Over Parenting and Fear Parenting

As  kid, I remember riding my bike for hours all over town.  My mother knew I was bike riding but probably had no clue where I was or what I was doing.

I never felt unsafe.  I never felt in danger.  We explored.  We played games together.  We fought.  We made up.  We argued.  We carried pocket knives. We carved stuff. We interacted with our environment and we learned.

I saw this article in the Casper newspaper reviewing a book called “Fifty Dangerous Things (you should let your children do)”  In the review they discuss the author’s, Gever Tulley’s point about “fear parenting.”

Here is a link to Gever Tulley at TEDTalk explaining “Five Dangerous Things..” that served as the springboard for his book.

It seems like parenting in general is getting more extreme.  It seems like more and more students are either neglected and/or abused, or they end up with “helicopter parents” who protect them from even the simplest negative slight.

Am I wrong on this?