I live in a community where kids seem to have more leeway to roam. Most of them seem to roam on electric scooters. The scooters can get a bit annoying but I do like seeing kids through their young teens in groups without parents at the pizza place, going to the swimming pool, and even fishing in one of the community ponds... boys and girls.
Katherine- THANK YOU for your work. I especially loved your reflections in this latest article. I am often finding myself in conversations w fellow moms about their completely unfounded kidnapping fears and love having solid evidence based numbers to come back to them with (even if Lenore says stats don’t work!). Keep up your amazing work. I am free ranging the heck out of my 4 kids down here in south Texas and they are loving it! I just wish other would get on board. What a shame and what a disservice we are doing to these young folks… locking them up inside and isolating them from the wonderful work around them and their peers.
Thank you for this. I found Kim Brooks' book to be incredibly impactful. It crystallized for me something I hadn't really articulated before: that the main fear guiding my decisions about child independence is not fear for the child's safety, but instead fear of other parents' judgments. I can acknowledge that this is not how I want to make parental decisions while also knowing that an encounter like the one posted here would devastate me. But it might be something I need to risk for the sake of my kids.
This one raised my blood pressure on a Monday morning. I’m not sure I could hold my temper if someone actually came to my door with my child (having pressured them into walking with an adult they don’t know — aka aren’t they almost abducting?) and berated me for letting them walk to a park alone.
Good on that public defender for taking the system on — lots of people who would just roll over because the investigation alone (either police or CPS) can be an almost life-destroying punishment in itself.
The threat of CPS plus the “Facebook group gossip” are HUGE problems for free-range parents. It takes a lot of self-confidence to hold strong in the face of those twin threats.
“You can say, “Thank you for caring about my child! We do, too. We all have different ways of raising our kids, don’t we?” And then try to cut the conversation short.”
Perfect. Non violent - disarming communication. Breaks the attack/defend/attack cycle. Beautiful modelling for the child and the best chance for the other person to actually reflect on their actions.
This same thing has happened to me (not once but) TWICE in my VERY lovely neighborhood. In my case, both instances happened with folks that are probably late aged Baby Boomers which made the interactions all the more interesting because (1) I want to show respect to and, usually, love advice from people of other generations and (2) they were raised in very free range ways.
My kids carry their kid licenses and I always ensure that they weren’t being reckless before politely saying “this is the way I’m parenting, thank you!”
All I can say is I’m sure happy my 4 free-range kids are now grown and gone, I’d be visited by CPS if I let them roam, play and explore like I did just a few years ago. Side note, they’re all happy well-adjusted young adults now!
I live in a community where kids seem to have more leeway to roam. Most of them seem to roam on electric scooters. The scooters can get a bit annoying but I do like seeing kids through their young teens in groups without parents at the pizza place, going to the swimming pool, and even fishing in one of the community ponds... boys and girls.
Katherine- THANK YOU for your work. I especially loved your reflections in this latest article. I am often finding myself in conversations w fellow moms about their completely unfounded kidnapping fears and love having solid evidence based numbers to come back to them with (even if Lenore says stats don’t work!). Keep up your amazing work. I am free ranging the heck out of my 4 kids down here in south Texas and they are loving it! I just wish other would get on board. What a shame and what a disservice we are doing to these young folks… locking them up inside and isolating them from the wonderful work around them and their peers.
Your comment was such a lovely way to start my day. Thanks for sharing such positive feedback and your own refreshing approach to parenting.
World **
Thank you for this. I found Kim Brooks' book to be incredibly impactful. It crystallized for me something I hadn't really articulated before: that the main fear guiding my decisions about child independence is not fear for the child's safety, but instead fear of other parents' judgments. I can acknowledge that this is not how I want to make parental decisions while also knowing that an encounter like the one posted here would devastate me. But it might be something I need to risk for the sake of my kids.
This one raised my blood pressure on a Monday morning. I’m not sure I could hold my temper if someone actually came to my door with my child (having pressured them into walking with an adult they don’t know — aka aren’t they almost abducting?) and berated me for letting them walk to a park alone.
Good on that public defender for taking the system on — lots of people who would just roll over because the investigation alone (either police or CPS) can be an almost life-destroying punishment in itself.
The threat of CPS plus the “Facebook group gossip” are HUGE problems for free-range parents. It takes a lot of self-confidence to hold strong in the face of those twin threats.
“You can say, “Thank you for caring about my child! We do, too. We all have different ways of raising our kids, don’t we?” And then try to cut the conversation short.”
Perfect. Non violent - disarming communication. Breaks the attack/defend/attack cycle. Beautiful modelling for the child and the best chance for the other person to actually reflect on their actions.
This same thing has happened to me (not once but) TWICE in my VERY lovely neighborhood. In my case, both instances happened with folks that are probably late aged Baby Boomers which made the interactions all the more interesting because (1) I want to show respect to and, usually, love advice from people of other generations and (2) they were raised in very free range ways.
My kids carry their kid licenses and I always ensure that they weren’t being reckless before politely saying “this is the way I’m parenting, thank you!”
All I can say is I’m sure happy my 4 free-range kids are now grown and gone, I’d be visited by CPS if I let them roam, play and explore like I did just a few years ago. Side note, they’re all happy well-adjusted young adults now!