Parents investigated for letting their kids walk home from the park

In December, a family in Silver Spring, Maryland, a well-to-do suburb of Washington, D.C., allowed their two children to walk home alone from a local park. Parents Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they are raising their kids, ages six and ten, to be independent, "free range" kids, enjoying an old-fashioned upbringing featuring both free play and personal responsibility.

Though the Meitivs are right that children are safer now than they have been in decades, local police disagreed. The family is now under investigation for allowing the unchaperoned one-mile walk.

"I think what [the social workers] considered neglect, we felt was an essential part of growing up and maturing," said Alexander Meitiv. "We feel we're being bullied into a point of view about child-rearing that we strongly disagree with."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up