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Comment by iteria | Hacker News Reader

It's a choice a parent can make until someone calls the cops because your kid is unattended. I've had people give me you're an awful parent side eyes for not keeping my eyes on my kid 100% of the time in a fenced in park. Letting my kid walk to school like I did as a kid is just forever outside of my reach if I want to not have CPS called on me. At least if I geotag my kid with someone obvious people will be chill about her playing in front of the house.

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> It's a choice a parent can make until someone calls the cops because your kid is unattended.

Since an unattended kid doesn't automatically advertise "I'm being tracked so it's ok!", the cops will likely get called regardless.

Exactly,I feel that some parents will be judged by their peers if they are not keeping a short leash on their children.

And because people are encouraged to look at any sign of child neglect (for some reason), dirty clothes or bruise that could be acquired during play, could be easily misconstrued as child abuse.

I have been often judged harshly for not subscribing to parental paranoia and refusing to breach trust with constant surveillance. I stand by my choice: surveillance harms trust, children need space and safety is good enough. I'm way too old to be sensitive to the opinion of other parents !

It's interesting that some parents seem to be more worried about what their peers think about them, than about giving their child the opportunity to grow to be well-adjusted and independent.

Considering that some judgement could come it a form of community shunning or harassment, I would be worried in these case.

I don’t understand why people would care about kids that are not obviously lost walking somewhere alone?

There's entire TV channels dedicated to indoctrinating their viewers into a continuous mood of fear and anxiety, probably because it's easier to advertise to people in a febrile state.

I don't either, but that won't stop them from calling the cops.

It seems like kids have to be at least teenagers these days for people to assume they're OK to be out by themselves, and even then, some people are apparently wary before the kids are old enough to drive.

The first recorded use of the word "busybody" was in 1526, per Merriam Webster. Some people just feel like it's their duty to tell the world how to be. I think it's just human nature.

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