President Signs New 'Free Range Kids' Legislation

President Obama recently signed the Every Student Succeeds Act which includes an amendment about parents' rights when it comes to their children's independence.

The amendment states, "...nothing in this Act shall...prohibit a child from traveling to and from school on foot or by car, bus, or bike when the parents of the child have given permission; or expose parents to civil or criminal charges for allowing their child to responsibly and safely travel to and from school by a means the parents believe is age appropriate."

So what does this mean?

It means that parents now have the right to determine for themselves if their children are independent enough to walk to and from school by themselves.

It would seem that this was always the right of the parents, but recent scenarios prove otherwise. 

You may recall Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, parents from Baltimore, MD, who let their young children walk home alone and who were subsequently investigated by Child Protective Services for neglect. The two cases that were filed against the Meitiv's which accused them of child negligence have since been closed and the charges dropped.

The story made headlines partly due to the fact that the the Meitiv's call themselves "Free Range Parents" and believe in allowing their children certain unsupervised freedoms.

The Free Range Parent's movement was started by New York mom, Lenore Skenazy who gained infamy after she wrote a blog post about letting her then-9-year-old ride the subway by himself. Two days after this story was published, Skenazy found herself on the Today Show rebutting claims that she was "America's Worst Mom."