[December 29, 2014] A movement, based on the idea that children should not be protected from everything imaginable, is beginning to make some headway in Canada and the United States. They say overprotective parents are preventing their kids from developing into well-balanced adults. Called Free Range Kids, children are allowed to be more independent, gaining resilience and critical life lessons.
One of our secondary themes here in theLeaderMaker.com is that people need to experience stresses to allow them to grow stronger and more resilient (see link here and here).1 In 2008, Lenore Skenazy wrote a column in the New York Sun entitled, “Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone,” referring to the New York City subway. You may have heard of it. The negative reactions were expected from our over-protective society.
“The idea is to open kids wide to the wonderful world.” – Lenore Skenazy, author and host to reality show World’s Worst Mom
The Free Range Kids Project (FRK), as it is called, is about how to raise safe, self-reliant children (without going nuts with worry).2 It means more kids will have a chance to do things on their own, be more independent, and more confident. This will allow parents to worry less about their kids. The idea of the FRK project is a spinoff of the New York Sun column. By the way, kids love it.
The FRK Facebook page is very informative and has an almost daily comments on the good and the bad of free-ranging kids.3 For those who believe children must be protected against the world, you had better hang onto your seat for a wild ride. Maybe, just maybe, a few overprotective parents will see the light.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
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[1] See the five-part series on Mental Resilience and Leadership: Part1, Part2, Part3, Part4, and Part5.
[2] http://www.freerangekids.com/
[3] https://www.facebook.com/FreeRangeKids