When Can a Child Go Solo at a Ski Lodge (or Anywhere Else)? So, what would you think if I set the kiddo up in the lodge with some hot cocoa and an iPad while I took a solo run down the mountain? My husband's question caught me off guard. He had just returned from an all-day skiing trip with our 6-year-old son and amid retellings of spectacular runs and a spill or two, he asked that question. I responded with a hint of trepidation. Did you? In the few moments before he answered, several different situations sped through my mind. I saw my son with a mug of hot cocoa, piled high with marshmallows of course, concentrating furiously over his newest level of Angry Birds. As if in a mental split screen, I also saw him running around the ski lodge, frantically calling for my husband while nearby adults tried to help. In the end, neither of those things actually occurred. Nah. He's too young," he answered. But I definitely toyed with the idea for a few. In a couple of years, though ... And, yes. While he's not quite ready at 6, I have a feeling that at 8 or 9, my son would sit happily in the lodge (likely still immersed in a game of Angry Birds) as my husband took a solo run or two down the mountain. Despite the knowledge that I would probably be more than O.K. with that situation in a few more years, something gave me pause ... but what would others say? I ran our conversation past my mother, who promptly told me that she thought it was against the law to leave a child under the age of 10 unsupervised. I immediately double-checked her assumption, not wanting to push my point if it was illegal. I found that only Maryland and Illinois have a minimum age for which you can leave a child alone. However, if it's found that a child was put in "potential risk" while being left alone, that can certainly cause legal problems for the parent. All that being said, I was a little surprised by my mother's response. But what about the way you raised us?! I grew up a free-range kid during the '80s, before "free-range parenting" was even considered a thing. We lived in a quiet, family-friendly neighborhood where it wasn't unusual for me to play outside by myself until dusk, with my mother or father occasionally popping their head out of the house to check on me. I also have memories of being left at home alone for short periods of time while my mother ran a few errands when I was around 10. I'd like to think I turned out O.K. But almost 25 years later, here was my mother getting all up in arms about a hypothetical situation involving her precious grandson. Her reasoning is one that many parents toss out when debating how much independence to give their children: it was safer back then. However, the numbers tell another story. In 2012, violent crime in the United States fell for the fifth straight year in a row, and in fact, the country is at its lowest crime rate in decades. Despite the statistics showing that we're living in a safer America, parents continue to act as if crime rates are astronomically higher than when they were children. This disconnect -- one that is perpetuated by the easy and immediate access we have to social media and every breaking news story -- causes parents to not only overreact when it comes of the protection of their children (helicopter parenting), but also to be hypercritical of how other parents deal with safety concerns as well. Just this past year, a mother from Texas was arrested on child endangerment charges after she allowed her two children to play on the sidewalk of their cul-de-sac while she watched from their porch. How did we get to a point where providing our children with a healthy sense of independence has become conflated with neglect? Is it any wonder that I may have slightly panicked when my husband brought up the idea of our son hanging out in the ski lodge by himself? My anxiety was not over how my son would handle the situation, but was instead caused by the potential damning reaction of others. And while I don't quite let my son hang out by himself at some ski lodge (yet), I'll admit: I still allow him -- yes, my 6-year-old son -- to play outside unattended. He knows to listen to his gut and to come get me if anything is wrong. In turn, I pop my head outside occasionally like my mother did many years ago. But even though I know my son is safe and happy playing unsupervised, I'm not so sure that I am safe from the judgment of other parents. That makes me a somewhat anxious free-range practicing parent - one irony of living in an anxious age.