Thanks to a link via Facebook from Pamamidwife, I found this blog. It is about letting kids ummmm live? Go outside? Not feel like they are going to get "stolen" everytime we run back into the house for our coffee we forgot?
What do y'all think? I think its great.
5 comments:
Hmm, I dunno. I am all for the concept of "free range" as it applies to being safe and smart in today's world. I don't think parents should hover and overprotect their kids to the point of stifling exploration and creativity...but I balk at the idea of just turning them loose on the world. It's scary out there. Just yesterday a friend's kid was approached by a strange man while walking home from school. Luckily he knew what to do (run home screaming and tell mommy!) but it terrified us all. I wish things were as simple as when I was growing up...I was given free rein of the entire neighborhood and would stay out for hours and hours on my own or with friends. I rode my bike to and from school when I was 8. Today, I am scared to let Jameson out of my sight in a store, half because he could so easily get lost, and half because anyone could be lurking to snatch him. It's a conundrum. How do we give our kids enough space, yet keep them safe?
I love the Free Range kids blog. She's the mom whogot flack for letting her son take the subway alone. I wish I had half her trust. :)
Jill I think you miss the point - FRK comes from the point of view that the world is scary but it's not as dangerous as people make out. If you look at who does the snatching, it's not strangers that you have to be worried about. FRK tries to make the point that kids understand their boundaries and are much better adjusted to them if they're allowed to experience the world and learn that there are things beyond those boundaries...
I know her, I remember the brouhaha about letting her 9 yo ride the subway.
Honestly, the gravest danger in children unattended in public is some overzealous person calling the cops.
Just today we rode our bikes downtown and I was right beside or behind him the whole way, directing him at intersections. Gabriel (age 6) found this very adventurous. A trip like this one gives me a chance to teach very valuable lessons about safe riding, so that I can feel confident enough in letting him out on his bike alone when he's old enough. Whenever that is, we'll know when the time comes... He will ask. It's in his nature and I'm glad for that.
IS the world today "more dangerous"? Are more children being abducted (by strangers--most children are taken by family members)?
As someone who had CPS called on her because some random lurking Internet stranger felt I was not as safe as I should be, I got myself educated on this information.
Here's a good break down written in 2007
http://www.slate.com/id/2157738/
They've really only been tracking this information since the late 70's and early 80's. But guess what!? There WERE children being abducted and hurt back when we were kids. It's just that our parents weren't dictated by the fear of what might happen (which is why I rode around in a bucket on the floorboard of a car and why my parents smoked in the house, and why I was left as a latch key kid with a younger brother under my supervision at the ripe old age of 8).
I don't really think the world is more violent or more scary. I can think back to some really frightening things that took place in days past, can't you?
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