These parents were doing their children a service and trying to break free from the overprotective craziness that has everyone keeping their kids inside. And the response they received is crazy. As if its not hard enough to go against the grain and give your kids more independence, now there is precedence that if you do, you may be at risk.
Our jobs as parents is not to protect kids from life, but to give them the tools to navigate it.
Part of giving them tools is giving them the opportunity to fail and learn from it.
The rates of depression, suicide, bullying and drug use have been climbing higher and higher -- we're not helping our kids stay safe, we're keeping them from gaining wisdom.
Eventually it will change, though I suspect things will get worse before they get better... change comes when the pain of staying the same is too great -- we're all too comfortable keeping our kids inside.