Is the word “controversial” overused? News outlets are calling Utah’s ‘free-range parenting’ law controversial. It is the first law of its kind. In some states, parents who leave their children unsupervised can be charged with neglect. Utah’s new law passed unanimously. While it’s true that the law is the first of its kind, only three states have laws specifying what age a child must be to stay home alone. “Illinois law requires children to be 14 years old before being left alone; in Maryland, the minimum age is eight, while in Oregon, children must be 10 before being left home alone,” according to the easy-to-find “Leaving Your Child Home Alone” PDF by ChildWelfare.gov.
On Facebook, people voiced their opinions, including one mom, Julie Rhile, who said “I’m in PA and don’t need a law to do this. Been doing it for years. I guess it depends on your neighborhood. Mine are 8 and 11 (almost 9 and 12). But all the kids in our neighborhood wander. And walk to school. I don’t think we even have a bus until middle school. They are permitted to walk on their own starting third grade and prior to that with an older sibling.”
As a kid, I played outside with my friends while my mom was in the house. She kept an eye on us from the window but didn’t stand guard like a sentinel. People are worried about this generation, and we can all agree that we want kids to be safe. We just disagree about what safe means. Are sheltered kids safe, or unprepared for the real world?
On Facebook, Walter Titus called the law “One of the worst ideas I have ever heard of. A lot [sic] of the younger generation are horrible now, like the March for Our Lives generation, and if parents parent like they’re a bunch [sic] of chickens moving freely without any restrictions, will make that generation worse than this one.”
Julia Robertson, commenting on Titus’ post, disagrees: “Actually, it will probably make them better. Millennials were raised during a time when parents were terrified of child kidnappings and were extremely overprotective. So these kids grew up in a protected little bubble where their parents were always keeping them sheltered and out of harm’s way. Hence you have these kids who leave for college and start demanding ‘safe spaces’ and ‘trigger warnings’ because they want to maintain the protective bubble that they grew up with. Free-range parenting is the solution to that. If kids are allowed to grow up and become independent, they will not need the world ‘child-proofed’ for them when they become adults.”
Likewise, Zach Bates points out the generational either/or fallacy: “Make up your mind folks, its [sic] either ‘back in my day we stayed out till the streetlights came on and played in the crick with nobody botherin’ us, kids need less helicopter parenting, thanks Obama! [sic]’ or its ‘kids these days are so disrespectful, if we let them walk around with no supervision they’ll turn librul!’ [sic].”
This law allows parents to let kids walk to school alone, wait in a car alone and stay home alone, but the law does not specify an age. Some people feel safe letting their kids have that kind of independence, while others don’t. It really is a matter of opinion.
