2 CT Communities Among Safest For 'Free-Range Parenting'

Free-range parenting. You've heard the term in the news, but what exactly does it mean? According to Wikipedia, it "is the concept of raising children in the spirit of encouraging them to function independently and with limited parental supervision" based on age and other factors.

For its annual Safest Cities to Raise a Child study for 2018, home security company SafeWise decided to rank the best communities where the free-range parenting concept can be practiced.

"Due to recent news about free-range parenting—Utah even passed a law—we decided to factor that parenting style into our research," writes SafeWise. "We dug deep into eight factors to help us identify the safest cities to raise children—those who remain under close supervision and those who are allowed to wander on their own."

Those eight factors are rates and numbers of:

• Violent crimes
• AMBER Alerts
• Sex offenders
• Child abuse
• School quality
• Pedestrian deaths
• Walkability score
• State free-range parenting legislation

"Each score was standardized to calculate their total score and ranking. City-specific data was given extra weight, and high scores (overall) were most favorable," writes SafeWise. To read the methodology, click here and scroll to the bottom of the story.

To that end, Greenwich was ranked as Connecticut's safest community to raise a child, and the 12th safest in the nation. Only one other Connecticut community, Ridgefield, cracked the top 50 at #37, and Greenwich and Ridgefield are the only two towns from last year's ranking that are considered good for raising free-range kids.

"This charming New England town topped our 2017 list of the 30 Safest Cities to Raise a Child," writes SafeWise about Greenwich. "This year Greenwich remains one of our safest places for families, including those committed to free-range parenting. One of our criterion, quality education, is also a top priority for Greenwich residents as evidenced by a $500,000 donation to a scholarship fund for children of local police officers, firefighters, and nurses.

As for the nation's safest city to raise a child in 2018, Easton, Maryland took top honors, followed by Keene, New Hampshire; Takoma Park, Maryland; Havre de Grace, Maryland; and Village of Shorewood, Wisconsin to round out the top five.

To read SafeWise's full 50 Safest Cities to Raise a Child 2018, click here.

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