“Dear Let Grow:

I saw your story about the 6-year-old being harassed at the store. It reminded me of what happened last month to Rosy. I was at my mom’s house outside Albuquerque, New Mexico (a suburb), and Rosy (now 7.5) walked three blocks from my mom’s house alone, just playing. Within minutes a cop came, picked her up and brought her home.

I was like…hmmm. She was three blocks away. The cop told me that “many people were worried and something could have happened.” (Where we live now, in Texas, Rosy rides her bike a mile to school and to the grocery store.)

The rest of the visit, I asked Rosy to stay within TWO blocks of the house, and she was approached by three more people “concerned” about her safety during the week we were there.

Holy smokes! I told my mom, “So Rosy is basically a prisoner in this house.” Meanwhile…. Many children have absolutely no restrictions on what they look at or engage with online. So porn, suicide, eating disorders, violence — but not playing two/three blocks from a house in a middle-class suburb. I think we are growing more backwards in our thinking.

Warmly,

Michaeleen”

https://letgrow.org/even-the-hunt-gather-parent-kid-gets-stopped-by-the-cops/