A Virginia mom let her 5-year-old walk alone. A debate over modern parenting ensued.

How old is old enough to walk alone?

For Virginia mother Karyann Parkinson, the answer was 5.

On June 5, she let her 5-year-old son, Samuel, walk half a mile to a pond in their gated community to collect goose feathers, a route she says he knows well and that they had just done together. The outing ultimately led to a criminal conviction and her placement on the state’s child-abuse and neglect registry.

Parkinson has become the latest inadvertent symbol of a growing movement that believes children need more independence. Her conviction has reignited a debate over how much freedom kids should have and how much government oversight is appropriate in parenting. It’s also placed a spotlight on free range parenting, a philosophy that emphasizes free play, increased independence and limited parental intervention.

Parkinson says she permitted Samuel to go on the walk because she and her husband, Dallin, “feel really strongly about giving our kids a lot of room to grow.” It’s an approach she’s found success with in her older kids, who are ages 14, 12 and 7.

“They can do more than you think they can, and as you allow them to do that, they're going to…

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/life/