Publicity about the Williamsburg mother arrested for letting her 5-year-old walk alone to a Ford’s Colony pond re-energized a national conversation about parental rights, child safety, and overzealous prosecution.
Lenore Skenazy, co-founder of the Let Grow nonprofit that supports giving children more independence, told us Karyann Parkinson’s case is an illustration of exaggerated parental fears and overreaching by authorities, who are often called in by well-meaning neighbors.
She pointed us to a 2017 study published in the American Journal of Public Health estimating more than a third of American children – and 53% of black kids – will be the subject of a child protective services investigation at least once before age 18. So was Parkinson’s son Samuel.
Skenazy also pointed us to an Institute of Family Studies report issued in May showing that a majority of 14-year-old American kids are not allowed to travel beyond their own street. Even as they restrict their children’s physical mobility, parents are allowing them to spend more time online with negative results the study found. She also sent a Journal of Pediatrics study claiming the primary cause of the rise in mental disorders in children is a decline in opportunities for children and teens to play, roam, and engage in other activities independent of direct oversight and control by adults.