Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone

[Ptarmigan]

Parents investigated for neglect after letting kids walk home alone
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/maryland-couple-want-free-range-kids-but-not-all-do/2015/01/14/d406c0be-9c0f-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html

It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the parents saw as a moment of independence for their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter, they say authorities viewed much differently.

Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they are being investigated for neglect for the Dec. 20 trek — in a case they say reflects a clash of ideas about how safe the world is and whether parents are free to make their own choices about raising their children.

“We wouldn’t have let them do it if we didn’t think they were ready for it,” Danielle said.

Many children were like this in the past. All parents woud be in jail today.

Too much helicopter parenting these days. God, I hate busy bodies. 

[thundley4]

WTH?  Within the past few weeks/months, there was a story about some school district cutting back on buses and making kids that live up to a mile away walk to school.

[docstew]

My kids, at the age of 5 and 6, walked home from school almost a mile along a busy road in Salt Lake City, crossing one other busy road. (This wasn't my choice, they live with my ex) Do I think that my ex needs to be investigated? No.

Hell, in Alaska, they don't provide bus rides for kids who live within half a mile of school, even in subzero temperatures.