Aside from Daylight Savings Time it feels like there is almost NOTHING both parties agree on anymore.
Except for Free-Range Parenting!
Last week the Colorado State Senate joined the Colorado House in UNANIMOUSLY voting for what is now called the “Reasonable Childhood Independence” bill. It had two Republicans and two Democrats officially sponsoring it, but in the House, TWENTY SEVEN representatives asked to please be listed as CO-SPONSORS.
Yes, yes, it still has to be signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, and we won’t count our chickens, etc., etc. (Even though there are at least 27 of them.)
BUT — Colorado is the first “Blue” state to pass this bill, joining Utah, Texas and Oklahoma. It is very sweet to be able to see how eager lawmakers are to ensure that parents who sometimes take their eyes off their kids — by choice or out of financial necessity — will not be considered guilty of neglect. Neglect occurs when a parent puts their kids in obvious and likely danger, not when they simply give them some unsupervised time.
THANK YOU, Free-Rangers, for seeing the value of this movement for so long. Kids deserve some independence and parents deserve to give it to them without getting arrested! Read more about the Colorado victory in this blog post at Let Grow. Want to look up the laws by you? Here’s our 50-state Map of Neglect Laws. And if you would like to see a “Reasonable Childhood Independence” bill passed in YOUR state, check out our Laws & Advocacy page.
Let freedom ring!
As a Colorado resident (even though I don’t have children myself) I’m very happy to see this. Here in the town of Superior, outside of Denver, we are pretty free range already. Kids playing outside, riding their bikes, whatever, with no helicopter parents watching. And if they see a car coming down the street….Amazing!! the kids are actually smart enough to get back on the sidewalk. Let’s give em some credit, and go Free Range!
I’m 47,yrs old things has changed a lot since I was growing up neighbors knew each other and talked to each other we was safe playing all,over the neighborhood. These days a lot of neighbors don’t even know each other and we hear lot about child abductions, child sex offenders. and human trafficking . 8, , 9 ,10 yr olds playing outside there home without the parents yes letting them play all over the neighborhood or walk toschool and other places by thereself no. That’s gonna give child predators easier access to children and we will be hearing a lot more about those crimes.
I believe that we need to make general rules for children’s behavior on the street, we need to limit the age that would allow them to go out on their own, as it is already done in many countries. This is not the time to think about the greater freedom of an emotionally immature person. Safety comes first.
I absolutely agree with sherry and coomeet