This is something that free range parenting advocates have been talking about for a long time. See <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/03/641256596/to-raise-confident-independent-kids-some-parents-are-trying-to-let-grow" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/09/03/6412565...</a>.<p>For me one of the most compelling data points wasn't even a parenting reference. It was <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Americas/dp/1589795474" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.amazon.com/Millionaire-Next-Door-Surprising-Amer...</a>. First published in the mid-1990s, the chapters on the children of millionaires found that the more support millionaires gave to their children, the worse that those children turned out. Armed with that theory, I've always doubted the wisdom of extreme helicopter parenting that has become popular since.
When I was little (20 years ago), I left the house in the morning and came back in the evening. My parents didn't really care what I did. It was the same for all the children in our small village.<p>We played in the forest, created tree homes, tunnels and much more. It was an incredible time which I'm certain helped me a lot in my development.<p>Granted, I was growing up on a farm in Germany. There wasn't much traffic or other "dangers".
Sometimes people get so tangled up in half-baked theories and rationalizations that they need to be reminded that water is wet. It should be common sense that lack of autonomy will mess kids up, but some people just don't get it. A refusal to tolerate any risk or uncertainty ironically ends up doing more damage than whatever it is they fear.
Parents shuffling around kids from activity to activity in their minivans is the bane of present day kids. The problem is that cities are so car centric. A good way of alleviating some of it is to do at least 3 hours of independent self play a day.
I blame Otis Toole[1], who confessed (and later recanted) to the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh. The hysteria Adam's father was able to create in the United States is astounding. I grew up before that happened, and yet, when it was my turn as a parent, I was still freaked out the first time my child wanted to walk home from a friends house, 2 blocks away about 10 years ago.<p>When I was a kid, we were told to go outside and play until the street lights came on.<p>[1] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottis_Toole" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottis_Toole</a>
The Coddling of the American Mind is a good book on this topic <a href="https://www.thecoddling.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.thecoddling.com/</a>.
A bit late to the party but I knew I've read this earlier on Hacker News but I couldn't find it earlier. This paper (with slightly different styling) is linked at the bottom of the article 'Play deprivation is a major cause of the teen mental health crisis' [0] discussed here [1] a few months ago.<p>[0] <a href="https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/the-play-deficit" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com/p/the-play-deficit</a>
[1] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36910256">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36910256</a>
I don't understand this. We were free-to-play, but it was not unstructured. Quite the opposite, you had to be somewhere on time, in a heirarchy or school structure and there were teacher imposed rules.<p>I miss that heirarchy more than I'd care to admit. The endless cycles of milking the good while it's good, is an offensive and time wasting replacement for what used to be a well-timed culture.<p>It is deeply humorous to see <i>fear</i> of traffic and crime listed as a valid reason to keep kids inside. When you list <i>fear</i> of data leaks as a valid reason for privacy from surveillance, people discount you. So much emotional picking and choosing lately.<p>Parentalism is destroying the West, make no mistake, "security" is a massively overrated parasite, sucking the life out of it's inhabitants. Get off my back.
The "Not Just Bikes" channel on YouTube offers good analysis on how city planning is detrimental to the independence of children and young people.
Wait. Does this pass for science in these fields, psychology and medicine? They summarize various statistics from prior papers as if they are trends across space and time (hello sample bias, are there papers that contradict their claims they are omitting because it doesn't fit their thesis?) and then make broad conclusions based on anecdotal evidence and sweeping theories.<p>This should barely pass as a "kids these days" like-and-share from your grandpa on Facebook that has a bunch of comments from Cheryl about how true it is. Which is tragic, because it's something anyone who spends time with children can figure out... that independence makes for a happy child. But to be published in a journal I thought the point was to find rigorous evidence for such things, not muddy the waters further with vague specious claims.