I'm sorry but being a helicopter parent is as damaging as if you fed your kid McDonald's every day. Some of my friends don't allow their high-school age kids to take the T into Boston. One won't even allow her 16-year-old daughter to take a taxicab. These are the kids who are going to go absolutely berserk when they get to college. If they can figure out how to get there, that is.

I'm not saying that you should let your first-grader hitchhike to school, but it's okay for your neighbor to give him a ride. Seriously, stop imposing your irrational fears on your kids. It's abuse!

My daughter is one and I'm already a free-range parent.

Other moms shocked in horror recently when I *GASP* let her eat sand. As they all reached out and shrieked "YUCKY" at the top of their lungs, I stepped between them and my daughter, who was making faces and had already figured it out for herself. She didn't need anyone to teach her that lesson and the worst consequence for learning the lesson herself was the possibility for a slightly sandy diaper.

I've also been shamed for letting my daughter eat dirt, sit in a shopping cart without having wiped it down or put in one of those stupid covers, and for letting her chew on my keys. All of these things actually have the benefit of helping to build her immune system by exposure to everyday bacterias.

I let her play on her own, and do not feel obligated to be her cruise director for every second of the day. I've been told it's neglectful to be online while she's perfectly happy bouncing in and out of her ball pit because I'm not sitting there actively engaging with her. To them I say you need a life and your child needs some breathing space.

The author of this article is harming her children, and when they go to college she'll end up in therapy because she has no identity separate from her identity as a mom.

People have always marveled at how independent my kids are, and while some of it is personality, I'm convinced that a large part of it is because I have always left them to their own devices to some extent. From the time they were very small, I would have them in a safe location and let them do their own thing. I was of course nearby in case something unthinkable happened, but I didn't play cruise director. I even (gasp) make them work things out themselves, instead of spoon-feeding them a solution. They are allowed to ride their bikes around the neighborhood, as long as they check in at home periodically. Oh yeah, they are 9 and 7.

I love Lenore's blog and book. I don't let my kids bungee jump naked off the Grand Canyon, and I don't send them into the Combat Zone at 2 am. But I also don't need to walk them into their classroom in 3rd grade, I don't stand over them when they play in the back yard, and I let the ride their bikes (gasp) out of my sight. They are allowed to use jackknives once trained, and my 3rd grader cooked French toast for breakfast all by himself this morning, without killing himself or burning the house down. I don't boil their hands every time they go out in public, and I don't freak if they get their clothes dirty. Let the leash out a little - your kids will amaze you with what they are capable of.

C: We need to get together. Seriously. Our daughter eats dirt and sand, licks rocks, carries sticks in her mouth like a dog, sits in the mud and plays with worms and slugs...

And I can't tell you how many parents have given us dirty looks or outright admonishments for it. Ah well.

"Lenore suggests taking some baby steps for practice: in a couple of years I might let my kids walk down the street alone or roam around in the woods out my sight.

"Sure, I'll get to that when they are in high school. Or college. (Or possibly grad school. Or maybe after they are married...)"

I know this is an exaggeration, but some people do that to their daughters IRL: it's called keeping them in purdah. How do these daughters get married before being allowed to walk down the street alone? Arranged marriage - the parents don't allow the daughters to meet the son-in-laws before the weddings (and for some reason they still condemn having sex with a stranger, as if marital sex isn't really sex so wedding-night sex with a stranger doesn't count).