I feel like this issue is a hug problem in America specificly. People are terrified of letting their kids roam free and I believe its one of the factors that's led to the rise of anxiety in kids. I remembered reading a story where a woman let her son walk to the store alone in her rural town and litterly got arrested for that.
this post was submitted on 08 Jan 2026
13 points (88.2% liked)
Parenting
3282 readers
1 users here now
A place to talk about parenting.
Be respectful of others' parenting decisions.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
I'm in the UK. Its the same here. The expectation is to watch your child all the time and actively engage in everything they do.
I'm terrified of letting my kids roam, when they get old enough, like i did myself. But also, I want them to do it, and also without tracking them.
I suspect I will be even more anxious about letting them roam with a tracking device than without. I would probably check it too often, and freak out if the signal was lost or something like that.
I asked my parents recently if they were ever freaked out and nervous when I was out, and they weren't. I can't imagine it.
Don't need to jump in at the deep end. It'll depend on your area, your comfort level, the child's ability, etc. My kids are about getting to the point where I might start encouraging them to go to the play area on their own. This is 500m from the house and down a walk path away from the road/traffic. This is in a residential area and other kids already come there on their own from surrounding houses.