Free Range Kids
I just read a great excerpt from the book Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy, a New York mom infamous for letting her nine-year-old ride the subway alone. What I found most fascinating was all the hupla surrounding this scenerio. Does it matter whether the kid was nine or eighteen? As the saying goes, age is just a number. It is the maturity of the child that is most important. In this case, her son, Izzy, was asking to be allowed to ride the subway alone and only after much deliberation and precautions taken did they allow him to.
This enters into a whole discussion about today’s standards of safety as Skenazy goes into in her book. She suggests television a major culprit in our unnecessary fears, especially since the crime rate is as low today as it was in the ’60s. I often consider all the terrible and horrific things I see in movies and TV that make me neurotic. After I saw the movie Vacancy, I will no longer stay in a rural hotel unless it is part of a chain. It is stupendously silly, I know.
Remember when you were a kid. There were no carseats. My mom brought me home from the hospital on her lap in the front seat. Seat belts weren’t even required by law. We didn’t wear bike helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, but still managed to not get a concussion. Nobody was waiting for me when I got off the bus. Until I was twelve, I walked home alone from school every day.
Accidents do happen. We can’t always prevent them. Free range kids does not mean kids without any safety standards whatsoever. Of course, there must be some standards such as, “don’t be out after dark,” or “tell me where you are going,” etc. Yet, this must be balanced by a kid’s ability to try things on their own and gain confidence. Sometimes, they may fail, but if equipped with the right knowledge and precautionary measures, they will survive. (That said, I won’t let my kid drive until she is twenty;-)
We live in the mountains, rurally, and have a very different lifestyle than Skenazy. No subways here. My daughter is outside all the time, climbing boulders, walking in ditches, falling in holes. She scratches a knee here and there, it’s not a big deal. I wouldn’t change that for anything. And I hope to be the kind of mom who, like Skenazy, is willing to stand up for her child’s right to be free in the world, unrestrained by what other people might think.
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In Related News, Physical Health | admin May 23, 2009
