They've syndicated my post from the other day on how I'm a would-be free-range parent who feels hemmed in by today's safety expectations. BlogHer has made me some lovely Pinterest imagery as well:
That's totally what I wanted to do with those quotes and didn't! Procrastination pays off! And looks so much prettier than I would have done!
I'll be hanging out over yonder to field comments and spark some chatter on the topic of free-range kids. Come join me!
Even if you've already read the post and let me know what you think, I'd love for your clicks on and shares of the BlogHer page so they know I'm sending my peeps over to give it a look!
And if you haven't commented or shared it yet, I'd really appreciate your voice added to the conversation. Why is it so hard to grant kids independence today?
Continue reading at BlogHer ››
I'm Lauren Wayne, writer and natural parent. I embrace attached parenting with an emphasis toward green living. 
1 comments:
Didn't look like it let me leave my huge comment on BlogHer so copied and pasted:
As a parent, I am more afraid of CPS than I am of any other danger to my kids. That speaks to a serious problem, I think. I know I'm not alone.
My parents were overprotective when I was growing up, compared to my friends' parents, and I still had a million times more freedom than kids today. Can kids today even ride their bikes around the block unsupervised? When I was 11 or so I would watch my younger siblings while my parents ran quick trips. (I remember once while babysitting my brother, 7 years younger than me, he got his foreskin stuck in his zipper after going potty and part of my babysitting duties that day was to get him unstuck!) When I was in middle school my friends and I would walk a mile or two up to the local mall to shop and see movies in the little theater. I can't believe not leaving a 15 year old in a car - At 15 can't you get your driver's permit??
Sebastian is 4 and I would feel comfortable leaving him while I take the 2 year old with me to the store down the street. I haven't done it yet as he usually decides to come last minute but I definitely worry about other people finding out than I do about something actually happening to him. We do things similar to how you do things with Mikko I think. He has been able to walk ahead of us since he was about 3 and he goes into shops to buy his own candy while we hang back. (He used to be a really shy/needy baby and then BOOM the most social kid ever, almost to a fault!) We have lots of little shops in our neighborhood and it gives me peace of mind that he is familiar with the owners and vice versa. He knows his way home from anywhere around here - He actually corrected me once about a year ago when I started walking 'home' in the wrong direction. (I am bad bad with directions.)
This is already a novel but yeah, this is a problem. I saw an article yesterday linking the lack of freedom to depression in kids. Our culture is truly absurd and that went from haha funny to scary real quick in the past decade.
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