In general, I am a supporter of the “Free range children” idea . . .

I believe that children should be allowed a degree of freedom to explore and move around on their own without adult accompaniment. I think most eight-year-olds, for instance, may be trusted to take public transportation, during the day, from one point to another that they know well, without an adult there every step of the way.

Still, I rather feel that these children may have been taking the ideas a bit too far.

A random thought about why I like my parents.

When reading other people’s LiveJournals, and communities and such, there is much written about parents.

And I was thinking about one of the things that I truly appreciate about my parents -- something that some of my friends also have, and others . . . don’t.

The reason that I have a good relationship with my parents now that I’m an adult is because, well, they figure, they raised me as well as they could. And they figure that, honestly, they probably did a pretty good job with me. Sure, they’re willing to stipulate that they weren’t perfect, but they certainly were good enough.

And because they can be confident that they did a good enough job of parenting me, they can be confident that I turned out reasonably well. And so they can be confident that the choices I make, even if they’re different choices than THEY would, are going to be at least reasonable choices, made by a reasonably sane, ethical, honest, and honorable person.

So, they can talk to me about my choices, they can offer to give me advice if I want it, but they can trust me as a person, because they can trust themselves as parents.

Thanks, Mom and Dad. You done pretty good with your kids, and you done pretty good by your kids.