[deleted_account]

Following the author's "How many men have exposed themselves this year?" logic, if nobody's called the police on your kids, why are you worried about it?

I know you want to roll your eyes at the middle-aged woman as being a hand-wringing looky-loo, but maybe that's just what the social safety net that makes free range kids a possibility looks like.

My elementary school-age kids walk to school. They know they might get approached by an adult asking where they live; they know how to answer: "I live up the street. No, I don't need help." NBD.

A counter example, I pulled over on my drive home from work to ask a five year old in pajamas wandering the streets near dark what he was doing out. I walked him home. Mom was horrified to realize the little dude had wandered out of the house.

One final thought on the original article, I think the author is willfully ignoring the banal reality of the situation to make their point. I'm sure the school representative wanted to say, "Listen lady, I've got 30 kids I need to monitor at recess and while you're probably a nice person you're another variable I need to keep in the corner of my eye. Take a walk."