Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry
Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry
FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazys 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 childs 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.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Wise & Witty
Lenore is a hoot and my new parenting hero!
As a later-in-life mom (something Lenore & I share), I’ve often pondered if I would be more or less nervous than a younger mom. Does age play a role in comfort level and parenting style? I wonder.
I do know that I work hard at allowing my 6 year old son freedom, and I try not to be a hovering mom. We live in the suburbs, so he won’t be taking the subway any time soon. Maybe the Long Island Rail Road in a couple of years? Something to consider for sure.
Lenore has planted the seed.
I totally recommend her book. She’s the wise and witty mom friend you wish you had. She tells it like it is without preaching. It’s food for thought…and it’s an approach worth considering.
Robin, founder, MotherhoodLater.com
(for moms with more life experience than baby experience)
5 Stars Finally…common sense prevails!
While common sense seems to be suffering from an inferiority complex these days, it shows up in buckets-full in this book. In my own humble opinions, if we just take the time to A) listen to the weird things coming out of our own mouths and B) pick apart the even crazier things the media repeats ad nauseum on a daily basis, then the world would be a much better place. And Lenore does just that on the subject of child rearing in today’s world.
I don’t have kids (yet) and even I feel the societal pressure of raising a healthy, well-adjusted kid. So I gobbled up this book, looking for one of those voices of sanity that helps me keep my head on reasonably straight. This book is chock-full of real life examples, well-researched references and a great sense of humor about it all. An easy read and one that will be well worth your time whether you have kids or plan to eventually. (Or give this book to your baby-knee-pad-buying, horrific-statistic-spouting, safety-obsessed friends!)
5 Stars Sanity for insane times
BRAVO! Buy this book if you buy no other parenting book and ESPECIALLY if you have a bookshelf full of them. Read this and discard the rest. Parents: the job description is to prepare them for the world- not shield them from it, nor live life for them. BUT parents say the world is a scary place. Not as scary as you might think- and the very things you fret over are the least likely to happen. Relax and empower your kids and yourself and giggle while reading the book.
You might also want to grab a copy of “The Call to Brilliance” by Reisa Steindell Brown for even more data about the insane, misplaced pressures our society is putting on our kids rather than giving them what they need. Gavin DeBecker’s “Gift of Fear” further substantiates the Free Range author’s assertion that what we fear (and teach our kids to fear) is not what we should fear- and he has data and gruesome stories to prove it- not to mention the obligatory Oprah endorsement. Leavitt’s “Freakonomics” has great supporting data as well.
Buy them all. Believe their data- not the nightly news, PEOPLE, or your neighbors. You’ll sleep better and your kids will get more of what they need to be happy, successful and satisfied.
5 Stars Every Parent Needs To Read This Book!
In this day and age of hyper scheduled, over stressed kids, this book offers the recipe for raising happy and productive kids!
Chock full of advice and stories of kids who made their parents crazy and ended up successful adults, you’ll find reassurance on every page.
This couldn’t have come at a better time. I have a (nearly) 6 year old and it makes me remember that even though times have changed, I can still give him the freedom to be a happy, healthy, creative and crazy/wonderful kid!
5 Stars How To Carefully Let Go
Are you looking forward to your grown children living with you the rest of their lives? Robbing the refrigerator, stealing the newspaper, never paying rent, or gasing up the family car? If you are, don’t read this book. Readers of “Free Range Kids” will be interested in raising children who, with their parents watchful guidance, safely learn how to be independent, thinking, free human beings, who will. one day, move out and have their own lives. Having a true childhood that is full of fun, learning, play, and yes, risks, is Skenazy’s goal and her book gives us plenty of ways to achieve it with our children. Recommended reading for both parents and their too-soon-to-be-grown-and-off-to-college-kids
Filed under: Personal Development Book Reviews