Utah Just Passed America’s First ‘Free-Range Parenting’ Law (suspect, high school)
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We could be more of a free range kid when I grew up, but times have changed and its not safe in some neighborhoods. and some parents will think that is just a way to neglect your kid and not spend time supervising them and they will run wild and do damage and crime.
You want "free range," move to Alaska. You don't even have to educate your kids there. You can raise them any way you want.
You can leave a baby and a toddler home with 6 and 8 year old sisters for 14+ hours a day while you work and go drinking after work with your friends. Oh, they'll send a social worker to the house with a list of options. But there are no consequences. Or at least weren't to the neighbor who lived down the road from us.
Quite the place.
"Free range" seems to mean that supervising your kids is a hit or miss operation. Some do. Some don't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GotHereQuickAsICould
"Free range" parenting doesn't mean a short walk home. It means they can wander about as the please without anyone knowing where they are or what the are up to.
We've all seen "free range" kids at the parks and playgrounds. They are the ones who fall off the slide and here is no one there to see if they dislocated or broke anything.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cuca Racha
Yeah many of us grew up in free range societies and had a happy childhood. Others were raped and/or killed.
I think people romantize their childhoods way too much. I don’t think the newer generations feel like something was taken away from them just because their parents knew where they were at all times.
^^^ And here it is folks: Three illustrations why such a stupid law needs to exist, before we even get past the first page.
The idea that the only those who are allowed to roam free as young children grow up to be independent and self-reliant is just ridiculous.
Plenty of children with parental supervision grow up to independent and self-reliant.
Not sure I agree with this in its entirety.
IMO kids allowed to roam free and how to handle themselves are independent and self-reliant at an earlier age and better able to take care of themselves as young adults.
IMO there is a reason why so many adults today are still at home with mom/dad in their late 20s and 30s - because they are immature and inexperienced due to having mom/dad do everything for them, think for them, shuttle them everywhere all the time, and not give them the space to grow and mature when they were children.
Note, I don't think that the longer childhood people experience today is that bad of a thing, but various studies and data show that adults today, who were raised not in a "free range" sort of way are not as independent and self-reliant as previous generations who were raised more "free range."
Have a question for those who believe young children learn valuable life lessons while wandering about on their own.
What is he role of adults who notice they need help?
Say you are at a playground and a young girl playing alone is approached by a disheveled man who is clearly a stranger. She tells him to go away. He doesn't. So she leaves and he follows. Should you let her learn a valuable life lesson or should you intervene?
Or a child falls off the playground equipment. He tries to limp away, but he can't put any weight on one leg/foot. Should you offer assistance or should you allow the child to learn self-reliance skills?
Or a child brings a toddler and goes off to play. The droopy-diapered toddler is wandering around, eating sand/wood chips, falling down, wandering into the parking area, ... You know, learning self-reliance.
What is the role of adults in situations where unsupervised children need help?
When I was a kid I was sometimes bothered by older kids and adults. Adults in the neighborhood, because I roamed around so much, they knew me, knew where I lived and knew my parents and so if I was bothered they'd tell the older kid or adult to leave me alone and for me to tell my dad about whatever happened.
I do the same when I see people bothering children today. Luckily where I live kids still play a lot outside, especially in the poor neighborhoods where they don't have all the luxuries of wealthier kids all the time (video games and such, many of the kids on my mom's block, they don't always have utilities on at their house even if they have a gaming system). I watch out for all the kids on my mom's street and I know them. I know all the kids on my block too and in the spring/summer/fall I sit on my porch and if I see a kid doing something dangerous or an adult bothering them, then I'll say something to them.
Letting kids explore doesn't mean that adults cannot or should not help them or guide them.
We could be more of a free range kid when I grew up, but times have changed and its not safe in some neighborhoods. and some parents will think that is just a way to neglect your kid and not spend time supervising them and they will run wild and do damage and crime.
The world is much safer today than it was in the 1980s and 1990s when I was kid no matter where you live.
I see your name has Chicago in it and even in Chicago there was more crime and drugs and gangs in the 1980s and 1990s than today.
IMO kids allowed to roam free and how to handle themselves are independent and self-reliant at an earlier age and better able to take care of themselves as young adults.
IMO there is a reason why so many adults today are still at home with mom/dad in their late 20s and 30s - because they are immature and inexperienced due to having mom/dad do everything for them, think for them, shuttle them everywhere all the time, and not give them the space to grow and mature when they were children.
Note, I don't think that the longer childhood people experience today is that bad of a thing, but various studies and data show that adults today, who were raised not in a "free range" sort of way are not as independent and self-reliant as previous generations who were raised more "free range."
FWIW, I have countrymen living in the US whose kids rebelled at around age 12 and wanted to go live in Denmark - because, in their words, "You're not allowed to do anything in the US".
Letting your nearly-eleven year-old stay by herself for an hour before school or walk to the bus stop alone is not "free range" parenting. Throw in the texting every few minutes and some would refer to that as "helicopter parenting."
When people refer to "free range" parenting, they are talking about letting kids roam around by themselves for hours on end, young children looking out for younger siblings, ... while the parents are not "hovering" over them, and might not even be available.
Ask any public librarian about "free range" kids. They show up after school and hang around until the library closes. One of our kids was a librarian, and told about having to call child services at closing when they couldn't get in touch with a parent. Free ranger or not, you can't just throw young children out on the street at 9 at night.
"Free range" parenting works in communities where the neighbors know the kids and look out for them, as ResidingHere2007 described.
If you live in such a tight-knit community, hallelujah.
But most of the time it means that "free range" parents go on about their own business and expect strangers to pick up the slack.
Last edited by GotHereQuickAsICould; 03-28-2018 at 02:23 PM..
Letting your nearly-eleven year-old stay by herself for an hour before school or walk to the bus stop alone is not "free range" parenting. Throw in the texting every few minutes and some would refer to that as "helicopter parenting."
When people refer to "free range" parenting, they are talking about letting kids roam around by themselves for hours on end, young children looking out for younger siblings, ... while the parents are not "hovering" over them, and might not even be available.
Ask any public librarian about "free range" kids. They show up after school and hang around until the library closes. One of our kids was a librarian, and told about having to call child services at closing when they couldn't get in touch with a parent. Free ranger or not, you can't just throw young children out on the street at 9 at night.
"Free range" parenting works in communities where the neighbors know the kids and look out for them, as ResidingHere2007 described.
If you live in such a tight-knit community, hallelujah.
But most of the time it means that "free range" parents go on about their own business and expect others to pick up the slack.
We are talking about "free range" according to the bill addressed In the OP. To most of the posters free range does not mean abandoning your kids or not parenting at all. Free range still comes with rules and curfews.
I called an ambulance for the kid who fell off the slide. Couldn't get in touch with a parent. Don't know what happened after that as I certainly couldn't sign any paperwork. I didn't even know who he was.
I went after the girl and brought her back to stay with me and our kids. I worried that maybe the guy was a noncustodial father and I'd be be in the midst of some trouble. Fortunately, he was just a harmless, homeless character. Later, learned he had a camp of sorts in the wooded area behind the playground.
I brought the droopy-diapered toddler over to play with my girls. Eventually, his brother came and got him and home they went, none the worse for the wear.
But I can't help but wonder what it would be like if all parents were "free range," if there were no adults about to pick up the slack.
Guess Utah is about to find out.
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