Free Range Kids, or Not…

Have you been following the free range debate? See www.freerangekids.com to catch up if you’ve missed out on the brouhaha.

The issue is whether or not to let your kids roam free and unsupervised, and if so, when and where and how much?

I’m sure there are many parents out there who feel confused and unsure about making declarative statements about this type of thing. Yes, helicopter-style parenting is bad. Doing your children’s homework for them is bad. There seems to be a general consensus that being overly cautious is bad, bad, bad. Unless your kid gets hurt, in which case, it’s obvious the parent did something wrong, probably neglectful.

I am truly perturbed by the fully overblown paranoia of schools, afterschool classes, and organizations like girl scouts over litigation prevention. I would never sue any institution, short of true malfeasance or gross neglect (NOT minor oversight, only GROSS neglect). But my contemporaries don’t agree with me. When I complain about the requirements for waivers, permission slips, health forms, etc., I am thought of as a difficult woman who needs to get over the obvious: bad things happen and we need to be prepared. The school (or fill in blank) can’t afford to get sued, and you don’t want to lose your house if you’re chaperoning, do you?

When I let me kids ride up and down the street on scooters without helmets, I am practically sending them to their deaths. Not to mention, it is now criminal to let your kids out of doors on wheeled vehicles without helmets. I am not so against the helmets. If your kids are going fast, far, or near fast-moving traffic, they’re mandatory in my house, too. But where did my right to use my judgment go?

Free-rangers argue that children need to be trusted and respected when they decide they are able to make decisions. Only their own parents know when they’re ready, not society at large. But there is such a societal force at work, driven by liability avoidance, that we really can’t argue about kids in isolation from this larger cultural movement which seeks to save us from ourselves. Seat belts, motorcycle helmets, vaccinations, 55mph speed limits, insurance required by law, workman’s comp… It just stretches out larger and larger. It’s so far beyond an argument about kids and how far away from the house they’re allowed to go. It’s about all of us losing our individual rights, and all of the people who demand to be protected.

Protected from what? Well, here in America, we want to be protected from everything. Everything that would cause us physical harm, including terrorists, drug users, cigarettes. Sharp edges, transfats, doctors who make mistakes. But don’t you dare come near anyone’s God-given right to make a buck. Or in the case of liability paranoia, anyone’s ability to keep a buck even if they do something wrong since they’ve got an army of lawyers on their side.

I’m not sure when it happened, but I’ve become a Libertarian. I want my rights back. Sadly, like taxes and military budgets, it seems to be a one-way land grab. I’ll keep working on letting my kids expand their territory, their right to explore the world on their own terms. Who’s working on mine?

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April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Problematic Parenting, Serious | Leave a Comment