Leaving children to fend for themselves used to be viewed as a positive aspect of parenting. Now, in an age of fear, a parent, particularly a mother, can be judged as negligent – to the point of criminal prosecution – for actions like leaving a child to play in a park.
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In the New York Times, writer Kim Brooks recounted her own story of leaving her 4-year-old son locked in a car on what she calls a “cool March day” so that she could run a quick errand. That fateful decision led to a series of encounters between Ms. Brooks and the criminal justice system, including a charge of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor.”
Ms. Brooks examined the challenges that mothers face in a world quick to pass judgment on their parenting decisions. She called those moral judgments “mother-shaming” and said that the judgments and risk assessments are intertwined.
“People don’t only think that leaving children alone is dangerous and therefore immoral. They also think it is immoral and therefore dangerous. said Barbara W. Sarnecka, PhD, a cognitive science professor at the University of California, Irvine, told Ms. Brooks. Dr. Sarnecka went on to say that, although children do not have the same rights as adults, “they have some rights, and not just to safety. They have the right to some freedom, to some independence, and to a little bit of danger.”
Click here to read the Time article.