So this might be crazy to think about in 2025, considering everything that we have heard about New York City and the subway system.

But when I was a kid and I was in New York visiting my family who has lived there for 30 years, when I was auditioning, doing acting classes and dance classes, I would very frequently ride the subway alone.

And this is not the only thing that I did independently as a kid.

My mom was 100% committed to raising

independent, resilient kids, and that started with doing things alone confidently. But apparently,

that is very controversial. So a recent story about a father being arrested for leaving his three

children at a local McDonald's has blown the entire

helicopter parenting debate into the limelight in a major way on social media, which

also perfectly coincides with a movement that author and psychologist Jonathan Haidt has

been pushing in a debate that my friend Alex Clark has literally been having on her own

social media this week. And so the questions that we need to dive into today are

how much

freedom do young children actually need? How much is too dangerous? And why are modern parents

so damn afraid of childhood independence? But before we dive into that story, make sure that you

are following our podcast page. And please rate the show if you are enjoying it. And if you want to

come join me on tour this spring, we will link all of the stops and the links to buy tickets in the description below. I hope that I get are enjoying it. And if you want to come join me on tour this spring, we will link

all of the stops and the links to buy tickets in the description below. I hope that I get to see

all of your beautiful faces in person and meet a bunch of you. All right, so you guys might have

seen this story already because it went mega viral last week on X, but basically this huge

story broke on X last week after a father in Augusta, Georgia was arrested for allegedly

leaving his three children alone at a McDonald's while he attended a job interview nearby.

One headline from everything Georgia reads, a 24-year-old Augusta man was arrested for leaving

...