There just isn’t much evidence to support those fears. The most recent study on abducted kids was a 2002 study on children abducted in 1999. According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the study found about 200,000 abductions that year. Of those, 58,200 were “non-family abductions.” But the vast, vast majority of those kids were abducted by friends, acquaintances or boyfriends. Just 115 fit the “stranger swipes kid from public space” scenario that Harrell’s critics fear. Lenore Skenazy of Free-Range Kids points to another study that found that just 3 percent of homicides of children under age 5 committed between 1976 and 2005 were committed by strangers.

Even odder, we’re become increasingly paranoid just as violent crime, sex crimes and crimes against children are all in rapid decline and are now at historic lows. I couldn’t even begin to count the number of times I ventured out by myself on my bike as a kid. It was pretty close to every day. At times, I’d end up several miles from home. If my parents had been arrested and charged every time, they’d have been serving life sentences for repeat offenses by the time I turned 10.