Utah has adopted a "free-range parenting" law, the first state in the country to formalize the hands-off child-rearing trend.
Gov. Gary Herbert signed the law last week. It goes into effect May 8.
"Kids need to wonder about the world, explore and play in it, and by doing so learn the skills of self-reliance and problem-solving they'll need as adults," State Sen. Lincoln Fillmore said in a statement to ABC News. "As a society, we've become too hyper about 'protecting' kids and then end up sheltering them from the experiences that we took for granted as we were kids. I sponsored SB65 so that parents wouldn't be punished for letting their kids experience childhood."
The bill technically redefines negligence so that a parent can't be charged for letting children walk alone outside, play outside without supervision, go to the store alone or wait in the car without an adult or other independent activities.
The bill, which stipulates but does not define that children must be of "sufficient age" to do things on their own, passed the Utah House and Senate with unanimous support.
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