I remember as a kid in the 70s that I would get off school and just stay at the park or go home have a snack and then take off and play at the park. Nowadays that just does not happen much, in fact my kids only go to the park with me.
Well I was listening to a story on the radio today about Lenore Skenazy from Free Range Kids. Lenore has designated tomorrow “Take your kids to the park and leave them there” day. A bit of a long name but the whole idea seems to be causing a firestorm of criticism. Lenore is saying that kids are spending to little time hanging out together and because we coddle our kids they do not have a sense of personal responsibility that they should have.
Lenore has even written a book about the ideas called Free-Range Kids
I have two kids, a 6 year old son and a 10 year old daughter and up until a month ago I would never let them go to the park by themselves, I thought we were over protective but in fact this seems to be pretty normal in this day and age of dangerous predators and kidnappers.
What I found though from the interview was that Lenore stated that parks are safer today (although a lot emptier) than they were in the 70s and 80s when I was a kid. So I have to wonder if this is the truth then why is it that we are so preoccupied with protecting our kids from an invisible stranger when my parents were not nearly as worried years ago.
Well my guess as to why people are so worried for their kids is probably thanks in a large part to 24 hour news focusing on very scary stories that keep people tuned in. The dangers may be out there but every abducted kid story is big news for weeks so it looks like it is happening every day.
So what can we do to keep the kids safe? I believe that we need to warn our kids of dangers, don’t talk to strangers. Also it is a good idea to make sure that they are always aware of their surroundings and to have a safety term.
A safety term is a term that a family member or stranger would need to use to take the kid. Your child does not ask for it, the adult needs to give it unasked to make it effective. A term like “kittens like dogs” or something as strange so that there is no confusion.
So Lenore is talking about dropping your kids at the park alone for 30 minutes or an hour, not all day, starting at 10am or whatever time seems good in the morning and this way hopefully lots of kids get out and get to play together.
Do you like this idea? Does it seem too much for kids? Will it teach them personal responsibility?
Leave a Reply