Free Range—It’s Not Just For Chickens Anymore

For the longest I believed that “free range” applied to the meat or eggs we bought at the grocery store. You know the concept don’t you? Chickens or cows allowed to roam free and eat naturally before they are turned into drumsticks and burgers. Sorry for the visual, but hey it is what it is. Now I’ve learned the label applies to kids to.

The term Free Range Kids was coined by writer Lenore Skenazy, a columnist who was dubbed “America’s Worst Mom” because of an article she wrote about letting her nine-year-old take the subway alone.

Skenazy chose not to buy into the 24 –hour news cycle that tells us not to let our kids out of our site, but to schedule and hover over their every waking moment. Instead Skenazy chose to listen to her child when he expressed a desire to take the subway. Perhaps like some of us who were raised in the 70’s and 80’s she remembered having to be home when the street lights came on or riding her bike unsupervised around the neighborhood and the sense of trust and self confidence she garnered from experience.

Her advice for raising Free Range Kids is simple:

• Do they have the disposition?
• Can they follow directions?
• Have you prepared them adequately?
• Do they know what to do in case there is a problem?
• Do they know how to ask for help?

I’m influenced by the nightly news and being a single mom I’m hyper aware about my Tween-let, but I also remember what is was like to have that kind of freedom, and the maturity I felt when my parents trusted me to walk to the library or take the bus to the beach.

Time to dial down the parental paranoia? What do you think?

- Aunt B