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You were doing so well until you brought up the CPS boogeyman, which is as much a part of the baseless fear culture you're deriding as anything else. Getting i

by bcoates 11y ago

You were doing so well until you brought up the CPS boogeyman, which is as much a part of the baseless fear culture you're deriding as anything else. Getting in trouble with CPS over letting your kid be independent is as unlikely as any of the other horror stories the media (and your friend's cousin's hairdresser) pushes about childhood. CPS employees are stretched thin on full-blown abandonment and horrifying abuse cases, and don't care if some kid walks down the street alone.

zyxley 11y ago
> and don't care if some kid walks down the street alone http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parents-investigated-letting-children-walk-alone/25700823/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parents...
Nadya 11y ago
The CPS boogeyman was hyperbole, yes. Few freerange parents get charged with anything, but a few do still have to deal with investigations or charges by local police. Is it isolated? Yes. But it happens. Even if police don't get involved, you get flak/judgement from neighbors and nosy busy bodies butting into your business and trying to parent your kid(s). That happens a lot more and is something most any free range parent in a suburb knows the feeling of. The fear is there and my father had plenty of issues with busy body neighbors and the police being called because of an "unattended child" (me). The shit happens and my own mother is one of the judgmental busy bodies herself; looking down on her neighbor for letting their 11 year old child to play jump rope with her friend in the front yard of their house. Has my mother called CPS on the neighbor? No. But she treats them like shit and refuses to let my sisters' visit their house in fear they'll do something "unattended". Yes - those two examples were very personal anecdotes. But it's not like I'm the only person to ever deal with this stuff. A great thing about the internet is you get to meet countless other people who have the same issues you have: http://www.freerangekids.com/why-do-i-keep-scaring-people-with-stories-of-good-parents-hounded-by-the-authorities/ http://www.freerangekids.com/why-do-i-keep-scaring-people-wi... If the US didn't have a culture of fear and nosy busy-bodies butting into other peoples' business at every turn, this wouldn't even be a discussion and "free range parenting" wouldn't even be a term. It would be called "parenting". Like how it is in the UK, Japan, and many other countries.

by bcoates 11y ago

zyxley 11y ago

> and don't care if some kid walks down the street alone http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parents-investigated-letting-children-walk-alone/25700823/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/13/parents...

Nadya 11y ago

The CPS boogeyman was hyperbole, yes. Few freerange parents get charged with anything, but a few do still have to deal with investigations or charges by local police. Is it isolated? Yes. But it happens. Even if police don't get involved, you get flak/judgement from neighbors and nosy busy bodies butting into your business and trying to parent your kid(s). That happens a lot more and is something most any free range parent in a suburb knows the feeling of. The fear is there and my father had plenty of issues with busy body neighbors and the police being called because of an "unattended child" (me). The shit happens and my own mother is one of the judgmental busy bodies herself; looking down on her neighbor for letting their 11 year old child to play jump rope with her friend in the front yard of their house. Has my mother called CPS on the neighbor? No. But she treats them like shit and refuses to let my sisters' visit their house in fear they'll do something "unattended". Yes - those two examples were very personal anecdotes. But it's not like I'm the only person to ever deal with this stuff. A great thing about the internet is you get to meet countless other people who have the same issues you have: http://www.freerangekids.com/why-do-i-keep-scaring-people-with-stories-of-good-parents-hounded-by-the-authorities/ http://www.freerangekids.com/why-do-i-keep-scaring-people-wi... If the US didn't have a culture of fear and nosy busy-bodies butting into other peoples' business at every turn, this wouldn't even be a discussion and "free range parenting" wouldn't even be a term. It would be called "parenting". Like how it is in the UK, Japan, and many other countries.