A new survey has found that just 10% of American parents with kids aged 7 to 9 let them stay home by themselves, and almost one in five said they wouldn't even let their teens do that.
The survey also revealed that parents these days just aren't comfortable letting their kids walk to school, ride their bike to a friend's place, or play in a park unsupervised until they are at least 12 years old.
However, there is a growing movement between some parents to allow their kids to live a, funny enough, Stranger Things-type lifestyle.
Now we're not talking about a group of pre-teens fighting supernatural demons in other dimensions, bit allowing our kids to just go out and be on their own with constant parental supervision.
But how do we get back to that place? Parents these days appeared to be more scared of the outside world and what it will do to their children more than ever before.
Psychologists say that avoiding something out of fear gives it even more power to scare us.
Some states across the country, like Colorado, Utah, Texas and Oklahoma, have passed laws that allow kids to have "reasonable independence."
Lenore Skenazy writes for the New York Post to make independence the new normal in your neighborhood by doing things like having a party with the adults inside, the kids outside. (Bonus: Both groups will have a better time.)
"Let the kids go shopping. Tell them to go skateboarding. When parents start giving their kids just a little independence, the anxiety loses its power. It gets muscled out by pride."
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