Parents want their kids to be safe, but some believe safety concerns have gone too far.
“This kind of environment of being suspicious of everybody around them and giving them no chance to be children or to play is just a horrible disservice to the children," says Barry Glassner, author of The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things: Crime, Drugs, Minorities, Teen Moms, Killer Kids, Mutant Microbes, Plane Crashes, Road Rage, & So Much More.
In this edition of Talk of Iowa, Charity Nebbe hosts a discussion on so-called “free-range parenting,” a concept first used in 2008; but a recent child neglect investigation in Maryland has turned the term and idea into a lightening rod issue.
Nebbe talks about how culture has changed with Barry Glassner, digs into parenting issues with Kim Greder, author of the Science of Parenting Blog, and Wendy Rickman of the Iowa Department of Human Services joins the conversation to talk about how the state of Iowa handles child neglect cases and complaints.
"The strongest thing parents can do is teach their kids to be good problem solvers," says Rickman.
