I’m still thinking about kids and outdoor play and what a sorry state most of ours are in these days with their lack of independence. As I was trolling the Internet for articles on the importance of getting outdoors (for my own article and yes, I admit it, I was indoors), I came across this blog called Free Range Kids. This website is me in a nutshell. You want to know who I am? Read the description of a free range parent.
I didn’t know there was another parent out there who feels as I do. More so, even. Indeed, she gave her nine-year-old son $20, a Metro map, and the freedom to navigate his way home on the bus and the subway. In New York. In 2008. And boy, did she get flak for it. For more on this, read this article in Newsweek.
But I personally feel liberated rather than shocked. This after recently asking another parent if she minded if our two 5th-grade daughters rode bikes around the neighborhood. She agreed, but a follow-up conversation tells me it won’t happen again. My daughter is eleven and off to middle school in the fall. There are much scarier things than walking to middle school or biking the neighborhood (pregnancy comes to mind, and if we don’t give our kids independence, especially our daughters, how will they learn to trust themselves and say no when they need to? Or, God forbid, say yes just to spite us?).
So check it out. I’m planning on my kids heading to park and the corner store this summer without me. I’m still not at the point where my eight-year-old gets to go alone, but his sister is one sharp cookie. He’ll be in good hands.
Now I just need those safety stats so I can quote them to the doubters.