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Do you let your kids go out alone?
A New York mom who let her nine-year-old ride the subway alone (without a cellphone!) has unleashed criticism throughout the blogosphere for her supposed disregard for her son's safety.
In response, Lenore Skenazy, the allegedly uncaring mom and a columnist for the New York Sun, has started her own blog to encourage Free Range Kids, with the slogan: "Let's give our kids the freedom we had!"
Skenazy's son had been begging for more freedom to go places without her. She left him at Bloomingdale's and gave him a subway map, $20, a subway card and some quarters to call her in case of emergency. He made it home fine, but Skenazy has been deluged with scorn.
I grew up in a suburb similar to where I live now, and I used to walk everywhere, unaccompanied. As a teen, I took the train to New York City regularly - by myself. It's hard to imagine parents letting their kids do these activities today.
How much freedom do you give your kids to go to places without an entourage?
Gretchen Day-Bryant has a son in high school and a daughter in middle school. She’s lived to tell about the struggles of juggling little kids and work...
Joy Oglesby has an infant daughter and a sister 13 years her junior, whom she babies to the now-adult...
Cindy Kent Fort Lauderdale mother of three. Her kids span in ages from teenager to 20s...
Rafael Olmeda and his wife welcomed their first son in Feb. 2009, and he's helping raise two teenage stepdaughters...
Lois Solomon lives in Boca Raton with her husband and three daughters...
Anne Vasquez is the Online Editor in charge of overseeing SunSentinel.com. She is the mother of a 5-year-old boy and a newborn daughter.
Georgia East is the parent of a five-year-old girl, who came into the world weighing 1 pound, 13 ounces...
Brittany Wallman is the mother of Creed, 13, and Lily, 6, and is married...
Chris Tiedje is the Social Media Coordinator, and father of two boys and a girl all under the age of seven.
Comments
I've said it before, and I will keep saying it. Stand up and live without fear ! Take all necessary precautions, of course. My daughter carries a cell phone and is always with a friend when she goes out, but we grant her quite a bit of leeway. I absolutely refuse to live my life in fear of a small population of societal turds. We must also keep in mind the media will present things out of context, sensationalize, and otherwise lead to a distorted sense of reality if you take everything in it to heart as the sum total of existence.
Posted by: Jeff | April 24, 2008 9:36 AM
Yet another perfect example of why society is falling apart. Folks should have to pass a test before being allowed to have kids these days, as most parents are unfit to raise a child.
Posted by: MikeC | April 24, 2008 10:59 AM
MikeC - I agree, real parenting has become a lost art, but we are not called to cower in fear over what-ifs. That's no way to live.
Posted by: Jeff | April 25, 2008 12:23 PM
I was raised in the Bronx. I remember the days when my mom gave me $10 and a small shopping list and sent me to the store... and I was only 8 years old. It's a shame parents can be arrested nowadays for doing the same thing.
Posted by: Anthony | February 23, 2009 8:16 PM