Utah’s ‘Free-Range Parenting’ Law Is Exactly What America Needs

Raising kids today.

A new bill, signed by Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on March 15, redefines “neglect” to protect parents from being charged for allowing their children to do things alone, like walking to school, going to the park, or waiting in a car while their parent runs an errand.

For many of us that are above 40 years old, this is how we grew up, we would leave the house after our chores were completed and played in neighborhoods and parks until Mom called us home for dinner.

“Kids need to wonder about the world, explore and play in it, and by doing so learn the skills of self-reliance and problem-solving they’ll need as adults,” Sen. Lincoln Fillmore (R-UT), a sponsor of the bill, told ABC News in a statement. “As a society, we’ve become too hyper about ‘protecting kids’ and then end up sheltering them from the experiences that we took for granted as we were kids. I sponsored SB65 so that parents wouldn’t be punished for letting their kids experience childhood.”

To read more from Catholic Vote, click here.