I’ve long been fascinated with the term “latchkey kid,” though something about it sounds offensive in an vaguely antiquated way, like describing an unmarried woman as a spinster or referring to siblings born less than a year apart as “Irish twins.” Perhaps that’s because there’s always been some shame for parents who work and leave their kids at home and unattended. Or maybe it’s because, as I learned while writing this, my guilty instincts were exactly right: Early in its