# "Free-Range" Kids......Not Everyone Agrees!



## ClassicRockr (Jan 15, 2015)

From the Washington Post:

Maryland couple want ‘free-range’ kids, but not all do.

It was a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. But what the two 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. 
She said her son and daughter have previously paired up for walks around the block, to a nearby 7-Eleven and to a library about three-quarters of a mile away. “They have proven they are responsible,” she said. “They’ve developed these skills.”

“The world is actually even safer than when I was a child, and I just want to give them the same freedom and independence that I had — basically an old-fashioned childhood,” she said. “I think it’s absolutely critical for their development — to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.”

 Dec. 20, Alexander agreed to let the children, Rafi and Dvora, walk from Woodside Park to their home, a mile south, in an area the family says the children know well. 
The children made it about halfway.
Police picked up the children, the family said, near the Discovery building, after someone reported seeing them. 

Now the parents are being investigated by County Child Protective Services.

You can read the entire store thru the Washington Post........."Free-Range Kids"

Anyway, what do you think?


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## QuickSilver (Jan 15, 2015)

I walked to school alone at 6 years old....  left my house.. walked down the ally to pick up my girlfriends Suzie and Mary.. and we walked to school about 5 blocks away.  Are kids not allowed to do that now?    I swear..  having to drive past some grammar schools, the traffic dropping off kids is horrible.  Some parents would drive through the doors... down the hallway and right up to their kids' desks if they could.

When we were 10 me and Suzie and Mary.. hit the road on our bikes in the morning and came home for lunch and dinner.  We had our boundaries that we kind of adhered to... but most times not..  I KNOW we went more than a mile in any direction..

NOW that's called "Free Range"  lol!!!   We called it childhood..


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## Vivjen (Jan 15, 2015)

I know times have changed....but even so...this sounds very 'nanny state' to me...


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## Ramblin Rose (Jan 15, 2015)

Parents know their children best and if the parents feel the kids can be on their own then they should have that choice.

Yes, it is a changing world but you cannot wrap kids in cotton wool to keep them safe. Likely these parents have given instruction to the youngsters on what to do just in case.

Some kids are mature at 10, some even younger. Have a neighbor and the 8 year old shows more maturity than the 11 year old.


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## Vivjen (Jan 15, 2015)

I have a 15 year old living next door; she is totally useless at looking after herself....taken absolutely everywhere; can't cook, clean, use the washing machine; but is extremely good at leaving a trail of destruction behind her..


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## ClassicRockr (Jan 15, 2015)

Only thing is, it only takes one abduction or accident to make parents realize why it isn't such a good idea today. These kids aren't necessarily being brought up in the same type of environment that a lot of us grew up in. Living out in farm land, my step-parents had no problem with me walking down the road to our neighbors. But, that was then, today is now AND farmland living is much different than living in the city area where tons of people live.


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## WhatInThe (Jan 15, 2015)

ClassicRockr said:


> Only thing is, it only takes one abduction or accident to make parents realize why it isn't such a good idea today. These kids aren't necessarily being brought up in the same type of environment that a lot of us grew up in. Living out in farm land, my step-parents had no problem with me walking down the road to our neighbors. But, that was then, today is now AND farmland living is much different than living in the city area where tons of people live.



It is and it isn't. Decades ago child abuse or predators didn't make the news or wasn't talked about the way it is now. You didn't know who you walked by or what walked by you. And I think there much more aggressive and effective enforcement along with awareness. Doesn't mean there are not predators many of whom might be more aggressive but over all I think it's just as safe. And sooner or later a child must learn the path/directions to where ever they are going and be left alone to become responsible.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 15, 2015)

ClassicRockr said:


> Only thing is, it only takes one abduction or accident to make parents realize why it isn't such a good idea today. These kids aren't necessarily being brought up in the same type of environment that a lot of us grew up in. Living out in farm land, my step-parents had no problem with me walking down the road to our neighbors. But, that was then, today is now AND farmland living is much different than living in the city area where tons of people live.



We had our share of high profile child abductions and murders in the 50's.. the Grimes sisters... Judith mae Anderson.... the Scheusler brothers... we were told to not talk to strangers and to not get into cars..


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## WhatInThe (Jan 15, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> We had our share of high profile child abductions and murders in the 50's.. the Grimes sisters... Judith mae Anderson.... the Scheusler brothers... we were told to not talk to strangers and to not get into cars..



-told not to talk to strangers and not get into cars-

This was ingrained and repeated. Especially not talking to strangers which many kids are doing today on social media.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 15, 2015)

I don't see anything wrong with it, a mile is not that long of a walk, and they were together.  I think it's ridiculous to even label them 'free range', that's absurd!  Looks like the cops need more busy work in that neighborhood too, if they harassed my children like that, there would be an issue.  And I grew up in the big city, like Whatinthe said, my mother told us not to get in anyone's car or talk to strangers.  We didn't need to be on a retractable leash.


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## QuickSilver (Jan 15, 2015)

WhatInThe said:


> -told not to talk to strangers and not get into cars-
> 
> This was ingrained and repeated. Especially not talking to strangers which many kids are doing today on social media.



Oh for sure it was ingrained.   We lived down the street from a supermarket..  I remember once when I was maybe about 7 or 8 a lady came up to me and told me she would give me a nickel if I took her grocery cart back to the store for her...  I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran like the dickens... because that's what my mom told me to do if a stranger talked to me... lol!!   Poor lady... I probably scared her to death..


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## ClassicRockr (Jan 15, 2015)

SB, when the cops are called to check on something, it's there duty to do it. That's what they told the Washington Post. A PD Dispatcher just can't tell a caller, "awe, don't worry about them, they will be ok". If a concern citizen calls 911 or the PD office, they have to follow up on the call. Apparently, there is an some type of ID card the kids carries w/the parents permission/signature stating the kids are "Free-Range" kids and that's what they show an officer/officers. At that point, the officer/officers leave the kids alone. But, the brother did not have this ID Card with him. 

The officer/officers were not harassing the kids, only showing concern.........of which didn't go over very well with the brother. In fact, when the officer/officers talked to the father, he got a little belligerent with them.........again, something a person doesn't want to do with officers! Also, the Child Protect Agency sent a person over to check out the inside of the house and the mother wouldn't give them permission to enter. Another wrong move! That is just showing them that perhaps the mother has something to hide. 

If these parents would simply cooperate, and understand, that law enforcement and Child Protective Agency is only trying to help them, there wouldn't have been a problem. By the father arguing with law enforcement and the mother not cooperating with the Agency, they were asking for trouble.



SeaBreeze said:


> I don't see anything wrong with it, a mile is not that long of a walk, and they were together.  I think it's ridiculous to even label them 'free range', that's absurd!  Looks like the cops need more busy work in that neighborhood too, if they harassed my children like that, there would be an issue.  And I grew up in the big city, like Whatinthe said, my mother told us not to get in anyone's car or talk to strangers.  We didn't need to be on a retractable leash.


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## ClassicRockr (Jan 15, 2015)

I was never told "don't talk to strangers" or anything like that. But then again, I was raised in farmland where big city problems pretty much didn't happen.


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## Debby (Jan 15, 2015)

My kids were born in the 80's and I watched them like a hawk.  Either I or my husband was with them or they were at school with teachers that we went to church with or they were at the homes of kids whose families we went to church with.

When the oldest was twelve, she was finally allowed to walk to the store with her little sister who was nine and I watched them from the end of my driveway (I could see the store up at the corner (two blocks away) until they were almost home again.  The first time the oldest went to the mall by herself, she was around fourteen and her dad escorted her to the doors and then pretended to go back to the car but turned back and then 'stalked' her the entire time she was there and finally pretended to 'meet' up with her at the proscribed place.  

If they wanted to go to the park, I went with them, and any excursions were either with mom and dad or as a church group that included other moms and dads and the kids.

There was to the best of my recollection, never a moment when my kids could have been snatched by a predator and I would do it again the same way.  And while my daughter doesn't have a church family to be involved with, she's pretty much the same with her kids.  The oldest is now eight, they live two blocks from school and either she or her husband is taking him right to the door of his classroom every day and picking him up.  And despite them living in a smallish and pretty peaceful little city on PEI, I would be appalled if she said at this point that she shooed him out the door to walk by himself.

Over protective?  You bet but it's unlikely that 'our' kids will every be in the news as a kidnap victim.


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## SeaBreeze (Jan 15, 2015)

ClassicRockr said:


> SB, when the cops are called to check on something, it's there duty to do it. That's what they told the Washington Post. A PD Dispatcher just can't tell a caller, "awe, don't worry about them, they will be ok". If a concern citizen calls 911 or the PD office, they have to follow up on the call.
> 
> The officer/officers were not harassing the kids, only showing concern.........of which didn't go over very well with the brother. In fact, when the officer/officers talked to the father, he got a little belligerent with them.........again, something a person doesn't want to do with officers! Also, the Child Protect Agency sent a person over to check out the inside of the house and the mother wouldn't give them permission to enter. Another wrong move! That is just showing them that perhaps the mother has something to hide.
> 
> If these parents would simply cooperate, and understand, that law enforcement and Child Protective Agency is only trying to help them, there wouldn't have been a problem. By the father arguing with law enforcement and the mother not cooperating with the Agency, they were asking for trouble.



Well, since there was no link, I didn't read the whole story. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local...c0f-11e4-bcfb-059ec7a93ddc_story.html?hpid=z5  So it was just a busybody who called the police for no reason?  Did the kids look like they were lost, afraid, stressed?  Didn't look like it to me.

I don't blame the father for being angry and the mother not letting them in without a warrant.  If children are being neglected or abused by the parents, then agencies can step in.  When they are merely walking together in their neighborhood, it's overstepping the bounds of nosy 'dogooders' to make a big production out of it. 

 Unless I missed something, these parents were not doing anything wrong with their children.  These days people are losing their rights to make their own decisions regarding the welfare of their children in many different areas, and personally, I am against that in America.


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## jujube (Jan 15, 2015)

Unfortunately, even the most responsible and well-cautioned children are no match for a dedicated predator.   It's a fine line between "too protective" and "not protective enough".


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## Warrigal (Jan 15, 2015)

I favour a healthy degree of free ranging in a child's development.

I was nine years old when I first journeyed without an adult on our suburban trains.
I had to walk to the railway station (20 mins), buy a ticket, catch the train for a journey of about 8 stations, then catch a tram to my destination (Grand dad's house). I had my little sister in tow. She is 3 years younger than me. 

We made the same journey in reverse to get home. Without incident.

This was not a reckless decision on my mother's part. We had been making this journey every other weekend since I was about 5 years old and she had taught us safe travel, including stranger danger. I was capable and she prepared me for responsibility.

I did the same with my children. I prepared them for independent agency then allowed them to exercise it.

I might add that as children we walked to school with adult escort. Ditto the local swimming pool and the cinema.
We were always in a small group though, never by ourselves.


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