For some, the phrase “free-range parenting” conjures images of parents letting their children run amuck without supervision or intervention. Left home alone or allowed to walk to school or walk to the park alone, free-range kids have made the news for a variety of reasons over the years. But parents like Lenore Skenazy say it’s a frequent misconception that free-range parenting focuses on child neglect or a lack of parental supervision. In fact, the New York mom says those popular beliefs could not be further from the truth.
Skenazy, author of Free Range Kids and co-founder of Let Grow, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping parents raise independent kids, received national media attention for being “America’s Worst Mom” when she let her 9 year old ride the New York City subway alone.
Skenazy defines free-range parenting as “rejecting the idea that this generation of kids is in constant…
