Free range kids

Not so long ago I got served a faceful of utter distain at school. It was a Wednesday afternoon and we were at school for Netball Practice I was having a chat with another Mum when a woman I didn't know came and told me that Will was playing in the dirt. I thanked her for letting me know and said that I wasn't concerned about him doing that. The look on her face was priceless. I wondered briefly if I had in fact transformed into Satans Mother. I expect she can probably safely dress her kids in white because she most likely never lets them near dust let alone dirt. I expect she never uses public toilets, has shares in a handsanitiser and alcohol wipe company, probably has one of those handy dandy coveralls for avoiding the super market trolley germs and regularly dips her kids in a bucket of disenfectant for a fun time.

I say let them eat dirt!

Which I guess is why I was happy to read this post on Free Range Kids called Let 'em Eat Dirt.

Free Range Kids is a website started by a lady called Lenore Skenazy who let her 9 year old son ride the subway in New York on his own because she knew he could and she knew it was relatively safe to do so. She was condemmed by a lot of people in the USA for doing so but stands by her decision and her son and tells lots of interesting stories about similar situations on her blog. She also shares statistical findings, studies and other information as well.

It is a blog that reminds you what good common sense parenting is really about. Despite the media hype there is not a sex offender on every street corner or in every chat room and the vast majority of strangers in our kids lives are quite simply nice people we haven't met yet.

Having buried a child I find it incredibly easy to imagine all kinds of things that could occur to make me have to go through that again. I really have to check myself constantly to ask if the things I am concerned about really are valid and in most cases they aren't. I wish the we lived in the same type of area that I lived in as a kid as I had huge opportunties to wander and explore a vast array of places from the Botanical gardens, the university campus and the harbourside. I had a stack of adventures alone and with my friend Suzy Duncan which would have made Suzy's Nana have a pink fit (had she known). It was great!

I want that same experience for my kids. To that end I took Kieran onto Hobsonville Base recently and suggested some places that he could go check out and adventure to. He did do it once- I'm not sure what he got up to or if he enjoyed himself- I'm not going to ask because it's none of my business. I hope he did and I hope exploring and messing around becomes a part of his way of life- same for Merenia and Will in time as well.

There's a bunch of stuff to read on the website and some of it will blow your mind- like the story of the parents who had their 5, 4, and 1 year old girls removed for a MONTH after they took their holiday photos to get developed at Walmart (turns out they had 6 or 7 pics of the girls having a bath together). the web site asks some good questions and makes some good points. In New Zealand the situation is not as extreme as it is in the USA but we could easily go that way (think police vet checks for parents helping out at school - seriously???) best to think about it and talk about it now before the world goes completely mad.

♥