“Like most parents my age, I have memories of childhood so different from the way my children are growing up that sometimes I think I might be making them up, or at least exaggerating them.” That’s The Atlantic’s Hanna Rosin on the modern parent’s preoccupation with safety that ultimately robs kids of the benefits gained from independence and risk taking. I feel the same way when I compare my childhood to the experiences of my kids and their friends who are constantly being over-watched by neurotic parents worried about everything from their physical safety to their media consumption. But what exactly has changed? Is childhood inherently more dangerous today, or are we just spending too much time with our kids? (Maybe we just want to make sure they give us some equity in their tech startups.) There’s definitely no doubt that this is the age of the overprotected kid.

+ In NYC, in the dark of night, a teen snuck by several layers of security and made it to the spire of the WTC. And Tweeted. (See what happens when you don’t keep your eye on these kids!)