Free-Range Parenting: Are We Protecting Our Children Or Smothering Them? (VIDEO)

WATCH: Are We Protecting Our Children Or Smothering Them?

An Ohio father let his 6-year-old daughter walk to the post office by herself the other day, and now he is the subject of both an investigation by Child Protective Services and a national debate on how to protect our children without smothering them.

I was part of a conversation about this case on HuffPostLive yesterday -- where the talk quickly turned to the larger issue of how parents and society evaluate risk, and whether we get it all wrong.

Lenore Skenazy -- who herself became news back in 2008 when she allowed her 9-year-old son to take the subway home alone -- began the segment by explaining more about the case (you can watch that above.)

That led to a discussion of how parents seek to do only the best for their kids, but evolution (everything feels like a saber tooth tiger!) and technology (and that tiger is in your house!) have made us poor judges of what the dangers really are. And it allowed me to ask my favorite question of host Mike Sacks: If, for some bizarre reason, you wanted to insure that your child was abducted by a stranger, how long would you have to leave them to stand out on a street corner alone?

Make a guess and then watch below for the answer. (You can also watch the entire segment here.) And we want to know what you think. Use the comments to continue the conversation about whether overprotecting our kids is a danger in itself.

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