Free Range Parenting: Danielle Meitiv Defends Decision To Let Children Walk Home Alone

Free range parenting mom Danielle Meitiv is opening up about her decision to allow her 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter walk home alone. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Meitiv is now under investigation by Child Protection Services after authorities discovered that she and her husband routinely allow their children to walk alone in the city “to build confidence.”

Danielle Meitiv engaged in a Today show interview on Monday morning with her daughter, Dvora, and her son, Rafi. The free range parent said she permitted her children to walk approximately one mile from their Maryland home to a nearby public park. During their usual trek to the park one sunny day, local police officers stopped the Meitiv children and asked why there were unsupervised. The police officers escorted the youngsters back home.

A Child Protection Services investigation was launched on Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, after their children were returned to the home. Danielle Meitiv does not feel she did not do anything wrong and still believes in her free range parenting style.

“We’re just doing what our parents did. [Walking without adult supervision] It was considered perfectly normal one generation ago,” Danielle Meitiv said during the Today interview.

“Well, I’ve walked home from school before. Not with my sister, but I’ve done it alone,” 10-year-old Rafi said during the segment. “We walked around the block a lot and we walk home round the block a lot and we walk home from another park which is just around the block.”

The self-described free range parents follow the philosophy of other moms and dads who feel it is important for the development of their child to foster self-reliance by building confidence via short journeys into the outside world with adults at their side. The Meitiv children typically carry around a card which reads, “I’m not lost. I’m a free range kid.” But the day the children were stopped walking to the Maryland park, they forgot to carry the card with them.

A resident who spotted the children walking lone called 911 to alert the police to what they felt was a potentially dangerous situation. Danielle Meitiv, who was not at home when the police escorted her son and daughter back to the home, claims that the law enforcement officers were “aggressive” towards her husband.

“He [Alexander Meitiv] was shocked. He sees three police officers with our kids and they really didn’t explain what was going on so it was kind of uncomfortable. They asked for ID. He said he felt they were really aggressive.”

What do you think about Danielle Meitiv being investigated by Child Protection Services and free range parenting?

[Image via: Danielle Meitiv/Today]