Lenore Skenazy, who wrote a controversial piece in last week’s New York Sun about letting her 9-year-old use the NYC subway, has a new blog called Free Range Kids, all about giving kids the same types of freedoms that we all experienced when we were younger:
“Do you ever… ..let your kid ride a bike to the library? Walk alone to school? Take a bus, solo? Or are you thinking about it? If so, you are raising a Free Range Kid! At Free Range, we believe in safe kids. We believe in helmets, car seats and safety belts. We do NOT believe that every time school age children go outside, they need a security detail. Most of us grew up Free Range and lived to tell the tale. Our kids deserve no less. This site dedicated to sane parenting. Share your stories, tell your tips and maybe one day I will try to collect them in a book. Meantime, let’s try to help our kids embrace life! (And maybe even clear the table.)”
It’s easy to get caught up in the media blitz and to constantly worry about your wee ones. We’re always being told that the world is a harsher, more unforgiving place than it was when we were all kids. Is that true? I think it takes a lot of guts to let go of media-generated overprotective tendencies and let children discover the world around them, warts and all.
Cross posted at GeekDad, via BoingBoing
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