In a recent New York Times article, writer Jann Hoffman looked at one mother’s decision to allow her daughter to walk to school against a backdrop of fear of strangers, what some consider over-protective parents, and a nation that is slowly learning some of the horrors that await children that are victims of sexual predators:
The trip to and from school has become emblematic of the conflict parents feel between teaching children autonomy and keeping them safe. In parenting blogs and books, the school-bus stop itself is shorthand for the turmoil of contemporary parents over when to relinquish control.
According to the article, in 1969, 41 percent of children either walked or biked to school, a number that dropped to 13 percent by 2001. Another study from the Journal of the American Planning Association, showed that half of the San Francisco Bay Area parents surveyed would not allow their children to walk without being supervised, while 30 percent said their decision was based on “fear of strangers.”
According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited children, almost 800,000 children are reported abducted each year. Are we bring too protective?
