Free-Range Kids
Skenazy introduces to the reader a (supposedly) profound "new" way of raising children in the United States, which is the Free-Range way. Her point-of-view stems from the new parenthood phenomenon of sheltering children to the point of exhaustion: no longer do children walk or bike to school, play in the park with friends, go to the grocery store alone or sleepover at a friend's house. Skenazy suggests that because crime rates in America are at their all-time low, despite what many parents believe, that it is time to give children back recess, walking, playing, and basically, being children. The main premise of the book is to give parents tools to start raising Free-Range children, and addresses any problems or issues parents may face if the decide to make this decision. Each chapter denotes a "Commandment," followed by sound reasoning to a problem or task (such as, letting your kid walk to school, what could really happen), ending with a short letter or anecdote by real parents trying to grabble with their paranoia, and some steps to take to get started.
I was interested in this book because the author and myself share many of the same ideas concerning how children should be raised. I do not feel that children should be denied the basic principle of childhood, which is to learn and explore. Of course I believe that parents have every right to be concerned for the children's well-being; but there is a point in time when literally locking them in the house and forbidding them to go out alone is bordering on obsessive compulsive paranoia. Not only is the bad for the child's development, but parents are inadvertently raising a person who will not know how to fend for himself in the real world. What will happen when it's time for that child to get a driver's license, to go off to college, to face a difficult situation and...
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