Free Range Parenting Good or Bad? You decide.

Coming up, a couple fighting back after allegations of neglect. It's all because they let their 6 and 10-year-old children walk alone in their neighborhood. They're called free-range kids, and it's sparking a major debate. So who should decide what's best for kids, Child Protective Services or their parents? Welcome back. A Maryland couple is getting a wave of support online in their fight for free-range parenting. The couple sparked a debate when they let their 6- and 10-year-old children walk alone in their neighborhood. The kids were picked up by local police after a neighbor saw them unattended and called 911.

I am walking my dog. Okay. Two kids that are unaccompanied, and they've been walking around for probably about 20 minutes by themselves. Okay, how old do they look? Maybe 7, little boy, maybe about 7, 8, little girl maybe about 6. Okay, and you don't see any parents around them? No, ma'am. Okay, have you, have you talked to them to see, you know, why are they just walking around by themselves? No, no, they came up and asked to pet my dog. I let them and, uh, that was it.

Their parents were accused of neglect, but supporters of free-range parenting want government agencies to back off, saying they're teaching their kids to be more independent. Let's get reaction from both sides of this debate. Joining me now is Lenore Skenazy. She's the founder of the Free Range Parenting movement. She also sparked controversy after letting her 9-year-old son ride the New York City subway alone. Robert Siciliano is a personal security expert. He's been known to put GPS tracking devices on his kids. Robert, why couldn't the man walking the dog simply have engaged in conversation those two young kids and said, Hey, what are you up to? Instead of involving the law.

I'm not sure that, uh, it would be necessary for him to engage with them in conversation to begin with. I don't see why that would be necessary. Uh, and, uh, calling the law, I'm not entirely sure that was necessary either.

Well, how should it have been handled?

I'm not sure it should have been handled at all. Uh, if those kids weren't in any immediate harm or immediate danger, I don't see why law enforcement was called in for any reason.

Okay, I think we have agreement on this.

Yeah, really, goodbye.

Send it over.

My work here is done.

Wait a minute though. We live, Lenore, in such dangerous times. I know, 'cause Nancy Grace told me so.

Nancy Grace told me so the other day.

Maybe I shouldn't say that, but I see these child abductions constantly being trumpeted in the news. Do we live in such dangerous times?

Thank you for the softball. We live in actually a 50-year crime low at the moment, and sometimes people say, Well, of course crime is low against children. We're keeping them inside. But crime is low against, you know, car theft and burglary and murder, rape, assault. Those are all down. So the fact is that crime is down. And if your mom was sending you out to play anytime in the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s, she was sending you out in more dangerous times than today.

Robert, do you agree with that, that we live in far less dangerous times than we were all raised?

I don't necessarily agree with that. You know, while there may have been several million people victimized, say, 20, 30 years ago, there are still, you know, millions of people victimized today. So statistically, there are still plenty of victims out there. There's still plenty of crime occurring every day. The FBI crime clock ticks and it claims a victim. And so while free-range parenting in this movement, to some degree, is necessary due to common sense being thrown out the window with zero liability policies— I'm sorry, zero tolerance policies— you know, you need perspective. And the perspective is there are still millions of people with heartache due to violent crimes.

Tell me how you raise your own children, because I made reference at the outset to you using GPS tracking. I believe you have a German Shepherd. I think that you also rely on video cameras. Give me a little bit of of your philosophy.

So my business is security, and security is all about layers of protection. The more protect— the more layers you have in place, the more secure you're gonna be. And while there's no such thing as 100% security, uh, having various technologies in place, having various systems in place, education is, is of primary importance. Of course, your brain is your best defense weapon. Adopting all of these measures of protection is not a bad thing. It doesn't make a person paranoid. It makes them in relative control to a certain degree. And again, there's no such thing as 100%, but these are things you can and should do. You wear your seatbelt because you know there's a chance you could be involved in a motor vehicle accident. You should be aware of your personal security and teach it to your children because bad things can happen. The inevitability of something bad happening in the course of a lifetime is not a matter of if, but when. How bad is a different discussion. So people need to be educated, they need to be aware, they need to take control of their personal security. To go in the opposite direction and to think that it can't happen it can't happen to my family at all as being irresponsible.

What's the free-range response to that?

Uh, the free-range response is I love helmets and car seats and seat belts, things that you can keep doing your everyday activities without changing them. The idea that there has to be somebody with children all the time and otherwise they're not safe or watching them somehow electronically is a new one and I find it weird. Uh, when I was a kid, and my mom sent me out to walk to school when, as we've discussed already, the crime rate was higher. She wasn't feeling like she had to follow me or hold my hand. And, and actually, when I got to the corner and they needed to cross, the crossing guard back then was 10. So the idea that suddenly 10-year-olds are so vulnerable and shouldn't be out in the world is a really new one. And I think it's because we're overestimating danger, and I think we've really started underestimating kids across the board. We just think of them in terms of danger.

Why did you turn loose your son at age 9 on the New New York City subway? What was the thought process?

The thought process was he had come to us, my husband and me, and said, "Will you please take me someplace and let me find my own way home on the subway here in New York City where we live?" And we had to talk about it. And we thought, "Does it make sense?" And we made sure that he knew how to read a map. Obviously, he speaks the language. We're all on the subways all the time, including him, so he was very familiar with it. I think there's safety in numbers. 6 million people ride the subway every day. And altogether, it seemed like if he was ready, we were ready. And I wouldn't have let him do it if I thought it was a crazy, dangerous thing. I let him do it because it seemed like a normal part of life.

Robert, what do you make of that attempt at giving a child independence? Lenore's decision to allow her 9-year-old to ride the New York City subway alone.

So I don't necessarily think that we are overestimating danger. I think that we are under-preparing our children to respond to potentially dangerous situations. Growing up, none of us were really properly educated or informed as to what to do. You know, stranger danger is somewhat of a myth. But I think that overall, uh, parents today are in a certain amount of denial that they don't, uh, while they may be helicopter parents, while they may be there and think that they're protecting their kid, they're not necessarily preparing them for the world, uh, that, that can at times be dangerous. And I think that if you don't properly educate and inform the parent as to how to teach that kid personal security responsibility, that kid's not gonna be able to navigate the world responsibly. Uh, see, putting your child on the subway, you know, is a leap in faith. As long as you have taken that kid on that subway a number of different times, prepared them for different situations, you know, be able to react to certain situations, okay. But at the same time, there are too many parents out there that aren't doing that properly. And if you're not educating your kids, if you don't know what the risks are, and you're not properly informed yourself, then it is inevitable that something bad's gonna happen to you and your family. If you don't have a home security system today, in my opinion, that's being irresponsible.

Quick final thought, Lenore.

Uh, I think we all should prepare our kids for the world, and one of the ways they get to be more safe and street smart is by gradually giving them freedom and not always watching them and being with them. And that's what Free Range Kids is about. Not about being freewheeling, about being safe and sane and letting your kids gradually become part of the world like we were.

Lenore Skenazy, Robert Siciliano, thank you both for being here. We appreciate you.