L.J. Williamson laments that many parents do not let their children walk, bike, or play outdoors fearing for their safety even as crime rates go down and concerns about childhood obesity-related ailments rise.
"...my son's bike stands alone, always the sole occupant of the school's tucked-in-a-faraway-corner bike rack. When we arrive, other kids look at us in amazement and ask questions like 'Why do you ride a bike?' and 'Don't you have a car?'...Which scenario should provoke more panic: the possibility that your child may become one of the approximately 100 children who are kidnapped by strangers each year, or one of the country's 58 million overweight adults?...The next generation of grandparents won't even need to harangue their progeny with tales of walking seven miles to school in the snow; it'll be impressive enough to say that they walked at all."
FULL STORY: Let kids outdoors
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