Now I am six, so I'm clever as clever

Today when I walked Abe into his class, his teacher said to me, "Oh good, I wanted to talk to you---one of the other parents had reported a concern that Abraham had been walking home from school alone?"

"Yes he does," I said. "Is that a problem?"

She said, "Well . . . there was just a concern that . . . "

I said, "We live a block and a half away, and I can see him out my window from the time he turns the corner from the school, so I'm not worried about it."

So she said okay, and I smiled at her, and she smiled at me, and it was fine.

And I know there's this whole debate about such things, and there was that lady who let her kid ride the subway alone in New York, and it spurred all this comment on both sides, so I'm not trying to say anything here that hasn't already been said, but . . .

I just can't stop thinking: For crying out loud. He's my own child. I love him. Isn't it okay for me to decide what he can and cannot handle by himself? And who is thinking that maybe they ought to "report" such behavior to his teacher? I assume it was probably a well-meaning act. Whoever it was, just wanted to make sure Abe was okay. So I shoudn't be bothered by it.

But I am, kind of.

Doesn't it sometimes seem like there is far too much "policing" of parents going on these days? Is such regulation (e.g. state-required carseats, no unwrapped Halloween candy, safety regulations for toys, etc.) worth it, because of the truly alarming situations it prevents? Is the "nanny state" an inevitable result of our litigation-prone world? One's answer to this determines one's political views, in some part, I suppose.