In the US, you know there’s been a shift in parenting theory when someone writes another book. In a column in The New York Sun newspaper, Lenore Skenazy admitted that she happily let her nine-year-old son use the New York subway. Daytime television outrage erupted. How could a mother be so irresponsible? What if something happened?

Lenore’s response to being labelled “America’s Worst Mom” was to start a blog, a book and a movement now referred to as Free-Range Kids.

When kids today are safer than they ever have been, why are so many parents so terrified for them? A modern city is safer and far less hostile than it was when I was scooting around outdoors from dawn til dusk, or until I heard, “Maaaax! Diiinnneeerrr’s readeee!”. My name isn’t Max, but Max’s mum could really scream, so she was like our muezzin, calling us all home for bath and bed.

I grew up in a large country town. It was a minefield – literally. After school, we’d ride our rickety bikes up to Black Hill and play in mines from the 1850s gold rush. We were about eight or nine and when we got bored with climbing down mineshafts, we’d see if we could jump bikes off cliffs or play in rusty car wrecks, or head to the overgrown playground with the black snakes and the splintery seesaw.

If kids came up we didn’t like, we’d throw rocks at them. If kids came by we were scared of, we’d run away to the hideout we had built in the back of the church tennis court and smoke cigarettes we’d nicked from our dads. Never our mums – they would always notice if some were missing.

A kid wasn’t a kid unless their knees, elbows and chin were covered in scabs. We burnt in the sun until we peeled; we played in the rain until we were soaked. We fought, spat, swore, lied, stole, bullied one another and set fire to ants with a magnifying glass.

Your say: What do you think of the free range parenting movement? Do you think parents worry too much these days? Do you think your parents were more free range than the majority of parents today? Share your thoughts and opinions below…

In our world, everything was potentially perilous: every old piece of timber had a rusty nail sticking out of it to give you tetanus; we played footy and cricket in the street, leaping out of the way as cars barrelled down our pitch. We didn’t mind because 1964 EH Holdens and Ford Futuras had shocking brakes, steered like boats and were likely to be piloted by drunken shiftworkers steering with their knees while they rolled a cigarette.

Priests and scoutmasters were not to be trusted. Roaming dogs were not always friendly. There was no soft fall and it was cool to break your arm.

Oddly, as the world has become safer for children, parents have become more fearful. Everything has a warning sign on it, pools are fenced, there’s a 40km/h speed limit outside schools – even though cars today actually stop when you apply the brakes.

We vaccinate and wear bike helmets. We report bullying and potential abuse. On the outskirts of town, the mines have been filled in, the blackberry thickets sprayed, the burned-out cars hauled away and all the scoutmasters properly vetted.

So, what’s there to be so afraid of? Where I live, I don’t think everyone’s caught onto the Free-Range Kids movement yet, but each morning and afternoon there are plenty of children walking to and from school unaccompanied. In the afternoon, they ride their scooters, skateboards or bikes to the shop. There’s a big gully with a stinky stormwater drain through the middle of it and there are gangs of eight-year-old boys down there chucking stuff in, building forts and race tracks, and seeing how high they can jump their bikes.

And in the middle of the bicycle Grand Prix, one of their mobile phones rings and a parent says, “Maaaax! Diiinnneeerrr’s readeeee!”

During the last school holidays, my 11-year-old daughter and her friend caught the bus each day to and from tennis lessons. Her backhand and serve didn’t improve at all, but the maturity and confidence she gained from the bus trip was immeasurable.

“You’re a bit late,” I enquired at 4.30 one afternoon.

“We went to Maccas for a soft serve and got the next bus.”

Wonderful.

Is cotton-wool parenting a phenomenon only among a certain class of parent? Across the city, plenty of kids go home to empty houses and, miraculously, spread butter and Vegemite on bread by themselves and wait until their parents get home. Plenty of kids work in family businesses before and after school. Plenty of kids get up after their parents have already left for work and, remarkably, they pour cereal into a bowl unaided, find their schoolbooks and get on a bus.

If you think the city in which you live is so threatening to your children, then what’s it doing to you? I say set appropriate limits and give your kids a chance to experience the rites of passage that will help them grow into responsible, happy adults. You’ve got to let them go one day. They’re not yours, you know.

Your say: What do you think of the free range parenting movement? Do you think parents worry too much these days? Do you think your parents were more free range than the majority of parents today? Share your thoughts and opinions below…