Taken at Pease Park in Austin. My son is 19 in this picture and still indulges me for family pics.Courtesy of Julie RoyceI am a single mom and allowed my son a lot of independence growing up.I was leaving him home alone when he was 7. By his tweens, he was navigating the city on his own.My parenting may be unconventional but it worked because of how I raised him at a young age.I wanted my kid to have many of the same freedoms I had growing up in the '80s in the country — full of tree climbing, go-cart driving, and playing outside until the lights came on.