The Brett Cooper Show
How This Sparked A MASSIVE Parenting Debate Online | Episode 20
Mon, 07 Apr 2025
A man was arrested for leaving his three children at a McDonalds alone, which sparked a viral debate all around one question: have parents become too overprotective?The Brett Cooper Show on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@bbrettcooperBy joining Cooper Confidential you are directly supporting me and my team. You’ll get ad-free episodes, exclusive ‘Dear Brett” videos, and a private newsletter Sign up now: https://cooperconfidential.supercast.com/Peterson Academy: Join today for $59 a month! https://petersonacademy.com/brettGood Ranchers: Get a year of FREE MEAT and $40 off with code BRETT: https://www.goodranchers.comAn Evening With Brett Cooper Tickets Now on Sale!Austin: https://www.capcitycomedy.com/events/111681Atlanta: https://atlanta.heliumcomedy.com/events/111709Irvine: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-irvine-improv-tickets/14302563?pl=irvineimprovHuntsville: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-huntsville-levity-live-tickets/14302583?pl=sul-huntsvilleAddison: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-addison-improv-tickets/14305563?pl=addisonimprovHouston: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/brett-cooper-houston-improv-tickets/14305603?pl=houstonimprovPhoenix: https://phoenix.standuplive.com/shows/309839Miami: https://www.miamiimprov.com/shows/309840FTL: https://www.daniaimprov.com/shows/309841#BrettCooper #TheBrettCooperShow #BrettCooperShow
Chapter 1: Why did the arrest of a father at McDonald's spark a debate?
So this might be crazy to think about in 2025, considering everything that we have heard about New York City and the subway system. But when I was a kid and I was in New York visiting my family who has lived there for 30 years, when I was auditioning, doing acting classes and dance classes, I would very frequently ride the subway alone.
And this is not the only thing that I did independently as a kid. My mom was 100% committed to raising independent, resilient kids. And that started with doing things alone confidently. But apparently that is very controversial.
So a recent story about a father being arrested for leaving his three children at a local McDonald's has blown the entire helicopter parenting debate into the limelight in a major way on social media, which also perfectly coincides with a movement that author and psychologist Jonathan Haidt has been pushing in a debate that my friend Alex Clark has literally been having on her own social media this week.
And so the questions that we need to dive into today are how much freedom do young children actually need? How much is too dangerous? And why are modern parents so damn afraid of childhood independence? But before we dive into that story, make sure that you are following our podcast page and please rate the show if you are enjoying it.
And if you want to come join me on tour this spring, we will link all of the stops and the links to buy tickets in the description below. I hope that I get to see all of your beautiful faces in person and meet a bunch of you.
All right, so you guys might have seen this story already because it went mega viral last week on X, but basically this huge story broke on X last week after a father in Augusta, Georgia was arrested for allegedly leaving his three children alone at a McDonald's while he attended a job interview nearby.
One headline from Everything Georgia reads, a 24-year-old Augusta man was arrested for leaving his children, ages one, six, and 10, alone at a McDonald's while he attended a nearby job interview.
And this story alone broke open a whole debate about childhood independence and autonomy and the changing trends between generations because, for a lot of people, they saw this as completely normal and permissible based on their own childhoods. For example, my friend Hannah Cox, who was actually my boss when I was writing at the Foundation for Economic Education,
She tweeted and said, Another person said, This man did nothing wrong. Safetyism is destroying society. And guys, based on this, I completely agree. Like, I think back to my childhood, which really wasn't that long ago. And at 10 years old, I had just gotten my Red Cross babysitter certification. I knew CPR. I was actively working as a babysitter and a mother's helper. I was doing pet sitting.
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Chapter 2: How does modern parenting differ from previous generations?
You learn autonomy. You learn to be a person. And in the 90s, the crime wave ends, but yet we freak out about child abduction. And we say, well, you can't go outside anymore because you'll be abducted.
Jonathan Haidt is making an incredibly important point here, and he actually directs people to chapters two and three of his book, which completely focus on this focus on childhood independence and the importance of risky play, as he calls it.
Now, even though he has been promoting the book on his own social media and talking about this over the last couple of weeks, what has really taken off online is something that his organization called Let Grow created. And that would be the independence challenge, where basically he encourages parents to put their kids in situations where they have to do something alone.
And he has been sharing all the parents who are doing this on his social media, and they have been going incredibly viral. Here's an example.
I'm getting donuts by myself, and it's six.
Okay, so here's the card. Say how many donuts? Six. And you're going to tell them which ones you want? Mm-hmm. Okay, and if you have a question, if you get confused, just say, oh, can you help me? You ask the person to help you, but I think you'll be fine. See, you got it? Yeah. All right, here she goes. We just sent Abby into the donut shop. She just turned seven.
We're doing the Jonathan Haidt independent challenges. We do those- Who's Jonathan Haidt? We do those sometimes. We were inspired by the Chick-fil-A video the other day, and so we're doing it. Here she comes.
You did it!
I mostly got round donuts, but one is for Jacob.
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