Giving kids no autonomy at all has become a parenting norm
I&#x27;ve written about this here before, but the social forces that incentivize parents to restrict autonomy is intense. I live in a massive California suburb, median in almost every way.<p>It&#x27;s my perception that letting kiddo play outside, climbing trees, biking on the sidewalk in front of the house should be a low risk activity for a 2nd and 4th grader if done together. Not in the perception of neighbors. Every time I say yes to them asking to play in public, I&#x27;m taking a risk that someone will call the cops for the simple act of a child playing outside without a parent. How do I know? It&#x27;s happened three times already.<p>There&#x27;s a group of folks who see that as inherently dangerous and have no problem invoking the police to shut it down. They&#x27;ve also been approached by strangers asking where their parents are. They&#x27;re obeying the laws, not being reckless or getting into trouble. They&#x27;re minding their own business and because of that they are confronted for it.<p>It&#x27;s these encounters that weigh on my mind when I&#x27;m deciding how to respond when they ask if they can play outside each day. Sometimes I say no, because I&#x27;m not prepared to deal with the possibility of that scenario occurring again.