Lenore Skenazy has walked herself into a media storm by letting her 9 year old ride the Subway in New York city. Here is the article and the follow-up. Suffice it to say, she has a point and now a blog; freerangekids. The basic argument being that parents are a bunch of 'worry warts' and that there is not a lot of difference between 'very very very extremely unlikely' and 'impossible' when it comes to statements such as:
And, in any case, how sad it was that our daughter had to be 9 before we would let her ride her bike for an hour outside the front of the house without direct adult supervision let alone take public transport which she is entirely capable of doing.
If I let me kid go across the street to the park it is 'very very very extremely unlikely' that they will be abducted and beaten but if I let them play at home it is 'impossible' that they will be abducted and beaten.Of course, the storm she encountered makes me wonder whether we caged our kids because we really think we are protecting them or if we caged them because we are protecting ourselves from what other people will think.
And, in any case, how sad it was that our daughter had to be 9 before we would let her ride her bike for an hour outside the front of the house without direct adult supervision let alone take public transport which she is entirely capable of doing.
