Helicopter Parents

        Parenting is not a one person job- there is always someone that thinks they do it best. Other parents, your parents, friends, psychologists, and “professional” internet bloggers. There is a constant string of critics that will be the first to tell set of fresh parents who have not even left the maternity ward that they are doing their job wrong, their job, of course, is being a parent. As new parents in America, they are pressures already implanted in the hospital to fulfil parental requirements. We lack the choice of parenthood. In America, there are constant threats to not only our own health, but to our children’s as well. Free-range parenthood is an ideally great idea except for the fact that there are many threats to our the life of children and situations that, unfortunately, we cannot control.

        There is a constant fear in parents that their precious child will be taken from them. There is nothing that can compare to the adoration and bond that a child and his or her parents share. It is a big world where there are bad things and people that are threats to young kids. In Clemens Wergin’s article about her approach to free-range parenting she states “most are horrified by the idea that their children might roam without adult supervision,” (Wergin 1) but this is justified for parents. Children are naturally curious and they tend to get into anything they can get access to. If a child is left unattended outside in a backyard that has a pool, fenced or not fenced, they are drawn to the vast, blue hole in the yard. One child drowns for every 11,000 residential homes America, which is roughly 550 kids under fifteen drowning a year (Dubner 150). This drastic amount of young lives lost due to lack of supervision and the human instinct of curiosity. Accidents such as these can be avoided with the adult watching and checking in on the children.

        Sexual predators are a part of our society no matter how much we all would like to believe they do not exist.  These men and women pose a huge threat to children and can often lure them into situations with fatal outcomes. Children left to roam the streets and parks alone are targets for sex offenders. New Jersey alone now has more than 15,000 registered sex offenders. About 4,085 of them--including 140 in Bergen County and 383 in Passaic County--have been categorized as moderate to high-risk offenders, and the list of such abusers can be found on a state police website (Markos). By letting kids loose without supervision, they instantly become vulnerable and that vulnerability accents their naivety.