They're four, not disabled

Living the principle of my previous post about letting my kids run free, I have encouraged my girls, now that they're four, to walk around the corner to my sister-in-law's (call her Cassie) by themselves.

As stated before, my first daughter ran all over the neighborhood when she was that age. I've been walking these girls over to Cassie's daily for the last couple months, and after feeling confident that they know the way, (it is literally around the corner) I encouraged them to go by themselves:

I started with walking them just up to the corner, then waving and saying goodbye, giving hugs and kisses, and watching them walk the rest of the way by themselves.

I would walk them most of the way. I would race them to or from and let them win by a long margin.

I would hang back, talking to Cassie, and let them go all the way home.

I would have a meeting scheduled for when I normally walked them, and then just tell them, "I have a meeting, go on to Aunt Cassie's."

This filled both my wife and Aunt Cassie with untold levels of dread, but to me, this is one of the most empowering things I think I can do for my girls. 

This is how we win. This is how we keep our children from being snowflakes. We give them the tools to be successful, and we trust them.