A couple of weeks ago, there was a minor furor caused by Lenore Skenazy, a New York parent who allowed - even encouraged - her 9 year-old son to find his own way back from Bloomingdale's to their home on the Upper West Side, riding the subway on his own. Skenazy, who wrote about her experience in the New York Sun amid much public criticism, has apparently emerged as an outspoken advocate for "Free Range Kids," even starting a blog on the subject (subtitled: "Let's Give Our Children the Freedom that We Had!")

As a latchkey child of the 70s who walked home alone from kindergarten and rode public transit from the age of 7 in 1970s Philadelphia, I have always been a bit perplexed by the syndrome of "helicopter parenting" that came into vogue in the late 1980s. It was probably seen as a necessary and reasonable corrective to the permissive approach which produced the Boomer-GenX cusp cohort born 1960-1964, with their historically-high levels of substance abuse, teen pregnancy, arrest and imprisonment, and low academic achievement. Still, the whole routine of providing a constant supply of structured activities and intensive supervision of kids seemed to be at least as much about satisfying the consumerist tendencies of Boomer parents, and mitigating the guilt experienced by workaholic breadwinners, as about the kids themselves.

Quite a few Millennials are the product of helicopter parenting and the very strategic, self-conscious approach that parents, schools and society took towards shielding them from risk and unpleasantness. We are even hearing stories about parents who attend their children's job interviews or call employers to keep up to date on how junior is doing. For Boomer managers who raised their own kids in this way, I guess it's par for the course, but suffice it to say that most GenXers I know have a different reaction. Anecdotal evidence that I have seen from reading blogs of Millennials in the workforce demonstrate that differences over the role of parental involvement and independence are one of the biggest sources of misunderstanding (and sometimes conflict) between young workers and GenX bosses.

Personally, I credit the independence that my parents gave me at an early age with many of the more positive and productive aspects of my later life, but, being childless, it's kind of an academic question for me. However, now that many of my (GenX) friends have kids themselves, it is interesting to see whether they follow in the footsteps of the protective Boomer parents of the 90s, or embrace the "free range" approach advocated by Skenazy.