Much ado about nothing

So a NYC mom lets her 9 year old son take the subway home by himself after he had been pestering her for months to let him do it.

So of course there are all sorts of freaks who think she is the Worst. Mom. Ever!

How dare she try to teach her child to be self reliant! How dare she teach him not to be terrified of the world around him and to explore it instead. OMG, this poor child may actually grow up to be independent!

Since the Kid was in 4th or 5th grade, about the time he regularly started missing the yellow school bus in the mornings, I've let him take the metro bus by himself. He used to take it home twice a week too after chess club. And to meet his friend William at William's mom's work.

The only reason he doesn't take it all the time now is that his school is walking distance (about half a mile) and William moved to Sacramento. But he takes himself to the grocery store and the video game store and the library all by himself all the time. And he has, since he was 10.

I am not a believer in sheltering kids from reality. They never learn how to protect themselves if they are kept out of the world. The Kid has had a few problems on his own, but always from other kids. And he has learned how to deal with them. He knows that he is fully capable of standing up to a bully (or 3). He also knows that the number one cardinal rule of our house is: DO NOT FREAK OUT THE MOMMY. This means being where you say you are going to be, coming home when you say you are coming home, and answering your cell phone (this last one got him grounded when he didn't get any reception in the library and didn't answer 24 missed calls).