This summer we spent our holiday camping in the Loire valley in France. Every morning we walked to the camp store to get our daily bread. I taught my kids how to order bread in French and after a few days Maarten (4 years old) and Leanne (5 years old) thought they could do it all by themselves. So I gave them money, and several minutes later they returned with the bread. Both of them awfully proud that they had shown to be able to buy bread in a foreign country without help or supervision. I can assure you their parents where just as proud! I don't need to explain that they continued to buy the bread all by themselves every day we stayed in France.
This made me remember an article by Lenore Skenazy in the New York Sun, entitled “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride The Subway Alone”. After which some people called her "the worlds worst mom". Personally I think she is right. Nowadays people tend to overprotect their children and supervise them at all times. Find out how to raise Free-Range kids on her website.