-leave-them-there-day-are-you-in/IIRC I've read reports of some free-rangers sending five-year-olds to the park unsupervised, etc. Obviously kids should have as much responsibility as they can handle-- safely.
