13 posts tagged Free-Range Kids

Here's a new way to look at things. Lenora Skenazy, a columnist from the New York Sun, has initiated a movement against protectionism in parenthood. She calls it the Free Range Kids movement and it’s gathering some real momentum from the looks of thing.

Free range kids May 7th, 2008 I just stumbled on the Free Range Kids website, which promotes an enlightened laissez-faire attitude to child rearing that allows our children the sort of freedoms that we enjoyed as kids, even in the face of the scaremongering newscasts, and over zealous PC attitudes

About a year ago I posted a link to an article in Orion Magazine about getting children out into the great outdoors. Well I have just stumbled across a whole website devoted to the same topic, FreeRangeKids [^].

If you talk to people you’ll hear all about how the world is going to hell because parents aren’t watching their children anymore. I can hardly go to church, have lunch or momchat on the playground without hearing this come up.

If kids came with instructions, at what age would they recommend a child be allowed to ride public transportation alone? According to Lenore Skenazy, writer of Free Range Kids and columnist for the New York Sun, her nine year old fourth grader was ready to test the waters on a New York City subway.

(Lenore Skenazy and her son Izzy) For those of you who don’t have kids, you may not be aware of Lenore Skenazy and her precocious son in desperate need of a haircut, Izzy.  They made headlines when Skenazy allowed her grade schooler to travel the buses and subways of New York City unescorted.

Filed under: Health and Safety, Doing it myself, Toddler, Preschooler, Pre-teen, Teenager, Blogs, Parental relationships, In the NewsWhen I was 11, I had a summer job. Five days a week, I rode my 10-speed two miles into town and babysat three kids. The oldest was 10, furious that her babysitter was only a year older than her.

You might recall the controversy that got kicked up by a New York Sun reporter's account of allowing her nine-year-old to ride the subway alone. She was both pilloried by people who compared her behavior to child abuse, and praised by people who want more freedom for their kids.

New York City, for instance, is safer than it’s ever been; it’s ranked 136th in crime among all American cities. Just before the new millenium rolled in I was reading about what would be the new buzz words for 2000. Your labels for this post are right on and I agree with the concept to a certain extent.

Dennis Cheung, formerly of the Microsoft Mac BU, linked to an interesting and randomly personal story today. The article Dennis linked to is on Free Range Kids, and talks about a woman, (I'm guessing, I'm not sure about the gender from the post), who let her kid ride the subway home from Bloomingdale's.