7:20
But readers had mixed feelings about the New York Times article, which has garnered nearly 2,000 comments.
One wrote, \"Intervene when children are in real danger. Mind your own business when they are not.\"
Another said, \"You should stop listening to the small voice in your head and start paying attention to the law -- there's a reason 19 states make the act of leaving a toddler alone in a locked, parked car illegal. It's wrong.\"
On May 8, a new law legalizing so-called \"free-range parenting\" officially went into effect in Utah.
The law rewrites the state's definition of \"neglect,\" so that kids can participate in some unsupervised activities without their parents being charged, a representative from the state confirmed to ABC News at the time.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/Lifestyle/mother-son-gty-mem-180730_hpMain_4x3t_384.jpg\")
Dr. Dave Anderson, a clinical psychologist at the Child Mind Institute, explained that those who are considering free-range parenting should take everything on a \"case by case basis.\"
\"If your 12-year-old is capable of walking home from the bus stop by themselves, that's something that you might make a decision about where another 12-year-old may be too impulsive,\" Anderson explained on \"Good Morning America\" in March after the free-range parenting bill was initially signed.
Today on \"GMA,\" ABC News' senior legal correspondent and analyst Sunny Hostin stressed that there are state-by-state differences when it comes to laws on leaving a child unattended.
\"I think we need to take care of our children, but I also think as parents we need to know the law,\" Hostin said. \"There's no federal law, but there are certainly laws in about 19 states and there are different age groups...figure out what the law is in your state, but err on the side of protecting your child.\"
","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Family/moms-shamed-leaving-kids-unattended-ignites-heated-parenting/story?id=56910079","legacySlug":"/family/story/moms-shamed-leaving-kids-unattended-ignites-heated-parenting-56910079","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"14:55","publishDate":"07-30-2018","updatedTime":"07:37","updatedDate":"07-31-2018","socialImage":{"alt":"In this undated stock photo, a young boy walking along a fence holding his mothers hand in Laguna Beach, Calif.","credit":"STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Lifestyle/mother-son-gty-mem-180730_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"7/30/2018 14:55:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":56910079,"headline":"Moms are being shamed for their parenting choices","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Motherhood in the Age of Fear_180730","description":"Women detailed their parenting experiences in a New York Times opinion piece.","duration":"7:20","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180731_ntl_parenting_1240_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["56642517","56932045","56911141"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"July 17, 2018","headline":"Actress calls out 'insulting' double standard of praising hands-on dads","section":"family","slug":"/family/story/actress-calls-insulting-double-standard-praising-dads-taking-56642517","id":56642517,"image":{"alt":"Actress calls out 'insulting' double standard of praising hands-on dads","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/jenny-mollen1-ht-ml-180717_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"jennymollen/Instagram","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"July 31, 2018","headline":"Mommy shaming: Mothers say they are being shamed for their parenting decisions","section":"news","slug":"/video/56932045","id":56932045,"image":{"alt":"Mommy shaming: Mothers say they are being shamed for their parenting decisions","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Nightline/180731_ntl_parenting_1240_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"video","date":"July 30, 2018","headline":"Moms say they are being shamed for 'rational' parenting decisions","section":"family","slug":"/video/56911141","id":56911141,"image":{"alt":"Moms say they are being shamed for 'rational' parenting decisions","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/180730_gma_moms2_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Moms are being shamed for their parenting choices","description":"Women detailed their parenting experiences in a New York Times opinion piece.","duration":"7:20","uploadDate":"07-30-2018","publication":"07-30-2018","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180731_ntl_parenting_1240_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2018/07/180731_ntl_parenting_1240_fix_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/family/story/moms-shamed-leaving-kids-unattended-ignites-heated-parenting-56910079"}},"playlist":[{"id":"134164484","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134130187","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134145709","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134134667","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134099631","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134041491","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"134033809","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"78356537","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133929295","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133958398","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133882828","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810954","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133779647","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810835","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133749799","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133777519","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133748258","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133730535","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133712423","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133694181","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:family:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"family","title":"Moms are being shamed for their parenting choices","pubTime":"10:55","pubDate":"07-30-2018","modTime":"03:37","modDate":"07-31-2018","taxonomyTags":"none","id":56910079,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Moms are being shamed for their parenting choices","mediaAssetTitle":"GMA_Motherhood in the Age of Fear_180730","videoId":56910079,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/family/story/moms-shamed-leaving-kids-unattended-ignites-heated-parenting-56910079"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/56910079","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/56910079","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};