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posted by janrinok on Friday January 16 2015, @05:38PM   Printer-friendly
from the who-knows-the-kids-best? dept.

The WaPo reports that Danielle and Alexander Meitiv in Montgomery County Maryland say they are being investigated for neglect after letting their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter make a one-mile walk home from a Silver Spring park on Georgia Avenue on a Saturday afternoon. “We wouldn’t have let them do it if we didn’t think they were ready for it,” says Danielle. The Meitivs say they believe in “free-range” parenting, a movement that has been a counterpoint to the hyper-vigilance of “helicopter” parenting, with the idea that children learn self-reliance by being allowed to progressively test limits, make choices and venture out in the world. “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,” says Danielle. “I think it’s absolutely critical for their development — to learn responsibility, to experience the world, to gain confidence and competency.”

On December. 20, Alexander agreed to let the children walk from Woodside Park to their home, a mile south, in an area the family says the children know well. Police picked up the children near the Discovery building, the family said, after someone reported seeing them. Alexander said he had a tense time with police when officers returned his children, asked for his identification and told him about the dangers of the world. The more lasting issue has been with Montgomery County Child Protective Services which showed up a couple of hours later. Although Child Protective Services could not address this specific case they did point to Maryland law, which defines child neglect as failure to provide proper care and supervision of a child. “I think what CPS considered neglect, we felt was an essential part of growing up and maturing,” says Alexander. “We feel we’re being bullied into a point of view about child-rearing that we strongly disagree with.”

 
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  • (Score: 2) by mechanicjay on Friday January 16 2015, @05:53PM

    I regularly walked to and from school alone from the 2 grade on, which was about 3/4 of a mile away.

    I guess CPS has nothing better to do over there than harass good parents...which sounds about right.

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @06:28PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 16 2015, @06:28PM (#135440)

    I walked to school and back home when I was 7 years old. So did everyone else there, except maybe for first 2 days of school.

    Oh, I grew up in Poland. 1980s. When I moved with my parents to Canada in the 90s I was a little surprised that many parents would drive their kids to school. Or that there was a "school bus". Later, I was surprised that no one walked to school. Today, no one even walks to the "community" mail box.. and there is maybe 1 or 2 kids that I ever see that bike to school.

    "Community" of today, huddled behind walls of fear.

  • (Score: 1) by tftp on Friday January 16 2015, @10:37PM

    by tftp (806) on Friday January 16 2015, @10:37PM (#135541) Homepage

    I regularly walked to and from school alone from the 2 grade on

    I walked to school starting from the first grade. I think my parents were present only on the very first day, since there was some gathering. After that I was on my own all day long - to school, from school, to walk around... But, admittedly, it was in old, bad USSR - and not in the modern USA. USSR was quite safe, modulo some other children.