JUDY WOODRUFF: As childhood obesity, anxiety,
depression, and suicide rates continue to grow in the United States, some blame in part
a facet of modern life, so-called helicopter parenting. There's concern that a growing culture of
what some see is overprotective parenting may actually be causing more harm than good William Brangham is back with this report
on a budding movement for everyone to take a deep breath and let kids be kids. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: With just a few steps, these
little feet, all six of them, recently kicked up a nationwide debate about parenting in
America. The two sneakered ones belong to Dorothy Widen. One afternoon in this tony suburb north of
Chicago, 8-year-old Dorothy was walking her dog Marshmallow. It was one of her regular chores. Someone saw them, and called 911. COREY WIDEN, Parent: The police showed up
at the door, I mean, like you know, bulletproof vests, squad car, you know, gun on her hip. And Dorothy was just like, "Mom, the police
are here." WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Corey asked if her daughter
had done something wrong. COREY WIDEN: And she said, no. There was no other issue other than she was
reported to be very young and alone. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Child Protective Services
launched an investigation. COREY WIDEN: So one of the first things it
talks about is the removal process, because that's basically what they do is. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And Widen was warned her
children could be taken away. WOMAN: That mother fighting back against mom-shaming
after being investigated. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The case made national headlines. Corey and Dorothy appeared on morning news
shows. And while the investigation went nowhere,
Widen became part of a growing and outspoken group of parents who have been investigated
or charged for things that seemed ordinary not long ago. KIM BROOKS, Author, "Small Animals": Yes,
so you're going to meet up with the other -- with the bad moms club. (LAUGHTER) WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Take Widen's friend Kim
Brooks. She's a fellow Chicago area mom who, on her
way to the airport, recently left her 4-year-old son in a locked car on a cool day in suburban
Virginia. She was gone for five minutes. Brooks comes out of the store, gets in the
car. Her son is fine, they go to the airport, she
thinks nothing of it. What she didn't realize, though, is that while
she was in the store, someone had seen her leave her son behind, came over, videotaped
her son, and called the police. KIM BROOKS: Almost a year later, I got a call
and learned that they actually had filed a warrant for my arrest in Virginia. Somehow, I had never been contacted about
it until then. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: A warrant for your arrest
for what? KIM BROOKS: For a misdemeanor, contributing
to the delinquency of a minor. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Brooks flew back to Virginia,
turned herself into the police, and did 100 hours of community service. She wrote a book about the whole ordeal. It's called "Small Animals." And she's concluded that paranoia about parenting
has run amok in America. KIM BROOKS: Statistically, for a child to
be abducted by a stranger -- because most child abductions are not by strangers, they're
by family members -- to be abducted by a stranger, you would have to leave a child in a -- alone
in a public space for 750,000 years. LENORE SKENAZY, President, Let Grow: People
are fantasizing an insane level of danger that doesn't -- that almost doesn't exist
in an action movie. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Lenore Skenazy is something
of a patron saint for these moms. She says it's time for parents to push back. Her nonprofit, which is called Let Grow, aims
to make it easy, normal and legal again for parents to give kids back some of their independence. Skenazy herself came under fire several years
ago after she allowed her 9-year-old to ride the New York City subway all alone, and then
wrote a column about it. It's hysteria, she says. The world is safer today than it's ever been,
even as the push to bubble-wrap children keeps growing. LENORE SKENAZY: Crime is less today than when
you were growing up, so there is no factual, statistical reason that you shouldn't let
your kid have at least as much freedom as you had. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In communities nationwide,
like Wilton, Connecticut, Skenazy's ideas are now bring together parents, law enforcement
and elected officials to dial back all the judgment and fear. WOMAN: It really borrows quite heavily from
Lenore's packet. Kids need some old-fashioned freedom to explore,
goof up, get lost, get brave, and become part of the world. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The state of Utah, with
Skenazy's help, recently passed what's called a free-range parenting law, her term, to enshrine
these same ideas. But Skenazy says it's not just about society's
judgment. Parents themselves need to learn to let go,
and sometimes let their kids go wild. LENORE SKENAZY: What you're seeing here is
called play club, one of Skenazy's let grow ideas being piloted in the Patchogue-Medford
School District on Long Island, New York. It looks like old-fashioned recess, but once
a week, schools like Eagle Elementary are throwing open their doors open an hour early
and giving kids the run of the place. Adults keep their distance, letting them tear
through the halls, jump, shake, send things flying. PETER GRAY, Boston College: We're seeing kids
running in the hallway, running in the hallway and nobody stopping them. Can you imagine that? WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Peter Gray is a research
professor of psychology at Boston College. And he worked with Skenazy on this program. He says restricting kids' freedom is partly
why anxiety and major depressive disorders are five to 10 times higher than they were
in the 1950s. And the suicide rate for kids has increased
sixfold. Play, he says, helps them learn crucial resilience
and social skills. PETER GRAY: How do you develop the capacity
for all of these things if you're growing up just doing what you're told to do, right? You absolutely need freedom. You need to be able to take risks. You need to learn how to fail. You need to learn, I can fall down and get
hurt, and I can get up again and recover. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Gray says this loss of unstructured
play is partly why childhood obesity and other health issues are on the rise. PETER GRAY: There are a lot of people who
think that adult-directed sports would make up for that. Children are not designed to lift weights,
and run track, and swim laps. They're designed to chase one another around,
laughing, and screaming until their sides are splitting. This is how children get exercise, and there's
no substitute for that. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Once the school day starts,
Let Grow follows these kids into the classroom and eventually home. WOMAN: Try something... STUDENT: New. STUDENT: New. STUDENT: I set the table by myself. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Starting in kindergarten,
the program also assigns students to try something new once a week, with no help from mom and
dad. Second-grader Nathaniel Ames recently started
venturing into the backyard to feed the family chickens. Fourth-grader Gia Rosello learned to pop her
own popcorn. Connor Hayes is a fifth-grader who has never
walked more than a block from his house by himself. MAGGIE HAYES, Parent: Watch both ways before
you cross the street. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The next day, he convinced
his mom, Maggie, that he was ready. MAGGIE HAYES: I love you. STUDENT: I love you too, mom. MAGGIE HAYES: All right, have fun. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: She knows this freedom is
important, but it's hard for her. MAGGIE HAYES: When I was younger, I was outside
all day long, riding my bike all around the neighborhood, and I was doing it probably
younger than him. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Connor made it to the playground
that day, two blocks, and he said the feeling he got lived up to the hype. STUDENT: Mostly because I kind of wanted to
like see how cool it was to just like be alone for the first time without anybody watching
me. Makes me feel pretty proud of myself. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Skenazy says, of course
these are just baby steps. And while she knows it makes many uncomfortable,
she says this can help parents across the spectrum. LENORE SKENAZY: Well, certainly, a free-range
parenting law that says that you can take your eyes off your kids, and it's not illegal,
is great across the entire economic spectrum, because some people want to give their kids
freedom, and they don't want to get arrested. Some people have to give their kids freedom. So, whether it's by choice or by necessity,
the idea of giving children some independence or some unsupervised time shouldn't be illegal. WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After being investigated
for letting her daughter walk the dog, Corey Widen says Dorothy is now nervous about being
out alone now. She's worried she's going to get in trouble. They're both hoping that will change soon. For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham
in Wilmette, Illinois.
