I agree with you. I dont understand how we have swung in this direction as a country-but I do not coddle my children nor make excuses for them. I am proud of my independent youngsters who can do such things as operate the washing machine, pack their own lunches, and pick out their own clothes for the day.

My dd14 was telling me about a classmate the other day-whose mother still picks out her clothes, does her hair, etc. Why would anyone WANT to do this for their 14 year old? The goal of parenting is to raise independent, contributing members of society. You cant coddle them for 18 years and then somehow expect them to become independent. It is a skill like anything else that needs to be taught.

Okay read the article and have decided he is an idiot. Children should not travel alone until at least 13...Holy cow, the things that can happen. Airlines force you to pay for someone to stay with your kid when they fly alone under 15. BTDT and have the t-shirt. My BS had a flight delay and had to wait in the unaccompanied minor room for hours due to a storm delay. 1st time I tried this. Haven't done it since and he flies free.

He believes we are coddling our children. Hell we are not coddling them enough with cell phones, facebook and the internet as far as I am concerned. Now he is mad because Amtrak doesn't want the liability of a minor traveling alone and something happening to them. OMG!!!

I agree with the overall message that children are too coddled and not being raised to be independent. However, I travel Amtrak a lot in the U.S. and it's confusing with hard to read schedules and no margin for error as the trains board in less than 10 minutes usually and the track numbers are only posted within minutes of the train's arrival. Generally, my experience has been that train travel in other countries is much easier with less opportunity for error. I'd be very concerned if I saw an 8-10 year old on a train in the US alone.

And, I travel via airlines a lot too and have witnesse at least two incidents of minors (age 15 and traveling alone) boarding the wrong plane and going to the wrong destination! One teen boy ended up in Denver instead of South Carolina! I personally helped him get it sorted out and waited for him to get on the flight to SC. His mother was worried sick and he was beside himself. The airlines, of course, should not have allowed him on the wrong plane. But, I once boarded a plane to SF and thought I was going to San Jose (Doh!) so it can and does happen.

As I said, I agree with the overall message but dont' agree that Amtrak is child safe or appropriate.

I agree with an earlier comment about these parents needing these children to depend on them.
This fits dh family exactly. Nothing gives them a bigger high then being the ones you have to depend on

My kids have travelled internationally alone by plane since they were 13. They would fly 3.5 hrs alone to visit their father. When my daughter was 16 she flew from USA to Australia and on to NZ and then back here alone. She visited with her father and then family in NZ.

It depends how practical the child is and how much exterience they have. Now throwing a 13 yr old on a plane who has never flown before is stupid. But expecting a 13 yr old who has flown 6-7 times before with more and more responsibility (I started with allowing them to go to the restroom alone, then going to the food hall to buy food then handing over theor passports to get their own boarding pass)to not be allowed to fly alone is stupid.

I refuse to molly-coddle my kids and in turn my skids. I expect them to be sensible per se. Don't whine to me that you are cold when you sit there in a t shirt and shorts. Don't tell me you are too sick for school but well enough to go out and play basketball with your friends. Don't tell me you have a homework project due Monday and Hobby Lobby is closed on Sunday for supplies when you have known about it for 2 weeks and played video games all weekend.

But then schools allow this behaviour. Hand in your work late and you get the same grade as the kids who handed it in early. My kids would get a credit for turning up to class and another credit for not taking a bathroom break. This was High School!

My son started flying alone from NYC to NC (direct flights only) to visit his dad when he was 10 years old. He started riding the NYC subways and buses alone that year as well.

There's no way in hell, I would have put him on Amtrak from here to Raleigh alone.