This story doesn’t sound right. There must be more to it.
Plenty of six-year-olds wander freely in most neighborhoods nowadays - at least in this area (NJ and PA). As for the 10-year-old, if you live within a mile of school, bus service typically isn’t provided, and 3rd-graders (age 8 or so) are considered old enough to walk the mile to school alone.
Maryland is different.
“”Plenty of six-year-olds wander freely in most neighborhoods nowadays “”
If you saw the pictures of the streets where they were walking, that is hardly a “neighborhood”; high rises and commercial buildings? Not my idea anyway of a neighborhood.
The parents were already part of a “group”..Free Range parents. The question is whether they are trying to call attention more to themselves vs’s quietly teaching their kids self reliance. A simple “yes officer we were just trying to teach our kids more independence but didn’t realize the crime statistics of the neighbor hood...we will be more careful in the future” might have mitigated the situation. No..instead the parents, especially the mom wanted to get all “activist” and “double down”...so it becomes more about them and not about the kids. There is a “munchausens” quality to this story and to the parents’ story I find troubling! The parents do need to be investigated!