Free Range Kids

Remember the writer who let her 9-year-old kid travel on the subway by himself? She gave him a pocketful of quarters and a map and a $20 bill and let him make his way home in New York. She immediately was labeled as a terrible mother.
Now Lenore Skenazy has written a book, "Free Range Kids: Giving Our Kids the Freedom We Enjoyed Without Going Nuts With Worry," (whew!) in which she details her thoughts on letting kids go. Literally.
Her thesis seems to be that you can let kids go out and play and go their friends' houses for playdates without hovering over them, as long as you know exactly where they are and they can get in touch with you.
When I told my husband about the subway experiment, he shrugged. He used to ride the subway and buses by himself all the time when he was 9. I lived in suburban Long Island but we played outside until dinnertime and no one was certain where we were in the neighborhood.
When Skenazy appeared on WNYC's the Brian Lehrer show, she got a phone call from an irate man whose sister was abducted. He was furious that the subject was being treated so lightly. But I know that child abductions are actually quite rare and usually are done by a relative or someone else who the child knows.
I think what Skenazy says makes a lot of sense. Kids should be given more freedom. But even if lived in New York, I don't think I'd be ready - or my kids would be ready- to hand over that Metro card and let them go.