Don't be afraid to give kids independence

When I started second grade at St. Mary’s Elementary School in Albuquerque, my parents decided it was time I learned how to walk to school. The trek from my grandparents’ house, where we lived in a small two-room adobe casita at the rear of the property, to the school a mile away took about a half-hour. I walked alone, down what passed for busy streets in those days, through neighborhoods and commercial areas, occasionally meeting classmates en route. It was good exercise and taught me independence at an early age.

It’s lucky for my parents they weren’t raising me in Montgomery County, Md., today, or they might be facing child neglect charges. That may be the fate of a Silver Spring, Md., couple.