Your Kid: Give Them Wings, Set Them Free, But When?

It's the age-old question of parenting: what is too much, what is not enough?

In a world where we've become too acquainted with evening news headlines of decades-long abductions, missing children milk cartons and all other manner of terrible what-if scenarios (not helped by the recent spate of home-security commercials that show a masked man busting down a peaceful suburban home door while the mother makes some popcorn), the job of parenting keeps getting just that much tougher.

You have the reigns for awhile when your children are young, but hold them too tight and we know what happens. Not tight enough and who knows what happens.

The New York Times has a great piece today on the mentalities of today's parenting, specifically on when it is age-appropriate for your child to be able to walk to school, or to the bus stop on their own.

You want to foster a sense of independence in your child; you want to keep them safe. You want to give them the confidence to take the first of many steps; you want to keep an eagle-eye trained on their shadow so that you know they're okay.

Helpfully, the article's sidebar includes a link to the Safe Routes to School Partnership, which promotes the practice of safe bicycling and walking to and from school, which you can find here.

Read the full piece here and remember, there's no perfect parent or parenting.

Photo courtesy Tijmen van Dobbenburg@sxc.hu