Please…The U.S. houses 1/4 of the people in prison around the world! We’ve held Black Panthers, Anarchists, Communist, and the whole population of Asian-Americans during WWII. We’ve got the Uni-bomber and Charles Manson behind bars. We’re supposed to be the strongest contry in the world and we cant handle a bunch of so called terrorists?! The Republicans called for more prisons, now they’re afraid to use them!!

In reference to the current, Free Range Kids segment, I understand what you are attempting to point to as far as statistics, but, I’d like to not be on the losing end of the numbers. THERE ARE bad people out there…who wants a pedophile around their kids????

I don’t like riding the subway in NYC alone putting my kid on there alone. Times have changed. I don’t keep my daughter locked up on the house but I am far more vigilent than my parents ever had to be.

Frankly, I would call the police on you as well.

While the author’s Stats are compelling I submit that there is one major difference between now and when I walked 10 blocks to kindergarten (age 5): I waved to the occupant of nearly every other house on my way to school because everyone was looking out for the kids. Today our society is so lost in our i-Phones it’s never been easier to hide “out in the open.”

It took only 8 years for a stranger to stop his car on the road in front of my house, walk into my yard and attempt to talk my youngest daughter into his car. (I was out of his sight but also in the yard).

I think the most effective way to sway the stats in your child’s favor is to teach them to be with other children when they’re not with you. Groups of kids are much less likely to be approached.

Thank you for attempting to speak to the irrational fears of the “helicopter” parents, hovering over their children. An essential function of a competent parent is to teach her child to be a safety-conscious, independent adult. I fully expect that my four-year old child will be walking to school on her own sometime before she completes elementary school, likely in the company of neighborhood friends, and I will NOT be worried, and I am not a neglectful mother for wanting her to exercise independence.

The America’s worst mom brought up a number of statistical/scientific data and concluded that our society has been becoming safer. But one of the major factors for the safer society may well be those over-protective parents. I don’t necessarily disagree with her, but her logic completely fails. It’s like conduting a research without a controlling group.

I enjoyed the interview with Lenore Skenazy and for the most part am a fellow believer in the thought that kids today are far too restricted. However, I disagree with her premise that the main reason parents today are now so afraid to let their kids out is because of media. Specifically parents watching “scary” crime shows.

I think better component to examine is the breakdown of community. Neighborhoods are no longer filled with stay at home moms, but latch key kids. Many of us don’t have a local grocery, or local diner, or local anything where we have established relationships with the people around our towns. We instead get the wal-mart, McDonalds and the like full of high-turnover employees. This makes it harder to trust that if your child is out in the community and something goes wrong there will be people around we can rely on to step in.

[...] Listen to Skenazy on Here and Now with Robin Young here. [...]