I saw the interview with that mother and her son, and it seemed completely appropriate to me what she did. Her son had taken that route with her many times before. He was very familiar with the subway system since he is a resident of the city. He understood what he needed to do to navigate the subway. Put that same kid in a barn full of horses on a farm in the midwest, and tell him to walk through the woods to get home, and well, he may just freak. It is all about the environment we are used to. That boy and his mother felt very safe in NY, and it's subway. If I were her, I would have done the same thing. I too grew up in NYC. My friends and I saw things that would make any parent in the town I currently live scared silly. I went to college in Boston and had a total of 3 roommates from Maine. Every single one of them was completely terrified of the T. I, growing up in NYC, saw the T almost as an amusement ride. My parents actually LAUGHED when they first saw the Boston "subway" system, and declared it the safest thing next to wrapping your child in bubble wrap. It is all about the environment to choose to raise your children in. There is no one right answer for every child. You have to look at your child and decide what he/she and you can handle.