Tulley has written a book called '50 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Children Do', and he talks briefly about a few of them, as well as his tinkering school, in this entertaining little talk.
Lenore Skenazy also pleads for a return to common sense. In her blog, Free Range Kids, she highlights the craziness of hysterical 'health and safety concerns' which really only serve to deaden experience and create a society of individuals who are incapable of acting independently, making responsible decisions, or simply having fun.
Did you have a free range childhood?
4 comments:
Up until the age of five I lived in houses bounded by bush. We (all six of us) used to disappear off and return at mealtimes. Perhaps not as Enid Blytonish as it sounds I'm sure. We probably were within earshot of the house and it wasn't thick bush but still. Then we moved to suburbia and then ... not so much.
We also used to go up to my uncles' place in the Victorian High country and really would go feral. Out on the verandah we used to lie awake discussing w our cousins survival strategies if a bushfire came through.
I also recall taking my three year old cousin down a near vertical climb to a beach down at Bells. My aunt was quite happy for myself and also 10 yo cousin to be in charge. That was a cracking holiday. We 'big' kids slept out in the combi van and just roamed those several acres of clifftop by the sea.
Hmmmm ... on reflection perhaps I did.
I sure did. I grew up on a small farm, we built rafts that sunk, I fell of a huge number of horses, I broke a few bones, I roamed all day unsupervised through a small scrubland, with friends we swam in dams and creeks........
and now my son asks me to drive him to the bus stop at the end of our street when it rains.
I sure did- farm girl too! I can't beleive I didn't break any bones. One day though, I did fall over a fence (stepping down missed the step of the 'sty' thing)- I was trying to balance the eggs I had been collecting. Any way, the top wire was barb wire and I was severely bleeding. I went and wrapped a bandage around my calf because I didn't want my mum to notice because I didn't want stitches (smart, 'ay!). By the time she saw the mangled leg it was too late for stitches and I am still scarred (physically, not emotionally!) My kids are pretty free range too. My theory is a little bit of 'benign neglect' does wonders for ones imagination and bravery...?!
I did, too, but I had the city version! I grew up in Chicago, and had increasing free range as I grew. As a little one, the rules were to stay on our city block (that is, no crossing the street) and come home when the street lights came on. A little older, once crossing the street was managed, my friends and I had free roam of the neighborhood -- walking to stores, to the beach, to visit friends. Once I knew how to ride a bicycle, I could travel pretty freely (and ride in major city streets); by the time I was 12 (my son's age now), I could take public buses and the subway anywhere in the city. It seems to ironic to me that we're raising our son in a relatively rural/suburban area, and yet he has SO much less freedom. Partly it is our own fears, partly it is the norm that all his peers work within (no one rides a bike to a friend's house -- parents do the driving). It is somewhat countered by his attending a school that's very outdoors based, that encourages healthy risk taking and experimentation (and getting dirty and using real tools and discovering how things work), but it pains me, still.
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