“When Alexander Meitiv dropped his two children – 10 and 6 – off at a local park near their Maryland home to play for the afternoon in late 2014, he was not expecting the firestorm that would follow. A bystander called 911 after noticing the children walking home by themselves. Police stopped them and brought them back to the Meitivs’ home.” That much-publicized moment led to a broader national discussion about helicopter parenting and ultimately led to what’s become known as the free-range parenting movement. While the Meitiv case was in Maryland, it’s the wild, freewheeling, risk-loving state of Utah that is set to become the first state in the US to have free-range parenting law. It’s amazing how far our culture has swung towards coddling children. I grew up the child of a stereotypically overprotective Jewish mother, and compared to my own kids, my childhood was basically a cross between Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Stranger Things.