Welcome to Karen Hunter is awesome. I am Karen Hunter and while yes, I am awesome, this podcast is about

people and the things that they have to offer to you. I believe in speaking things into existence.

So it is with that, I offer you these amazing people, these awesome topics.

Sit back and enjoy.

Let me welcome.

Journalist extraordinaire, founder of Let It Grow, founder of the free range kids movement,

free rage kids.com.

Lenora Skenezy is here.

Hi. Erin. Hi, hi, hi, hi, hi, hi. I would say a long time. Yes. Except for that one time. Yes. And hi, Dr. Black. I remember the backlash like it was yesterday because people were calling you a bad mother. I mean, it was ridiculous. You ended up on a lot of talk shows,

with people yelling at you, like, how dare you let your child do that? I think it was less about you and more about people's recognition that perhaps maybe they're doing something wrong.

And if you're right, then I'm wrong maybe. And I don't want to be wrong. So you have to be

wrong. If you're wrong, then I'm right. Yeah, I think want to be wrong. So you have to be wrong. If you're wrong,

then I'm right. Yeah, I think there was so many different things going on. Obviously, we are all

really want to do the best by our kids. We want to see a generation grow up, you know, healthy and

strong. But I think the reason that there was so much backlash against me was the idea that I

didn't care if my kid lived or died, you know, that putting him on the subway was just like, well, maybe he'll come home, maybe he won't. And the conversations that I had, especially in the first few years, that nine-year-old is 25 thing. I'm knocking on wood. He's fine. Oh, he survived. He survived. You can't even say it. I'm such a jinx person. I'm such a nervous parent.

I don't believe it that I'm like knocking every piece of wood in my house. Yes. But the question that came up in a lot of the interviews was, okay, he had a great time. He was proud. You were proud. Who cares? How would you have felt if he hadn't come home? And I never had a good answer. I would say, you know, I have a spare son at home. He's a little older. He's doing better in school.

I mean, I didn't know how to respond like a sane person. And it took me literally four years when I realized,

oh, the reason I don't have to answer is because that's not a question. How would I feel if he never came home? We all know.

So how come it was being asked? And the reason it was being asked is because that was my crime was not thinking that way.

And that's what's changed since I'd say, Karen and Dr. Black, since we were kids, right?

You're supposed to go to the worst case scenario first

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