I grew up in a home where from about age six on, I could wander around alone in the bush for hours without anyone worrying. From about age nine on, I could be gone all day without anyone worrying. I would sometimes walk home alone in the dark for more than a mile (and I was deathly afraid of the dark). When we lived in DC and Baltimore when I was 14, I would sometimes just go for a walk all afternoon, no worries at home. My brother around age 15 would hitchhike all Sunday to go to stuff without any grief at home.
I never wanted my parents to show up to any of my school events or sporting events. I would have felt like a wimp if my parents had been like modern-day helicopter parents.
WP: ‘Free-range children’ taken into custody again in Maryland
