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My daughter, then 7, and I hiking the Appalachian Trail in 2010. I'm raising her to be fearless and independent.

(Susan J. Demas)

Twelve years ago, our minivan ran out of gas less than two blocks from our home.

We were coming back from our infant daughter's music class at the local library. Turns out, my husband at the time had forgotten to fill up -- something he only realized as the car sputtered to a stop.

I knew it would take about a half-hour for him to come back with a gas can or roadside assistance to arrive. It was winter, and I didn't want to huddle with our baby in an unheated car.

So I bundled her up in two blankets over her pink bunny snowsuit and started walking home.

Two minutes into the five-minute journey, a woman pulled up in a shiny SUV and offered us a ride, which I gratefully accepted. I thanked her profusely and hurried in the house to give my daughter a warm bath.

Little did I know that the driver wasn't so much a good Samaritan as a busybody. She promptly called child protective services.

The complaint was meritless and didn't go anywhere, of course -- taking my baby home was clearly the most responsible choice. But it was a momentarily terrifying and humiliating episode that I'll never forget.

And once you start talking to other parents, you'd be surprised how many have similar stories, thanks to a nosy neighbor, bitter ex-spouse or good, old-fashioned government overreach.

A number of instances have netted national attention. Most recently, Danielle and Alexander Meitiv, a Maryland couple, who were investigated by the police for (gasp!) letting their 6- and 10-year-old kids walk home alone from a playground.

(I'll pause to make the obligatory point that in my day (the 1980s), my brother and I literally did this all the time with zero interference from law enforcement or the state).

But this is no laughing matter. The police allegedly threatened gunfire. A caseworker informed the Meitivs that their children would be hauled away unless they signed a "safety plan" pledging not to leave them unsupervised.

Florida resident Nicole Gainey also was arrested last year for letting her 7-year-old traipse to the park alone.

There's also Debra Harrell, a South Carolina mom jailed for letting her 9-year-old play at a park (armed with a cell phone for emergencies) while she worked at a nearby McDonald's.

When you consider how much child abuse and neglect goes undetected in this country, it's maddening that caseworkers have to waste their time on nuisance complaints.

Little wonder there's a "free-range kids" movement, for parents who sanely believe we shouldn't keep our kids locked inside our homes or Super-glued to our sides if we ever expect them to become independent adults.

Let me suggest that this is the next frontier for those on the right and left who have united against the ignorant anti-vaccination movement.

"It may feel like kids are in constant danger, but they are as safe (if not safer) than we were when our parents let us enjoy the summer outside, on our own, without fear of being arrested," notes founder Lenore Skenazy in the libertarian publication Reason.

It's true. Violent crime dropped again in 2014, the FBI reports. It's down to 1963 levels.

But you'd never guess that from watching horrifying child abduction stories splashed all over TV for the same reason we have Shark Week: ratings.

It's also convinced too many parents, cops and caseworkers that you should never let your kids out of your sight, lest they be snatched up by a lurking pedophile.

But the bittersweet reality of parenthood is we raise our children to let them go. Let's stop letting our fears stunt our kids' growth.

Susan J. Demas is Publisher and Editor of Inside Michigan Politics, a nationally acclaimed, biweekly political newsletter. She can be reached at susan@sjdemas.com. Follow her on Twitter here.