Helicopter Parents vs. Free Range Kids: Q&A with "America's Worst Mom" Lenore Skenazy

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"If you google 'America's worst mom,' I'm there for 68...pages," says Lenore Skenazy, proprietor of the controversial parenting site Free-Range Kids, a book of the same title, and a syndicated columnist for Creators.
Since 2009, Skenazy has been waging a non-stop battle against helicopter parents, nanny-state nuisances, and a media consumed by scare stories about everything from child abduction to food additives to sports injuries. The result is what Skenazy calls "'worst-first thinking,' which is coming up with the worst thing that could possibly happen and then proceeding as if it's likely to happen."
Such a mind-set culminates in over-protective parents and a society that insulates children that has turned childhood from a time of fun and exploration into a version of 24-hour lockdown. "You have to admit that there's a little bit of risk in everything and that there's never been a safer time to be a child on this planet," says Skenazy.
Reason TV correspondent Kennedy sat down with Skenazy to discuss why  "you don't have to worry to be a good parent."
About 4.30 minutes.
Produced by Joshua Swain. Camera by Jim Epstein and Anthony Fisher.
Scroll below for downloadable versions and subscribe to Reason TV's RU-vid channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

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4 окт 2012

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Комментарии : 384

@crypter27 10 лет назад

Back in the 80's I was what you would call a free range kid,we were allowed to play deep in the backwoods as long we came back before it got dark and those are my fondest childhood memories.

@crypter27 9 лет назад

SgtPiggie Parents Today

@HollowDesert 7 лет назад

crypter27 same but not in the 80s. 10s

@ethangarland5737 4 года назад

I am too I’m 14 and the girl next door is quite cute

@bobaldo2339 6 лет назад

So-called "free range" parents are the ones raising their kids normally. What is happening with parenting these days is symptomatic of paranoid psychosis..

@charliemckinney1237 6 лет назад

Bob Aldo THANK YOU!

@Whynotttttt 4 года назад

This is basically how kids were raised before in the us and how kids are raised almost everywhere

@DieFlabbergast 2 года назад

Why not? Paranoid psychosis with respect to a VERY wide range of issues seems to be the norm in today's Western society. But not in the rest of the world.

@JsJdv Год назад

Nothing more natural than natural selection.

@jessicaalcorn6314 9 лет назад

...someone should tell helicopter parents that no one wants to steal their crappy kids... lol.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

+Jessica Alcorn That's just it. Some people do...................

@jewish_misteak3880 8 лет назад

true.

@twiston43 8 лет назад

Ahaha! Too good. Parents are nuts these days...

@toryleeann8528 6 лет назад

I'm far from a helicopter parent, but there are crazy ppl out there who want to hurt little kids. It's a scary world. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

@charliemckinney1237 6 лет назад

Jessica Alcorn true

@missxmarvel 7 лет назад

Overprotecrive parents should be in the top 10 of the worst parents you can have. It's like you are treating your kid like a parttime prisoner and he chances are high that they will fail in almost everything.

@charliemckinney1237 6 лет назад

Emma Frost THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one who thought this

@NuclearFantasies Год назад

It's had lasting effects on me over a decade later. Helicopter parenting is narcissistic abuse, full stop.

@Jeanjellybean13 6 лет назад

I remember parents criticizing my single mom for letting my sister and I walk to school at the ages of 9 and 7. To be clear, the school was literally a 5 minute walk from my house in a neighborhood where hundreds of kids were walking to the same school. One parent also didn't let my sister and I cross the street until she had walked to the middle of the crosswalk to let cars know that kids were crossing. Not sure why she did this because it was a four way intersection with a stop sign and my sister and I had already looked both ways. Some parents are way too paranoid these days.

@alexanderaIeV 4 года назад

So making sure a child is safely crossing the street alive is an insult?

@kingdomofthewesternsahara-2588 3 года назад

Why did you listen to the parent just tel them to fuck off and then proceed with walking

@MiraSubieGirl 3 года назад

I live in Russia and my Red Heeler (dog breed) follows her to School and then sprints back home to get breakfast as a treat 😅 I let my Girls be very free, but it never hurts to send a smart protective dog too!

@DwynTwo 3 года назад

@@alexanderaIeV It's unneccessary and can feel demeaning to a child. Where I'm from, NO ONE would do this because parents here understand that letting a kid walk to school alone is a lesson in independance. Kids here take the bus and train by themselves every single day. It doesn't just give them self confidence and independance, it also makes it more likely for them to know what to do and how to cross the street if they happen to get seperated from their mom.

@ChickenPermissionOG 2 месяца назад

my walk was 45 minutes in middle school and 1h in high school. Parents of today would freak out about that.

@JCDealy 10 лет назад

Crazy as it sounds, my parents droped my friend and I (12 and 11 years old) at a meadow in the Sierra's for a week (on our own). We hiked, fished and camped... And those were the best summers.

@Allthingscute123 9 лет назад

That actually sounds really fun. I would love that.

@JCDealy 9 лет назад

BeautyByBeth Now kids aren't to walk a mile home from the park...

@vasilisconstantinides4476 9 лет назад

awesome. when i was that age i wasn't even allowed to walk 2 house up my street to the shop WITH a friend without my mum coming with us

@JoyfulRelaxation22 3 года назад

Wow!

@DieFlabbergast 2 года назад

When was this? The 1950s?

@sn00zegaming 11 лет назад

She's 100% right though! We live in a culture where the media rules our thoughts, hence always thinking in the worst case scenario!

@TheNakedWombat 11 лет назад

Never been a helicopter parent in my life and I feel sorry for those kids who have those parents.

@MsRandomBubble 8 лет назад

I guess I'd be a free range kid then. I still don't see how this is an issue, decades of children were raised like this, and those are the now grown adults that aren't asking mom and dad for help all the time. These are the people that are fiercely independent, where as the generations that are being raised by helicopter parents are the ones that can't handle adult life without going to mommy and Daddy for help.

@new_filler 6 лет назад

Decades of children? What the fuck are you talking about? How many children a year are raised like this, and since when? You're a fucking child, you don't know any better. You're making the arbitrary generalized opinionated statement, supported by nothing. You're pulling ideas out of your ass. You're going to tell ME, that the children who are inclined to follow their own wishes as they please, know how to function as adults? Horseshit. Look at yourself, your name is "MsRandomBubble", what are you, twelve? Fucking ten? Go fill out a tax form you freak. Do you know what a free range kid is, or is this the only video you watched on the issue?

@LancesArmorStriking 6 лет назад

MsRandomBubble There is a line to be drawn, between kids who are independent and kids who don't understand how to operate in society. In fact, I'd say 'free-range' kids have that in common with sheltered kids- they weren't given the necessary tools to thrive in the modern-day world. While one has no confidence, the other has no knowledge. Allowing your kids to try things in their own is fine, but not giving them a framework within which to behave (and within which the rest of society operates) is arguably worse than being overprotective. It's easier to build your confidence than to learn 20 years of life skills for the first time.

@mitchjohnson4714 3 года назад

Ladies and gentlemen: a living, breathing Dunning-Kruger Effect.

@MsRandomBubble 3 года назад

@@new_filler and your making a generalized statement about me due to my comment triggering you in someway. I'm 32 years old sweetheart, I've filled many Tax forms in my life. I should ask you, are you a helicopter parent? Is that why you are so triggered and angry by my comment?. I find the fact you felt the need to insult me and resort to cussing at me hilarious. It's a RU-vid comment section dude, no need to pop a blood vessel, it's not that deep. If you want to have a discussion about this, that's fine. But be aware if you continue down the road of insults and cussing, I will just continue to laugh at your behavior, because it shows me exactly who you are.

@MsRandomBubble 3 года назад

@@LancesArmorStriking unlike dude above you whose whole argument is insults, I can actually understand where you are coming from. My comment was simply me stating out of the two options given in this video, I would have to say my upbringing was more free range, as were many generations before me. Had there been a 3rd option, something between the two, I would of chosen that one. I was given rules and guidelines, and I was disciplined if I didn't follow them, but I was also allowed to be left on my own to play and didn't have my parents hovering over me. I didn't have my entire day scheduled to the second. I could make my own decisions. Children who grow up with helicopter parents have no clue what they are supposed supposed be doing since they had everything planned for them their entire childhood. When left on their own when they become adults, they get anxiety over making decisions because their parents always made their decisions for them.

@glitterycuties4283 10 лет назад

I never understand the parents who let there kids wear nothing but won't let them walk across the street by them self

@rodneywalker1671 9 лет назад

my friend got mad at me because I told her,your children has no freedom,she goes to school games with them,the skating rink on Friday nights, trick or treating at Halloween,goes through their school back packs calls them through out the day packs their lunches,their in the 4th and 6th grade, parents need to teach independence,im so glad my parents taught my how to stand on my two feet at an early age!

@agirlinjeans77 6 лет назад

robert is a moron

@ggeminem9399 5 лет назад

Rodney Walker yeah but they sure didn’t teach you how to use proper grammar

@sophiavelasquez5694 5 лет назад

Parents these days all go trick or treating with their kids. It's weird

@Dablooner 3 года назад

@@ggeminem9399 you aren't even using it so your point

@ggeminem9399 3 года назад

@@Dablooner wdym? i am genuinely curious although my comment from before was just unnecessary lol

@9mler 11 лет назад

Something the free range parents tend not to mention, is that a lot of these abductions happen because the child was not equipped. Smart a sugar scenarios are sooooo rare. Most kidnappings happen when kids, say, accept a ride home, or don't know what to do in a situation when something isn't right. When I was a kid, we were told not to accept rides, who to call if something goes wrong. I have, in fact, been confronted by adults, maybe their intentions weren't so great, but I was equipped.

@smidermann 10 лет назад

Wow. My Brother and I grew up as a so called Free Range Kids! Man did we have fun!!!!

@LongLiveInspiration 9 лет назад

she seems really smart and i agree with her... why is she a bad mom? that's a horrible label.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

+TheBookWorm1718 Get on your local sex offender registry.......................... you will be horrified to see what is living around you and your children.

@sweethearts86 9 лет назад

I agree with her 100% I've found that children with these types of parents are far more successful in life. I'm a mother now and when I apply this to my child he has so much confidence until my family steps in. I wish my mother would just let me go!

@memo-fq3ps 6 лет назад

America: Where letting your kid walk around the neighborhood by herself is considered child abuse but whipping your kid with a belt isn't

@noahpartic7586 4 года назад

IKR. I can't imagine why I'm turned off to having kids of my own these days. I'm supposed to grow up & turn into a paranoid parent myself? Good Grief😱.

@rhiannonthrasher7747 4 года назад

Exactly!!!

@noahpartic7586 4 года назад

@@rhiannonthrasher7747 If kids aren't allowed to leave the nest for a time while young, it'll be a field day to do so when adulthood comes around, & then what😱?

@alexflenner1986 3 года назад

@ Bingo!I never really thought about that or even noticed that before!Great observation!Great way of putting it!Nail on tha fuckin head!!

@mitchjohnson4714 3 года назад

Everybody thinks whipping you kid with a belt is child abuse. Have you been to America?

@terradraca 12 лет назад

Funny how often it's the sanest person in the room who everyone calls crazy. Keep up the good work Lenore.

@alexflenner1986 3 года назад

@ Lord Hawkeye. Exactly!

@amberbante9530 10 лет назад

I've got very bad anxiety because my grandmother,who raised me along with my mom, and was very overprotective of me when I was a kid. Her worse fears for me were abduction ( something about people from foreign countries would kidnap blond haired little girls for prostitution), getting sick ( I wasn't allowed around other kids if they had even a little sniffle, and I wasn't allowed out in hot weather as she feared that I could die of heat stroke as her mother did-despite the fact that her mother had died of complications of scarlet fever brought on by heat stroke ), and a pre 9/11 fear of terrorists ( she wouldn't allow me to play kick the can as she feared a terrorist might put a bomb in a can that might blow up).

@amberbante9530 10 лет назад

Since she died almost two years ago, I'm having a lot of anxiety even in my 30's, as I'm fearing the same things she did. Luckily I don't have any children as I fear I would stunt their ability to flourish in society due to unfounded fears.

@aubreekendall5537 8 лет назад

My family always gives me shit because I'm free range. I look at their kids and all they do all day is watch TV and play games on their iPads. They are between the ages of 10 and 5. They don't know how to ride bikes, roller skate or swim. and I'm the bad parent. also they are all over weight.

@blingbling574 7 лет назад

My ex-wife didn't back off our boys as they got older, and she degenerated as a person. So I kicked her out to make her get a useful education and a job and stop hovering around our boys. It worked well for the two youngest, but the oldest has no self esteem and is very arrogant and unhappy with three degrees. Two out of three is OK.

@everythingwillbe6904 3 года назад

Overprotective parents ruin their kids

@TheNakedWombat 11 лет назад

If you live in a place that actually is dangerous, then I would not let my kids roam too freely. A matter of making choices based on reality instead of the world as told by the media.

@9mler 8 лет назад

Just the other day, I was talking about how I feel bad for my relatives who can't play outside, and how there was a creek nearby where I used to roam around by myself when I was 8-9 years old. The response I got was "But that was a different TIME, though...." My response was, well, violent crime and kidnappings are down. She looked at me like I had three heads.

@mchobbit2951 9 лет назад

I'm all for kids going to the park/playing outside on their own, walking to school or to their bus stop but the subway?! I won't even take the subway. She has a point though. I have friends with 15 and 13 year olds who are scared to just drop them off at the movies with their friends and pick them up after. Now that is just stifling them. This boy is one year from being able to drive!!

@tunkytunky 8 лет назад

When the "normal" people of the world including children do not ride the subway, it makes the subway less safe. I lived in Japan, kids taking the subways and trains by themselves was an absolute non-event there, very common. But I understand your feeling as the mass transit in the States varies pretty massively from place to place.

@mchobbit2951 8 лет назад

The main reason I wouldn't allow public transit is that my kid could end up somewhere completely different, far from home simply by getting in the wrong bus or forgetting to get off at the right time. It's not the same as letting them walk on down to the park, using the same route you walked with them every day for years. A kid can only walk so far before realizing it's the wrong route. And very few people take public transportation in Georgia anyway which I guess in NY that isn't the case. Now the school bus, I'd be happy for my kids to walk to the bus stop and back alone, providing that the sun is up when it's time to go.

@sereysothe.a 8 лет назад

i live in georgia and the public transportation is absolute trash. while i hate helicopter parenting, if you live in atlanta you definitely dont want your kids riding MARTA alone

@mchobbit2951 8 лет назад

Yep, I live in Atlanta myself. No way are my kids taking public transportation here. They can play in the backyard without being watched like a hawk, but *I* don't trust and feel safe on the public transportation so like hell am I putting a 10 year old on it. I grew up before helicopter parenting became the norm, and I and the other kids didn't go on public transport. We roamed the neighborhood, the park and each others backyards. It was great, and it was good enough.

@CDMuffy 6 лет назад

Yeah, helicopter parents are the fucking worst. Mine were selectively so though. Like my older sister could do whatever the fuck she wanted go out whenever she wanted come home whenever she wanted blah blah blah. But me? I wasn't even allowed to have friends. Like literally. I could talk to people at school and at the youth group I was forced to go to despite being an atheist, but I was never allowed to see them outside of school/ youth group until I was seventeen. And at that time I was only allowed to see them at the bowling ally IF they were religitards. I also wasn't allowed to date till I was 17, and when I was, what that meant was that I could watch a movie with someone or be at the mall with someone IF my mother and my sister were also there watching us like fucking predators. Computer? Cell phone? Nope. I was only allowed to use the computer for homework and I had to get it done in an hour. Even if I had a 15 page midterm to write. Worst yet the only time I was allowed to go outside was to walk the dog or take out the trash and I had to stay right outside the house to do so. Wasn't allowed to walk off the premises of the yard, and wasn't allowed to walk outside for a fucking second if it wasn't to take out trash/walk the dog. And this bullshit style of "parenting" even went into fucking me up severely with food to the point where I got diagnosed with a severe eating disorder when I was in third fucking grade because my parents has this shitty shame way of treating me with food, where if I ever got hungry I first had to ask if I was allowed to eat and then if they said yes I has to give an example of what I wanted to eat. I they said no I was allowed to come up with one more hypothetical food and if they didn't like that one then I was told I had wasted my chance and that I needed to go back to my room and when they were ready to feed me something they'd let me know. Got to the point of being so embarrassed and ashamed and scared when I got hungry that I would either go without and would wind up only being fed maybe once a day, OR I'd steal food and make myself throw it up so that no one would know I took it, cuz I figure if I didn't gain weight they wouldn't know I had eaten something when I wasn't allowed to. Thanks to that crazy ass motherfucking bullshit I wound up with agoraphobia and a complete lack of proper socialization skills. Currently work from home and probably always will purely because of this psycho drama that refuses to get out of my head and keep me from being paranoid that somehow I'm gonna get in trouble still if I set foot outside even for just long enough to check the weather or get the mail. Helicopter parents are the fucking WORST. That psycho shit made me try to kill myself just to get a chance to breathe. Wish they'd all just die.

@cloud819 9 лет назад

She is one of my heros. I love her.

@ESponge2000 9 лет назад

My theory is give kids the technology tools to protect themselves and then let them be kids

@missxmarvel 7 лет назад

ESponge2000 You deserve a medal for that.

@choirfandomcookingrantsand496 7 лет назад

ESponge2000 technology is not a babysitter!

@samanthaindelicato5943 5 лет назад

I read an article about teaching your kids stranger danger. I remember when i was 12 i was walking to a friend's house and a car pulled over asking me if i wanted a ride. I politely declined. If you teach your kids the right way, you should let them have free range. My parents gave us our freedom but they taught us to stay away from strangers. Some parents have their kids tested to see if they will leave with a stranger.

@naitomea14 6 лет назад

I live in Switzerland and here it is like that: You don't eat in the school lunch, so you are going home. The most parents are working. Then there are three options: 1. You eat by a friend, where the mom is at home 2. Your grandparents are at home and cook or 3. The 7 year old kid (that's when we start with school) is cooking by himself. In my childhood it was like this: Until I was 10 my grandmom cooked something or I eated by a neighbor and sometimes I eated the rest from yesterday. And when I was 10, I cooked by myself. And I had the key for the house. We call such kids: Schlüsselkinder (Keykids) XD And after eating you are going to school again. Usually you have 1.5 hours time to go home, eat something and go to school again. And it's working :) If you are 11 you have to go by bicycle to school, because the school isn't the village and you have to drive to the next village. And with 16 you usually work 3-4 x a week and 1-2 days school :)

@rina_r 7 лет назад

I agree with this. I'm a pre teen and I am aloud to ride my bike to CVS (stores). I have a free range mom and she trusts me. If her child knew the neighborhood and was very familiar of where he was going then I think it's perfectly okay. Obviously, he knew where he was going. My mom is actually internet friends with this mom. My mom is also getting me a bracelet that says "No, I'm not lost I'm free range. :)

@joer8399 7 лет назад

This woman has a lot of common sense when it comes to parenting. She's one of America's best parents IMHO. Most parents back in the day used to do this all the time without such backlash from paranoid helicopter parents.

@sherekhan90 2 года назад

I know a family whose house is full of cameras and listening devices and their kids have GPS trackers in their coat pockets when out and about despite the fact they are NEVER unsupervised and ALWAYS in the company of trustworthy adults. What a stifling childhood and what unhealthy parental attitude!

@XXLSSBBW 11 лет назад

thanks to todays justice system we have more criminals and sex offenders on our streets and I also blame today's media for putting fear into the general public

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

Times are different now. You cannot leave your kids to wander....................I had a neighbor whose child was dragged into a car. She has never been found. Where was mom? Down in the basement sorting out boxes.....................no where to even be able to look out of a window to check on the girl. BTW My kids do NOT live with me, are productive adults; and very well adjusted despite my "helicopter" parenting style. I call it being responsible for the well being of your children.

@stefanieking6551 8 лет назад

I agree, people trust and their kids get kidnapped, murdered and raped.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

No, but they can actively cut that very real risk way down by making sure that they are not wandering/walking/riding bikes or playing alone or out of the supervision of an adult until a reasonable age.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

It is common sense. Very young children as well as teens when riding bikes or walking, whatever they may be doing, either need a buddy system or a responsible adult around.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

If a parent wants to put their kids at risk by employing cavalier supervision methods that is their right I guess. I never did and I am glad I did not.

@elaine5737 8 лет назад

I think I just explained how I felt on that issue.

@XXLSSBBW 11 лет назад

you should see it at my job, I work in retail and the majority of people dropping off resume's are people who look 30 or 40, we have had a few people apply at that age before but these ones were helicopter parents dropping off a resume for their kid. One mother asked if my manager had a look at their own child's resume when I saw my manager (the women left) I told her about the lady and she said 'why couldn't the kid do it himself? he's the one applying

@gskibum 12 лет назад

Similar thing for me. I got my first bike at 7 years old. It offered a world of freedom & fun. I'm 46 years old today and ride my bike even more. I ride to mom's for dinner, meetings at church, girlfriends house, Friday or Saturday night parties, backyard BBQs, you name it. Kids today know only of a world of parents thinking their primary role is that of chauffeur.

@JCDealy 10 лет назад

More power to the free-range kid movement!

@new_filler 6 лет назад

More power to the retarded children of the world who won't obtain jobs movement

@shanstergoodheart5177 6 лет назад

I think the mother with 13 kids chained up is a better qualifier for America's worst Mom. I think it depends on the child and how good your stranger danger talk is.

@blah7983 7 лет назад

Free range is not necessarily a bad thing, but in New York? In the suburbs or the country I more or less agree, but not in a huge city.

@scottdavis8648 6 лет назад

I'm not a parent, so I don't know what it's like, but I do think there's a middle ground here. This to what was discussed between 3:41 and 3:57. Common sense caution without Big Brother and bubble wrap. Another thing: I have met a some registered sex offenders in my lifetime, and they all KNEW their victims. NONE of them went to a park or a playground just to grab a kid to rape. Studies show that's just NOT the m/o of today's child predators. They are scared TO DEATH of getting caught. They do NOT want to draw any attention to themselves, especially in broad daylight. They know children make noise and scream like banshees at the sight of a threat. Furthermore, they know what typically happens to child predators in prison. So go ahead and let your kids play in the park unsupervised. They are safer than you think, especially when they have plenty of other kids with them.

@rainwolf3653 6 лет назад

My parents kind of let me be a free range child they would let me ride my bike 2 miles away and I was never snatched so parents now are just wussies

@Dablooner 3 года назад

Ok well the world is different

@yourenough3 5 лет назад

I would never turn to a complete stranger and ask her or him to watch my child. Do you realize it takes ONE time ONE bad choice and your child could be dead , gone , lost. Ridiculous!!!!

@catgirl6803 3 года назад

You’re the problem she’s talking about. She explains in another video why there’s a 0.0000000000001% chance of that happening.

@johnturner4300 8 лет назад

this really is 1) a good parent and 2) a very smart person.

@1426305384950384 11 лет назад

Do you refuse to go outside because you might get sick, do you spend all your time outside worrying about dying from bee stings? Do you refuse to cross streets for fear of getting hit by cars. There is nothing wrong with precautions however they have to be relative to the risk. In this case the risk for strangers is almost non-existent. It is also important to note that nothing is absolutely safe, hell on average 2-3 people die to vending machines every year.

@tunkytunky 8 лет назад

It's interesting just how much this varies throughout Ａmerica. I always had a ton of kids on my apartment lawn when I lived in a lower income area (still a very nice area, regret moving tbh), I could turn my daughter out and let her play with them for a few hours. But I've moved into a more suburban area and we have a nice park but... seeing kids in the park is not a daily occurrence. It is the middle of summer (and it gets extremely hot here)so I'm crossing my fingers that more kids will turn out when the temperatures go down but my point is, even within a city the parenting style can change drastically based on the area/income/racial and ethnic makeup. It really is the white middle-class suburban/urban types who are doing the worst although other types of parents definitely micromanage in other ways.

@remixgod6869 6 лет назад

All throughout Elementary and High School I WALKED, OR HAD TO PAY FOR A BUS RIDE. I remember walking through 3 FEET OF SNOW IN COLORADO IN 1991 to get to Elementary school around Northglenn.

@soniandukwe8981 6 лет назад

They should be a happy medium between free-range and helicopter parenting.

@saraandstuartshannon2160 4 года назад

I just moved to Switzerland. All kids are free range kids here...

@tricky2951 5 лет назад

I am currently a sort of free range I can Ride my dirt bike into the backwoods of some neighborhoods and it’s not that they don’t care it’s that they know that I’m not gonna be dependent on them so I thank that for them i can also go to school events I can hangout with my friends For a while and I think that has really helped me grow!

@Audiogeek-kf2ez 6 лет назад

Thank you Lenoir. You are a great traditional parent

@SuburbanExplorers 3 года назад

Let me tell you my own story. I grew up with really lax parents but friends with really strict parents. I'm half-Asian (white dad Asian mom), and Asian parents are notorious for being helicopter parents. Honestly, I feel like my parents letting me breathe without hovering over my shoulder, tracking all my assignments on Infinite Campus, and making sure they were done, was way better than my friend's parents who would be really strict. It let me grow as a person. Sure there were a few times when I procrastinated, stayed up till 4 AM doing homework, and got bad grades, but in the end, it didn't really matter. We all graduated, we all got good jobs, it's not like they're making boatloads of cash or are more successful. In fact, I'd say that these kids struggled when they first left their parents' houses because they were so used to being led around like sheep. I felt like I had a much happier childhood than the kids whose parents would only let them play for 15 minutes, whose parents would have a strict schedule, etc.

@shaudee67 12 лет назад

I was totally a free range kid. My mom worked & after school, I'd come home, saddle up the horse & head off into the mountains or play out in the woods by the spring or the pond. In the summer when she was working, we'd climb on our bike and ride to my best friend's house (which was about 10 miles away, country living:) ) & spend the entire day biking around, playing in the woods, going to Deep Lake without adult supervision, etc. No bears or cougars ate us, no one drowned or went missing, etc.

@ericruiz1036 6 лет назад

Parenting is hard enough without us judging one another. If CPS hasn't taken your kids, you are a good parent, congratulations.

@jaleesagreene6800 6 лет назад

This mother is absolutely brilliant I am so tired of seeing parents carrying their kids around in the stroller when they're six or having them walk around when they're four with a freaking pacifier in their mouth. This type of parenting is the exact reason why you can't let your kids go out by themselves anymore because this generation of parents has cuddled their kids to the point where they can function without mommy and daddy holding their hands. When I was a kid we were towards stranger danger don't talk to anybody that you don't know know where your house is butyl walk to and from your house by yourself but they don't teach their kids that anymore they can't even go outside anymore. We took some all instances that while horrible were very rare and we now use them as an excuse to Baby our kids to the point of which they can't function and it's sad because they're when they hit the real world they won't be able to handle it

@otaviofrn_adv 3 года назад

her tv show had a woman giving food on a 10 y.o kid's mouth another that a mom only allowed him to skate on grass. needless to say, both are outrageoussly ridiculous I really want to watch it, but I'm not from the US and I just can't find the episodes.

@stevemcgee99 10 лет назад

TWO AWESOME WOMEN!

@50tbug 12 лет назад

Helicopter parenting is about NOT micro-managing kids playtime. Obesity is about making bad food available to them. Video games is about keeping them distracted indoors. This lady is trying to convey the message of trust, which is how I was raised. I'm not fat and I don't play video games; one example of her method.

@trime1851 12 лет назад

Great video! I was a "Free-Range Kid" in the 1950's and 1960's. I survived and turned out OK (at least I think I did). And, my kids also survived and turned out OK.

@amberbante9530 10 лет назад

The only "Free Range" time I ever had was when I went to Oregon as a kid ( ten and eleven years old 1987 and 1988), and my cousins were allowed to run about the neighborhood on their own. My uncle nagged my grandmother to allow me to go into a wooded area with my two oldest cousins ( I was the oldest) without her. I was so anxious it was hard for me to be on my own without adults, and my cousins took advantage of that ( at seven and five years old) and ran off from me which led to panic attacks. When my grandmother died, my nasty uncle had to throw my grandmother's overprotectiveness in my face as he thought I would have a hard time adjusting without her.

@shunee12 8 лет назад

+Amber Bante that sucks family can be mean sometimes. glad you should him your can live alright

@yesthatbruce Год назад

I love this woman. So refreshing, intelligent, and brimming with good old-fashioned common sense.

@gskibum 12 лет назад

Right on. Right on. Spread the word.

@vijfsnippervijf 2 года назад

(The Netherlands) I’ve got a parent who allows me lots of freedom and never truly punished me. I really have respect for kids with strict or helicopter parents.

@badgerattoadhall Год назад

helicopter parents stunt people.

@citizenlen 11 лет назад

I grew up in a 3rd world country and these parents will be laughed at for teaching the kids to trust their environment. Kids who lived in war torn countries are not thought independence but survival meaning Street Smarts.

@osbjmg 12 лет назад

I'd love to hear more about this. I want to know how you still teach your kids not to annoy the neighbors. I have unattended kids riding bikes through my car, throwing mud on my house, leaving stuff in my driveway, and often running toward the rear of my vehicle. If they are unattended, how do you handle teaching them what to do when you're not around?

@sgtmcwallace 12 лет назад

The children playing in the background is priceless given the conversation

@dustyrhoads1 12 лет назад

No wonder all these 20 somethings are so unfriendly. I'm in my 30's and even saying, "what's up?" to one of these young adults you get the stink eye....I'd expect that from a teenager but a 20 yr old? Pffft!

@lindataylor2131 6 лет назад

I was raised free range between two states. Ohio for most of the year and Missouri for the summers. Both small towns. Everyone knew each other's kids. If I did something I shouldn't my mother got a phone call before I even got home. LOL. Or my Aunt In Missouri did. Now fast forward to my daughter. I raised her free range too. We had the advantage of living in a very isolated subdivision with only one road in, with a very active neighborhood watch, and everyone who had kids knew everyone else who did. We watched each others kids. She was allowed to walk to her friends houses as long as she let me know where she was going first, and called when she got there. She had to be in by dark, unless arrangements were made ahead of time for me to come and get her. CPS here in our town isn't quite as bad here tho because we have kids walking to and from school, up to two miles away, every day. My daughter's bus dropped at the front of our subdivision. That was a quarter of a mile she had to walk to and from the bus every day. Or she rode her bike and locked it to the stand up there. Free Range is the only right way to parent, in my opinion. CPS has way too much power, and I believe they are more abusive than any mom who raises their kids to be independent.

@1426305384950384 11 лет назад

I believe it is up to the parents themselves to decide, after all there are real threats out there (such as being hit by cars ect) however the question should come down to how much you trust your child with handling such threats. I hate to tell you this but we are all physically weak. Everyone can easily die. Strength is only a critical trait in human vs human / human vs animal confrontations both of which are statistically improbable. Viewing such parents as outrageous, is to me detestable.

@SchindlerHaughton 12 лет назад

The degree of paranoia in our society today is bringing kids up to be extremely dependent and sheltered. Do you want to know how I probably have matured the most? By doing things without my parents. I'm 17, and I leave the *state* on a regular basis (~60 miles by train) with zero adult supervision (I've been doing it for a year and a half now). Clearly, I didn't get mugged/abducted/murdered, but it helped teach me independence- something that you really should learn sooner or later...

@randysmith4878 4 года назад

I ran wild as a kid. Lol,but I was often with my brother or a friend or just sometimes on my own for hours!

@2APatriot 11 лет назад

When I was a kid I had to check in, but I was able to go all over and have adventures. I even walked to the store a mile away every week. My parents gave me knowledge to keep safe, not handcuffs.

@UniteForgetLeftRight 6 лет назад

In the 80s and 90s my friends and I roamed the neighborhood. Having said that I'm going to be a dad soon and would like my kids to have a similar experience but I would probably have one of those kid tracker things on his/her person with an SOS button in case of injury or worse.

@DieFlabbergast 2 года назад

Forty former members of the KGB disliked this video :)

@moralimpact 12 лет назад

Was I ever a free range kid. From the time I was six, I could leave the house and roam around town, through the woods behind my house, and just feel free. We invented our own games and made toys out of a piece of wood. Everybody in town knew me and my parents.

@91Eschaton 11 лет назад

dude the worst thing that happened to me is I hit my head on the asphault one time and my brother got stuck at the edge of a reservoir. Guess what. Everybody is healthy and normal. Damn we are such masters of the dice

@panpiper 12 лет назад

I could not possibly agree with this woman more. The overprotective society our cowardice is breeding is quite possibly the worst catastrophe imaginable, for the harm we are doing to our future generations.

@cjdragon1988 12 лет назад

I can't even tell you how many times I skined my knee lol

@takerdust 12 лет назад

I'm somewhere in between. I almost ran over a 3 year old girl while i was driving down a street at 20mph.. there were like 4 kids playing unattended, the youngest looked about 2..the oldest was 6-7.. no parents in sight, and the 4-5year old leaped in front of my car, and luckily I was alert.

@internetfan2005 11 лет назад

I guess it depends on your hometown as well. I live in a small metropolitan in Louisiana and the crime has gotten ridiculous for a place its size.

@danr380 2 года назад

All the kids who have a “Karen” mom will be living living with their mom at 40 if they don’t grow up.

@birdman1676 9 лет назад

I was a free ranger in the early 1980's. I ran all over the place through the woods, all over the neighborhood. I actually got approached one time by two men in a car that started asking me questions like if I liked cartoons, candy, movies, etc... I hauled ass. Told my mom and she called the cops. I doubt they ever found them I never heard anything else about it. That was the only creepy thing that happened to me... but it could've turned out really bad. Now raising 2 kids I am very careful about letting them roam. I let my 8 year old play in yard and ride bike around neighborhood but he has a cell phone only to call us (parents) and police and his big brother that is 14. If that happened to me in a small town in south Georgia it could happen anywhere. .. I won't let the media completely scare me where I won't let my child have some freedom to play. I can't live like that...We won't live in a state of paranoia.

@noahpartic7586 4 года назад

I'm appalled that grownups will actually call the cops on parents these days for letting kids go out on their own for awhile. It's easy for grownups to forget what it was like to be kids themselves, particularly those who were allowed to be on their own for a time. I remember in my pre-teens, not only was I allowed to go out & play on my own until dark, I was taught stranger danger & never kidnapped at all. We take in waaaaaaaaay too much fear from public media & fear of arrest. We simply cannot ever stay out of each other's way. Kudos to Free Range Mom👍.

@Redmanfms 12 лет назад

The same could be said for every cable news network, and almost every local affiliate in the U.S.

@XiaoGui17 11 лет назад

1-Scary people that harm children are, 9 times out of ten, their own family. 2-Teaching kids "stranger danger" causes them to have crippling phobias as adults. 3-If the person who watches your kid for a split second in the grocery store turns out to be a "scary person," chances are the check-out clerk/other people in line/etc. will notice and speak up. What do you think the odds are that every single person in the store is "scary?" How do you leave the house?

@TopHatKitty 12 лет назад

Yeah I hate it when people say with the times we live in how can you let your kid go outside? Times have always been bad. There will always be perverts. This is how my mom raised me I Could leave the house all day if I wanted to as long as I was back before the sun went down. I had so much fun and I learned a lot I probably wouldn't have if my mom was watching over my shoulder.

@phoebesweet3664 6 лет назад

I know and 18 year old girl due to go to college in the fall who has walked the five blocks to school twice and that's it as far as walking in public without parental supervision. She's just received her drivers license and has been to the store a few times drives herself to school a couple times a week but how prepared is she for when she's away at college and hasn't developed any of those skills needed to know a sketchy situation while walking around campus? She's always had mom or dad to gauge every situation and decide to bolt or wallk fast or even simply cross a street instead of passing the sketchy dude approaching? she has never taken the long way home because something just isn't right about that car cruising down her street or even decided the puddles are too big and could ruin her shoes. I am really worried about her and I think with good reason.

@Timasion 12 лет назад

Ah, those were the days. When my mom tossed me out of the house at 9 AM and told be to be back by lunch or dinner.

@kenshinhimura2322 3 года назад

I watched a ladies kid when she forgot her wallet in the car. It was at self check out and nothing happened. The mom came back and paid and was glad I could watch her kid.

@luke55664 12 лет назад

I walked to school my entire childhood with exception to kindergarten. As did most my contemporaries.

@M3Besh 12 лет назад

While Growing up my "mom" told me that everyone was out to kill and rape me and that I shouldn't make friends or trust anyone. Sensationalized abduction stories were played on a loop; she made me watch them more than saturday morning cartoons. When I protested, she reminded me of Susan Smith and how I could have been born to a psychopath. I was and still am friendless. Now I realize that the most dangerous person I have ever encountered in my life is my own mother.

@Topher_Knows 8 лет назад

Why did you take down her other talk? The one that was posted a week ago.

@XiaoGui17 11 лет назад

Most crimes against children are committed by parents, not strangers. Of course, the stranger-committed ones get reported a lot more.

@RKAddict101 12 лет назад

If you ever want to mess with a paranoid person, tell them "TURN AROUND! Don't you realize you could be stabbed in the back at any moment!?"

@XXLSSBBW 11 лет назад

what about Patsy Ramsey she was suspected of murdering or being involved with her daughter's murder

@otaviofrn_adv 3 года назад

the majority of the cases of violence against kids have someone related to them as not only the suspect, but as the criminal

@puppetsock 12 лет назад

You are not supposed to *burden* anybody else with your children. Asking a stranger to watch your child is a grotesque bit of imposition. My answer would be: "Certainly. What's the number of CPS? I'll get their advice."

@ColdHighway7 12 лет назад

Never trust a politician who says "to protect children", "to promote values" and "for your protection"

@otaviofrn_adv 3 года назад

never trust a politician. period.

@pendaladaughtrey1537 8 лет назад

That mustache

@teodelfuego 5 лет назад

PENDALA DAUGHTREY Other than that, she's very pretty

@gskibum 12 лет назад

I so love this woman. Never heard of her before today. I don't have children yet but I often look at how overprotected and smothered today's kids are by their parents. I would hate to grow up in today's world. Glad my parents were WWII generation. I got to have a childhood free from excessive involvement of my mom & dad. I like the term Free Range Children. I'd use that to describe my fun childhood.

@blindpeopledostuff3587 9 лет назад

Interesting idea. Good adults don't ask for help. It's a safe idea 9 & of 10 times & 100 percent with teaching that the strangers you can talk to are the ones who you know have a purpose to you like s store cashier, manager or the cops. You just have teach what is right.

@alexandracole7442 9 лет назад

but if the kid gets snatched up, then what?

@blindpeopledostuff3587 9 лет назад

Hence 9 out of 10 times. & less likely if there are other people around. Either way kids won't be adults without them learning.

@hbarudi 5 лет назад

I support free range kids and I was not a free range kid when I was a kid.

@thelizfamilyvlogs6187 6 лет назад

I used to have a neighbor who yelled at me for letting my kids out in the yard while I stayed inside watching them from the window. It's not good for my kids to have me hanging over their shoulder all the time. Just like we parents need breaks the kids also need time away from us and they need to explore the world. Now my daughter is autistic and I do have to mind her more but I'm not gonna helicopter her if she is in a safe place....me backing off is how she will learn to handle the world.

@iamchillydogg 12 лет назад

Isn't it funny how all of these helicopter parents seemingly have no problem with the US dropping bombs on other peoples kids?

@michaelbyrneskiai 8 лет назад

live in the country and homeschool that is the Last Hope for our children

@happy842655 11 лет назад

Oh we're talking about chance now right? It is always said that the chance of having a plane accident is much lower than that of land public transport. Does it mean that we don't need to take any safety precautions when boarding a plane? Likewise, does the "1 in 1.5million" chnace mean that you child is ABSOLUTELY SAFE from any kinds of "strangers' threat"? ALL i'm saying is that parents should take care of their children, which is their inherent responsibility.