Dinking around online in a slow moment at the store, I found a pretty cool blog called Free Range Kids. Having read a few of her posts, I encourage you to do likewise.

I don't have any kids of my own, and my stepdaughters are both over eighteen. Still, I see folks being "helicopter parents," and wonder what they are teaching their children, aside from fear of "different."

And I think that fear of "different" is one of the more severe problems we face in our society right now.

Fear, and how it is allowed to run people's lives, has broken up relationships. For me. It was a major factor in why I broke up with a woman I had figured I would be marrying. She was afraid of life in too many ways.

I understand taking reasonable precautions. I also realize that the balance point of reasonable/outrageous varies from person to person. I'm comfortable with riding a bike instead of driving most of the time. I do take measures to make my riding safer, like riding where I will be seen by other road users and making my bike easier to see than most. Some think it nuts that I'd expose myself to as much danger as they perceive me facing on a daily basis.

I've looked at a fair number of statistical analysis exercises, and riding is safer than driving in many ways. I'm certainly less of a threat to the pedestrians, other road users and inanimate objects near my path than a car would be.

In any event, have a look at Free Range Kids. Drop Ms. Skenazy a line, or leave me your thoughts.