APPARENTLY, a few children in the Western World still play outside. But in Canada, parents may be accused of child neglect if they let their children play alone in the backyard. From CTV News:

A Winnipeg mother says she was investigated by Child and Family Services simply for letting her children play in her backyard.

Jacqui Kendrick, a stay-at-home mom, says a CFS worker showed up unexpectedly at her door in early April. The worker told her they were doing a “well-being check” after receiving a complaint about her children being left unsupervised.

Kendrick has three children ages two, five and 10, who love to play in the family’s backyard after school. The backyard is fully fenced in, with a wood fence covering three sides, and a portion of the front covered by a chain link fence and gate.

Kendrick told CTV Winnipeg she’s always either with her kids or looking in on them from her living room windows. She says she feels “completely comfortable” letting her kids play outside.

— Comments —

A reader writes:

How different that is from growing up in the fifties and sixties when we went “free ranging” with two rules:  don’t leave town and come home when the street lights come on.

Laura writes:

Our parents would be in jail today.

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