Free-Range Kids

[jcbrandon]

Have you seen Free-Range Kids?
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

It's a blog by Lenore Skenazy. She writes "When I wrote a column for The New York Sun on 'Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Take The Subway Alone,' I figured I’d get a few e-mails pro and con. Two days later I was on the Today Show, MSNBC, FoxNews and all manner of talk radio with a new title under my smiling face: 'America’s Worst Mom?'”

So yesterday was “Take Our Children to the Park & Leave Them There Day.”

Sorry I'm a bit late on the uptake. I only learned about this just now.


I think I can guess where most ExPo parents fit into this conversation. I'd like to think their response is "What's the fuss? My kids play outside alone all the time. And they carry pocket knives."

Am I right? Is that the general parental perspective in our community? If not, what is?

[CoastalDefender]

I'd like to think their response is "What's the fuss? My kids play outside alone all the time. And they carry pocket knives."

Yeah, that's us.

[articulate]

Her book of the same title is a riot.

[Nay]

It's usually Free Range Dads vs. Helicopter Moms these days

[shogun]

It's usually Free Range Dads vs. Helicopter Moms these days

And we know who'll win that fight.

I have two examples, one family and one friend, whose sons are the dreaded live in the basement when they're 35, and dont get a job, because mom overrode dad when it came time to kick them out of the nest.

[Nay]

And we know who'll win that fight.

I have two examples, one family and one friend, whose sons are the dreaded live in the basement when they're 35, and dont get a job, because mom overrode dad when it came time to kick them out of the nest.

That's why you gotta explore while they're young. That way they'll be losing their minds sitting around your house just like you

[UK4X4]

at 9 I'd have left the house after breakfast and return for dinner,

out on my bicycle exploring, I'd easily end up the far side of the next town on a good day, or just spend the entire days building "camps" on the heath behind the house with my dog, equiped with saw,axe and sheath knife


My daughter will be expo trained in the same way ! freedom to the kids !

9 on the NY subway- suppose that depends on if you live there, probably safer than cycling !

[762X39]

Ah, it brings back fine memories.At 4 (in Brandon Manitoba) I would ride my tricycle everywhere.Apparently I rode it right out of town and a nice farm couple took me in, gave me icecream and the local constabulary gave me a ride home.There wasn't much fuss but I rode my bike out of town for years (including a cycle camping trip in my early 20's) after that.I always thought (and still do) that go play outside was a good thing.

[kletzenklueffer]

Maybe there's a trend in the exploration spirit and the freedom enjoyed as a child?! Likewise, my bike took me everywhere within 5-10 miles of home, and the sunset was the cue to start heading home. We had 1,500 acres of untouched forest across the street from my house, with another couple thousand within a 1/4 mile, and the largest man-made lake in the US within a five minute walk. These combined into enormous adventures, and by time I was driving me and my friends called each other up and said "Wanna go exploring?" Which meant to head down every dirt road we saw, weekend overnight trips to the beach 350 miles away, adventures as an abandoned nuclear facility and more. I strive to get my son to embrace the fun of taking off and discovering for himself. I want to equip him with a few things that I never had, like some basic land nav skills, self defense, etc.

[Lynn]

When I was a kid I ran all over the neighborhood, walked to the elementary school maybe five miles away, and walked to my buddy's house that was about three miles out of town (pulling my GI Joe jeep behind me...). When I got a little older I regularly rode my Honda MiniTrail 50 along the ditch banks to my friends house maybe 10 miles away.

Now my girls (4 and 6) play in the fenced back yard unsupervised, but are supervised otherwise. They are playing more and more with the neighborhood kids, and will get a little more 'freedom' to do so as they get older. But with one registered, and who knows how many unregistered, sex offenders in the neighborhood, they will be kept on a fairly short leash. They get the 'stranger danger' warnings drilled into them on a regular basis.

I know us kids got more 'freedom' in the good ole days, but I continue to hear about things that happened back then that just weren't talked about. I keep meeting grown adults are or were in counseling to resolve decades-old abuses. I don't really think it was safer back then; we were just happy in our ignorance.

Call me paranoid if you like, but that's the way it is around our house.