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Elementary School Dads

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TOPIC: Sending kids out alone: crazy or caring?

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Daddy Clay

Sending kids out alone: crazy or caring?
2 Years, 5 Months ago

Our youngest is only 5 but has recently been asking to go alone to a nearby field alone. We live in the gated and guarded preserve of a boarding school campus, so we've been giving him this freedom. Little outings of this nature seem to boost our kids' confidence. How are other families handling kids desires for independence? When and where is it okay for your kids to go it alone? What age and what circumstances make playing alone okay?

I was interested to come across the book and website Free Range Kids which advocates that our world is safe enough to allow kids freedom, and that parents should encourage their kids to strike out alone.

This obviously goes against the accepted wisdom that our wold is full of dangerous perverts. What are your thoughts?

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krellpw

Re:Sending kids out alone: crazy or caring?
2 Years, 4 Months ago

I've read Free Range Kids, and I agree with them to a certain degree, but find them to be a bit extreme in how much freedom it's ok for children of certain ages to have.

Our son is about to turn 6 and he's also looking for ways to exert his independence. I guess my response would be, "it depends." My boy's about to receive his first two wheel bike. I'm pretty sure that he's going to want to ride the street in front of our house alone, pretty quickly.

We live on a dead end cul-de-sac and traffic is fairly light. I'm thinking we may start by letting him ride the street while a parent is out in the front yard for a while and then work our way to letting him ride alone.

It's a tough call though. Largely, I trust my boy. It's the rest of the world that worries me.

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