A few years ago, Skenazy wrote a breezy piece about allowing her then 9 year old son to ride a NYC subway.
She was nervous, as all parents are, but took reasonable precautions. Of course, the trip was uneventful. No Cormac McCarthy-esque doom cannibals, Hollywood axe murderers or underwear bombers attacked her child.
Seemed straightforward enough. Ah, but the response... The response was anything but. Skenazy described the harrowing experience of upsetting the great, fearful beast that is Meticulosus Americanus:
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore-skenazy/more-from-americas-worst_b_96175.html>
Inspired by her walk through the valley of pissed pants and GPS tracking devices, Skenazy wrote a book -- a sort of manifesto really -- named Free Range Kids:
<http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/>
Come to think of it, there's an interesting political dimension to all this. Relentlessly felt fear and over-estimated danger produce a kind of internally generated State of Exception. Parents (especially parents of small children) are among the most willing people -- at least in my experience -- to support super intrusive, almost crazy 'security' measures crying out, wait for it...
Won't someone please think of the children!?
.d.