free range kids

I haven’t (yet) read the book Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry by Lenore Skenazy, but it is intruiging…the idea that kids should be given a lot more freedom to wander than they are. Much of the time, I don’t give my kids as much freedom as I’d like, not because I’m worried for their safety, but because I’m worried what others will think. (Not always, but much of the time.)

I tried to get Camille to go to CVS in DC last week. It is NEXT door to the apartment, in the same building as the Ritz-Carlton. She was too scared. Scared of what? Of doing something on her own? Of getting lost? It was daylight. There is a police station and secret service agents nearby (usually). I hope that on the next trip she will. I’ve taught my kids so much about how to travel; I would think that she could take the metro to The Mall and go to the museum on her own fairly soon!

A couple of weeks ago we went “camping” in Fort Mountain. (I promised to write about it, but never did.) A bunch of families that we knew were there in cottages all around. The kids came and went as they pleased from house to house and then around the circle on wheels (mostly scooters). They know that wheels mean helmets; they needed no adults to tell them what to do and where to go. It was a boon for all. The only time I really felt I needed to keep an eye on them was when they were in the water where there was no lifeguard. I wish that our little town had more kids Camille’s age. I would love the chance to let her have the freedom to roam.

But, now I need to find the book. Library doesn’t have it. No Kindle version either. Maybe the DC library has it. Maybe I’ll send Camille to go get it for me.