Free-Range Kids

A Pennsylvania Mom Says the Cops Were Called on Her 4 Times—for Letting Her Kids Be Outside

State lawmakers are mulling a law that would establish commonsense protections for families that give their children a reasonable amount of independence.

Lenore Skenazy | 7.30.2026 6:30 AM

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(Midjourney)

Whenever Ms. Gordon lets her sons go outside now, she cleans house. "All right, my kid just went around the block to his friend, let me sweep," she says. "Because I know if the house is clean, that's the first step toward making a good impression on Child Protective Services. It's a bizarre thought process, but—"

But not completely irrational. Gordon (who asked not to use her first name) has had the cops called on her four times for letting her sons, 5, 7, and 9, walk and play outside in Bala Cynwyd, a suburb of Philadelphia. Reason reviewed several private messages Gordon exchanged with friends corroborating her version of events.

The first time was about 18 months ago.

"I was puttering around in the garden," says Gordon. "The kids were around the corner, but they were never more than a few hundred feet away."

She'd given the boys her phone to play Pokemon Go, the game where you find Pokemon nearby using virtual reality. "They said a woman called to them and said, 'Are you lost?'" Gordon says. "And they ignored her because they were very busy. And she must've called the police."

The boys were already almost home when the police pulled up. "My son [6 at the time] insisted on describing the whole Pokemon thing to this poor cop who I think decided to cut the visit short because of that."

Incident No. 2 involved Pokemon........

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