Reddit reviews Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)
We found 15 Reddit comments about Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry). Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Jossey-Bass
There has been a trend, though. Long story short, it's related to the rise of the Sunday Night Movie and "White Women in Peril" and the ascendancy of stranger danger as entertainment. "America's Most Wanted" accelerated the trend with the constant presence of Adam Walsh's son's ghost.
Lenore Skenazy documents the collapse of outdoor play and its reasons in a couple chapters in Free Range Kids.
I think you should read :
Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0470574755/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_FVy1DbJ9CFZ5C
There’s a lot of data in there that supports the idea that we are living in one of the safest times in our nations history. Child abductions by strangers (not friends or family) is extremely rare.
It is my personal belief that the majority of humans in this world generally like kids and want to help them and not hurt them.
As far as molestations and that kind of thing- my solution is that from the beginning I’ve been very open and honest with my kids about the human body and sexuality. They know the correct anatomical names for body parts and they know that they are in charge of their bodies and no one has the right to touch them without their permission. We’ve talked about consent. We’ve talked about people who act like your friend but really want to hurt you and keeping an eye out for them.
At the beginning of every school year we talk about people touching in the places covered by bathing suits and how it’s not okay. We talk about screaming at the top of their lungs no matter what and running away if they can. We talk about how even if someone says they’ll hurt you or your family for telling they absolutely will not be able to do that and that they MUST tell a trusted adult immediately. Then we talk about who the trusted adults in their lives are that they’d feel comfortable going to.
You can’t control who’s out there walking around in the world but you can take appropriate steps to make sure your children are (age appropriately) aware of the risks and know what to do if something happens or doesn’t feel right to them. You can foster loving and open relationships with your children so they feel comfortable coming to you about the big things. You can teach them what to do if someone tries to touch them in a way they don’t like. You can teach them about autonomy and consent.
I know it sounds like a lot but remember this is over the course of 10 years. This isn’t all at once so don’t get bogged down by the amount of work. Really it’s small aspects taught maybe a few times and reemphasized regularly. It’s curating a loving relationship with your child, which you’re going to do anyway, and making sure they feel safe and cared for so they can talk to you about the big or scary things.
Take a deep breath, Mama. I know it’s hard but try not to let your anxiety run the show.
OP should read Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy. It really opened our eyes when we had our child.
Also on a more hopeful note: Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) Paperback – April 19, 2010
I agree with your general concerns about people keeping kids too safe. Check out this TED Talk video 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do.
Also - Free-Range Kids
I skimmed the comments and didn't see this yet, but I apologize if it's a duplicate. I'm in the process of reading this book, Free Range Kids, which is about exactly this!
Perhaps. Although I hate to generalize a group of people, but that is likely true.
Although I don't really blame them, I blame the environment they grew up in as described here:
How children lost the right to roam in four generations
Helicopter Moms vs. Free-Range Kids
Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)
Free-Range Kids - Blog
I see people moving in two directions at once, backward as you describe, not just limited to kids but adults that have desk jobs and work overtime. At the same time we have people pushing the envelop, doing extreme sports or 'silent sports' like biking, kayaking, cross-country skiing, but those people are much fewer in number by comparison.
Utah passed a Free Range parenting law last year which I was glad to see. As others have pointed out here, it's practically nil that a child will be abducted by a stranger. It's much more likely that a child will grow up to be afraid of the world, living with anxiety about her chances of having something happen to her.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/29/well/family/utah-passes-free-range-parenting-law.html
This is a great book about the movement to let kids grow up without irrational fears.
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Raise-Self-Reliant-Children-Without/dp/0470574755
From the Amazon description: FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy's piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it.
The author of the article has a highly-rated book, Free Range Kids.
> FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy's piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lot of parents today, Skenazy says, see no difference between letting their kids walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. Any risk is seen as too much risk. But if you try to prevent every possible danger or difficult in your child?s everyday life, that child never gets a chance to grow up. We parents have to realize that the greatest risk of all just might be trying to raise a child who never encounters choice or independence.
^ I remember reading about that story a while ago and wishing that my parents had taken a page out of her book.
I'd also make the same criticism of my school/education experience. My education was "touristified," to use a term coined by Nassim Taleb in his book Antifragile, which, in my view, prevented me from being able to learn as much as I would have been able to otherwise.
This is a good read too.
I think 'free range kids' got a mention:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Free-Range-Kids-Self-Reliant-Children-Without/dp/0470574755
(or was that Haidt?)
This looks like the card that came with this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Raise-Self-Reliant-Children-Without/dp/0470574755
But that card is in color. Much nicer.
Hate the source. This seems to be an argument for free range parenting which I think there is a very good argument for. But it isn't this article.
I'm going to use this thread to rep Lenore Skenazy's book "Free Range Kids".
Skenazy is the former columnist who let her 8 year old son ride the NY subway home at his request with a subway map, a cell phone, and $20. The only problem that he had was some woman who grabbed him, and shouted that he shouldn't be by himself.
I highly recommend the book, it puts childhood in its proper perspective, and not the skewed perspective that the 24-hour news cycle has given us today. Often the concepts that she suggests are met with "but you can't allow kids to do that! Not today at least...". Well, what's different about today? Other people will be more judgemental?
Other people are wrong.
Welcome to Helicopter Parenting. Parents today provide no room for their children to grow as people, and it's only getting worse.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/nation-wimps/201401/helicopter-parenting-its-worse-you-think
https://www.amazon.com/Free-Range-Raise-Self-Reliant-Children-Without/dp/0470574755
And if they don't do it, the state usually steps in.
Sad.