I was stunned to read a newspaper article about the woman in Georgia who got arrested for letting her 10-year-old son walk alone.

Unbelievably, Brittany Patterson was charged with recklessly endangering a child after her 10-year-old son was found walking alone less than a mile from home.

The arrest warrant claims she “willingly and knowingly endangered her juvenile son’s bodily safety.”

The mother of four was taken away in handcuffs. According to the news article, the mother was facing a year in jail if she didn’t agree to put a GPS on her son’s cellphone.

What???

I couldn’t believe it. I thought it couldn’t possibly be true that a mother would be arrested for letting her son walk less than a mile from his home. I thought there had to be more to the story because it sounded too ridiculous to be true.

Well, it was true, all right. The story was in multiple media publications and on television news shows, and ignited a firestorm about what was called ‘free range parenting.”

Ironically, the day after that arrest was Halloween, and children of all ages roamed freely through neighborhoods to collect candy. Not every child came with a parent.

Brittany Patterson was told by authorities they would agree to no jail time is she signs a “safety plan for what will make her children safe.” She refuses to sign because nothing she did endangered her children.

The national debate continues.

The American Academy of Pediatricians put out a news release saying children are typically ready to walk alone at age 10.

All of that makes me recall what I was doing at age 10. It was far more dangerous than walking a tenth of a mile from home.

Here’s some of my family background.

When I was 10 and my brother was 3, my parents divorced. My father moved out of state without a second thought for how my mother could support two children. We had no place to live, no car and the only work experience my mother had was waitressing. It must have been terrifying for her.

I can’t remember ever hearing her complain. She just did what had to be done. And I did, too.

My mother got a waitressing job and rented a cheap apartment from a co-worker. The co-worker also had two young children. When her babysitter moved away she told my mother she wouldn’t be able to go to work because she had no one to watch her two preschool children.

My mother said I always watched my 3-year-old brother while she worked, so I could baby-sit for the preschool children as well. It was no problem because I always loved young children.

Bear in mind I was 10. But, like my mother, I rose to the occasion and did what I had to do, staying overnight at the waitresses’ home.

The kids and I had great fun running up and down stairs playing hide and go seek. A bit of a problem came when my young charges said they were hungry. I had given them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, but that was the extend of my cooking capabilities. I had never turned a stove on in my life.

Well, there’s a first time for everything, so I looked in the cupboard and found a can of Chef Boyardee ravioli. At least no one went hungry.

When I look back on my life as a 10-year-old, it was such a contrast to today, when some people think kids that young shouldn’t walk a block away from home.

I wonder what the police who arrested Brittany Patterson would think of a kid that was allowed to walk anywhere her little feet carried her.

Monday night at the movies gave a dish to everyone who paid to get in. Several of our neighbors gave me money for the movies so I could bring them a new dish each week.

At the time, I lived in a section called Springfield. It was about an hour’s walk to the movies. That’s no problem for an active 10-year-old.

But it sure would be a problem for some today.

I talked with some women my age, asking them what they were allowed to do when they were 10-year-olds. Their answers: Just about anything they wanted, as long as they were home before dark.

My friend Jeanne is a rather competent woman. And, according to her recollection of her life as a 10-year-old, she was a very competent kid.

While I lived in the safety of a small town, she lived in a big city. She said that she had to take a bus across town then transfer to another bus to get to her accordion lessons. “I went by myself from the time I was 9,” she said.

Other friends tell tales of loving their freedom as a child.

Obviously it’s not that way for all of today’s kids. Back then, no mother got arrested for letting her 10-year-old walk to the store. And I can’t believe it’s happening today.

Some call parents like Brittiny Patterson free range parents.

OK, tell me your experience as a 10-year-old.

Then tell me what kind of freedom you think is appropriate for today’s youngsters.

Email Pattie Mihalik at newsgirl@comcastnet