I saw this link on my favourite blog Free Range Kids - it's a very important topic and so very true!! Things aren't quite as bad here in Canada as they are in that article (I don't think at least) but I do see it happening more and more - I have lost count of the comments I have had about making my children walk or cycle somewhere....about letting them be as free as I allow them to be.....even about (shock horror) making them walk from the corner of our road where the bus used to drop them each afternoon.....
I know most parents think I am this cruel Mother who forces her kids outside as often as possible and doesn't drop everything to drive them to their friends house a couple of blocks away....but I see it differently - the world is NOT that dangerous - the media just like to scaremonger.....AND children NEED that exercise and giving them that independence is good for them too! My children can go to the local store on their own (the older three at least) and Abigail goes with her sister to walk the neighbours dog - and our dogs....and yes we have coyotes around but my children know how to handle this. My children know how to cook and prepare meals (Sam is an expert potato peeler at the age of 4) - can make their own breakfasts and we cook from scratch here almost daily - eating our meals at the table as a family.
There are sooooo many ways we could improve things I'm sure.....but we do try to be active and eat healthily. I refuse to allow pressure to stop my children being children, being out there having fun - without me driving them everywhere or hovering over them.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the article....and I totally recommend reading the posts at Free Range Kids - it just speaks sooooo much sense to me and it's so good to know I'm not alone in my thinking!!!
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