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As schools across the United States let out for summer vacation, more parents and policymakers are trying to make sure kids can get out there and just be kids 鈥� by stepping away from screens, playing in the open air, or biking to a friend鈥檚 house or the local store.

And, they say, kids should be allowed to do all of this without a parent hovering over them 鈥� or that parent being held liable for not doing so.

In May, the U.S. House introduced a bipartisan bill to promote 鈥渃hildhood independence and protect parents who allow their children to play outside unsupervised, get off screens, and develop social skills.鈥� Earlier this year, Indiana became the 13th state to pass a measure shielding parents from child neglect allegations for certain unsupervised activities. Last year, Florida, Georgia, and Missouri passed similar laws.

However, it鈥檚 taken nearly two decades for the concept of 鈥渇ree-range鈥� childhood 鈥� introduced by New York City mother Lenore Skenazy in 2008 鈥� to impel adjustments in long-standing child protection laws. When Ms. Skenazy wrote online about letting her 9-year-old make his way home by subway and bus, she caught flak as 鈥淎merica鈥檚 worst mom鈥� for allegedly exposing her child to a host of potential dangers.

鈥淥verprotectiveness is a danger in and of itself,鈥� Ms. Skenazy warned in response. 鈥淎 child who thinks he can鈥檛 do anything on his own eventually can鈥檛.鈥� She has since co-founded and heads Let Grow, a nonprofit that advocates for 鈥渞easonable childhood independence鈥� as a natural and essential part of growing up. Parental limits on outdoor freedoms, Let Grow says, can drive children online for entertainment 鈥� a situation that can bring hazards of a different sort.

Statistics confirm that childhood abduction is extremely rare in the U.S., but 45% of parents describe themselves as overprotective. Aligning with this, a 2025 Harris Poll of 8-to-12-year-olds found that 61% had not made plans with friends without adults helping them and 62% had not walked or biked to a store, park, or school without an adult.

Yet, 61% of those children wanted to play with friends in person without adults present.

There鈥檚 a Scandinavian country where kids get to do just that 鈥� Denmark, the land that gave the world those bright little Lego bricks. (The name is a contraction of the Danish phrase leg godt, 鈥減lay well.鈥�)

Danes encourage play that鈥檚 unstructured, often unsupervised, and sometimes risky 鈥� by American standards, at least. Danes also consistently rank near the top in global measures of happiness, child well-being, and social trust. Alongside the occasional bump or scrape from free-form play, children also learn about compromise, fairness, and taking turns 鈥� skills that are useful in the adult world.

鈥淒anish parents see their children as innately competent, meaning they trust their ability to navigate risks and challenges,鈥� according to psychology professor Marie Helweg-Larsen of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The general approach, she wrote in The Conversation in May, is to 鈥渃reate environments for these natural competencies to flourish; ... to encourage cooperation instead of using control.鈥�

When parents let go of overprotectiveness and oversupervision, children鈥檚 play can let them grow into courageous, capable adults.