Originally Posted by
UberGeek
A book is not law. And, because one book was written, doesn't necessarily make it "The One True Way" to rear a child... If it were, it would be the only book every written after the fact on the subject, and all child psychologists would be using that in treatment courses.
But the problem here is not a legal one; the problem is perception of risk. The officer's perception of risk is way out of proportion with reality. The book I suggested is all about addressing the highly distorted perception of risk that people have, which ends up placing what many people consider to be unreasonable constraints on child independence. Without compelling evidence that what the child is doing is more dangerous than other everyday activities in which the police do not interfere, then the choice should be left to the parent.