Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry)
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American Cancer Society. “Cancer Facts and Figures 2008.” (http://www.cancer.org/downloads/STT/2008CAFFfinalsecured.pdf).
American Cancer Society. “Skin Cancer Prevention and Early Detection.” (http://www.cancer.org/docroot/PED/content/ped_7_1_Skin_Cancer_Detection_What_You_Can_Do.asp?sitearea=&level=).
Gartner, Lawrence M., and Frank R. Greer. Section on Breastfeeding and Committee on Nutrition. “Prevention of Rickets and Vitamin D Deficiency: New Guidelines for Vitamin D Intake.” Pediatrics, Aug. 2008. (http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;111/4/908).
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Rickets.” (http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/rickets/DS00813/).
Misra, Madhusmita, and others, on behalf of the Drug and Therapeutics Committee of the Lawson Wilkins Pediatric Endocrine Society. “Vitamin D Deficiency in Children and Its Management: Review of Current Knowledge and Recommendations.” Pediatrics, Aug. 2008, pp. 398- 417. (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/122/2/398?maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&fulltext=vitamin+d&andorexactfulltext=and&searchid=1& FIRSTINDEX=0&sortspec=relevance&resourcetype=HWCIT).
Teen Sex (Yes, Kids, We Know You’re Reading This. Now Come and Ask Us All About Contraception)
National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. “Teen Sexual Activity in the United States.” (http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/national-data/pdf/TeenSexActivityOnePagerJune06.pdf).
The Woods, Playing In
“The Great Outdoors.” Parents, May 2008.
Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books, 2005.
Walking to School (or at Least the Bus Stop)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. KidsWalk-to-School. “Then and Now—Barriers and Solutions.” (http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/Dnpa/kidswalk/then_and_now.htm).
National Center for Safe Routes to School (Saferoutesinfo.org).
PedNet Coalition (www.pednet.org/).
Strangers with Candy
ASSERT Super Kids (http://assertnow.net/).
“Clear Danger: A National Study of Childhood Drowning and Related Attitudes and Behaviors.” Safe Kids USA. Apr. 2004. (http://www.usa.safekids.org/NSKW.cfm).
Crimes Against Children Research Center (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/).
Crimes Against Children Research Center crime trends statistics (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/Trends/index.html).
Crimes Against Children Research Center kidnapping statistics (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/kidnapping/).
Emberly, Edward R. Go Away, Big Green Monster! New York: Little, Brown, 1993.
Finkelhor, David. “The Great Interpersonal Violence Decline.” Presentation at the American Psychological Association Interpersonal Violence Summit, Bethesda, Md., Feb. 2008.
Finkelhor, David, Heather Hammer, and Andrea J. Sedlak. “Nonfamily Abducted Children: National Estimates and Characteristics.” Prepared for the U.S. Department of Justice. (http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/196467.pdf).
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com).
National Highway Traffic Administration Safety statistics, crunched by Fatality Analysis Reporting System (http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/People/PeopleAllVictims.aspx).
U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. “CPSC Warns: Pools Are Not the Only Drowning Danger at Home for Kids—Data Show Other Hazards Cause More Than 100 Residential Child Drowning Deaths Annually.” May 23, 2002. (http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prhtml02/02169.html).
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Young Adults Have the Highest Homicide Victimization and Offending Rates.” (www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/teens.htm).
U.S. Fire Administration.“Fire Risks to Children in 2004.” Feb. 2008. (http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/tfrs/v7i6.pdf).
Conclusion
Derbyshire, David. “How Children Lost the Right to Roam in Four Generations.” Daily Mail, June 15, 2007. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-lost-right-roam-generations.html).
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton, 2001.
Twadell, Eric. “The Self-Esteem Movement Is Fading.” Minuteman, Sept. 2008, pp. 4-5.
Helpful Books, Blogs, Web Sites, and Some Inspiring Family Movies
Books
Cairns, Warwick. How to Live Dangerously: Why We Should All Stop Worrying and Start Living. London: Macmillan, 2008.
Furedi, Frank. Paranoid Parenting: Why Ignoring the Experts May Be Best for Your Child. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2002.
Gardner, Daniel. The Science of Fear: Why We Fear the Things We Shouldn’t—and Put Ourselves in Greater Danger. New York: Dutton, 2008.
Grolnick, Wendy, and Kathy Seal. Pressured Parents, Stressed-Out Kids: Dealing with Competition While Raising a Successful Child. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2008.
Harris, Judith Rich. The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do. New York: Touchstone, 1999.
Hicks, Marybeth. Bringing Up Geeks—Genuine, Enthusiastic, Empowered Kids: How to Protect Your Kid’s Childhood in a Grow-Up-Too-Fast World. New York: Berkeley Books, 2008.
Honoré, Carl. Under Pressure: Rescuing Our Children from the Culture of Hyper-Parenting. New York: HarperOne, 2008.
Howard, Philip K. Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans from Too Much Law. New York: Norton, 2009.
Jackson, Maggie. Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Amherst, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 2008.
Levitt, Steven D., and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. (Rev. ed.) New York:: Morrow, 2006.
Linn, Susan. The Case for Make Believe: Saving Play in a Commercialized World. New York: New Press, 2008.
Linn, Susan. Consuming Kids: Protecting Our Children from the Onslaught of Marketing and Advertising. New York: Anchor, 2005.
Louv, Richard. Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books, 2005.
Marano, Hara Estroff. A Nation of Wimps: The High Cost of Invasive Parenting. New York: Broadway Books, 2008.
Mintz, Steven. Huck’s Raft: A History of American Childhood. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2006.
Paul, Pamela. Parenting, Inc.: How We Are Sold on $800 Strollers, Fetal Education, Baby Sign Language, Sleeping Coaches, Toddler Couture, and Diaper Wipe Warmers—and What It Means for Our Children. New York: Times Books, 2008.
Ross, John F. The Polar Bear Strategy: Reflections on Risk in Modern Life. Reading, Mass.: Perseus Books, 1999.
Singer, Jen. Stop Second-Guessing Yourself—the Toddler Years: A Field-Tested Guide to Confident Parenting. Deerfield Beach, Fla.: HCI Books, 2009.
Spock, Benjamin, and Robert Needlman. Dr. Spock’s Baby and Child Care. (8th ed.) New York: Pocket Books, 2004.
Stearns, Peter. Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. New York: NYU Press, 2004.
Blogs
The Compass (http://www.marybethhicks.com/blog.aspx)
Mommy Myth Buster (http://mommymythbuster.wordpress.com/)
Motherlode: Adventures in Parenting (http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/)
Ordinary Kid (www.ordinarykid.com)
School Gate (British) (http://timesonline.typepad.com/schoolgate/)
Web Sites
Café Mom (http://www.cafemom.com/)
Carl Honoré, author of Under Pressure (http://www.carlhonore.com/)
Cool Mom (http://coolmom.com/)
Crimes Against Children Research Center (http://www.unh.edu/ccrc/)
The Family Groove (http://thefamilygroove.com/)
Honest Baby (http://www.honestbaby.com/)
Momma Said (Jen Singer) (http://mommasaid.net/)
Spiked Online (search for Nancy McDermott) (http://www.spiked-online.com/SPIKED)
STATS.org(http://stats.org/)
Some Inspiring Family Movies
Akeelah and the Bee
Anne of Green Gables
Annie
Because of Winn-Dixie
The Black Stallion
The Chronic of Narnia series
Harry Potter series
Holes
My Side of the Mountain
October Sky
Oliver! (the 1968 musical
Secret Life of Bees
Shiloh
To Kill a Mockingbird
Whale Rider
About the Author
Lenore Skenazy grew up pretty much Free Range in the suburbs of Chicago, and even though it wasn’t that eventful, she has been trying to give her two sons that same kind of childhood ever since.
When not busy encouraging their independence (even while shouting, “Don’t listen to your iPod while crossing the street!”), she writes an unpredictable op-ed column that appears in more than one hundred papers and takes a skeptical look at the culture that has brought us bottled water for dogs, pole dancing for grannies, and an SAT vocabulary shower curtain for kids.
Her observations can be heard on NPR and read regularly in Advertising Age and Reader’s Digest. She has also written for Mad magazine and coauthored The Dysfunctional Family Christmas Songbook and the quiz book Who’s the Blonde That Married What’s-His-Name? Her humor contest, “What Next?” runs in The Week magazine. She also spent several years on TV as a (younger, cuter) Andy Rooney, at CNBC and the Food Network.
After she wrote about letting her nine-year-old ride the subway alone, she found herself on The Today Show, Dr. Phil, and the BBC, defending herself against charges that she’s “America’s Worst Mom.” She launched the blog Free-Range Kids to explain her parenting philosophy and went on to write the book you’re holding. Or maybe it’s sitting on the table in front of you and you’re reading it while drinking a cup of coffee. That would be even nicer.
Skenazy lives in Manhattan with her husband, Joe Kolman, and those more-or-less Free-Range sons of theirs, Morry and Izzy. Contact her at freerangekids.com.
Index
A
Abacus Guide Educational Consulting
Abductions. See Child abductions
Abstinence Plus
Adam (TV miniseries)
Adolescents: fear of failure by; lack of employment opportunities for; lack of opportunities for responsibility ; teen sex. See also Children
Ainston, J.
Allen, E.
Allergies
All in the Family (TV show)
American Academy of Pediatrics
American College of Obstetricians
American Museum of Natural History
American Red Cross
America’s Most Wanted (TV show)
Am I a Normal Parent? (Dimerman)
Amy
Andrews, J.
Animal safety
Anthony.
The Anthropology of Childhood (Lancy)
Antigerm precautions
Antispoiling trick
Anxious Parents (Stearns)
Apple
Ashley, A.
ASSERT Super Kids
Assessing: Just in Case mentality of ; safety/educational products
Assessing risk: of child abduction ; for determining if risk is worth it; importance of accurately ; realistic approach to
Asthma
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
B
Babies R Us
Baby 411
Baby Einstein videos
Baby knee pads
Baby M story
Baby Neptune
Babyproofing
Baby-sitting jobs
Bad parenting: childrearing factors besides ; distrust and finding fault with; “I’m a better parent” game over
Balter.
Barber, P.
Barnett, J.
Barrett, S.
Baseball: litigation against Little League ; safety issues related to
Bathing
Bathroom safety
Bats (metal)
Bats (vampire)
Bea
The Beatles
Bell, A.
Besnoy, J.
Best, J.
“Big Failures” (video)
Bisphenol A (PBA) poisoning
Bissinger.
Bixler, R.
Blamers: bad parenting judgment by; “I’m a better parent” game by; taking steps to ignore the; as winning over commonsense
Blaming victims
Blaming victims’ parents
Bluefishtv
Bonanza (TV show)
Bones (TV show)
Bottle feeding: bisphenol A (PBA) poisoning from; debate over breastfeeding versus
The Break-Up (film)
Breastfeeding
Bringing Up Geeks (Hicks)
Brooks.
Brooks, M.
Bruer, J.
Bullying: harassment from; keeping child safe from
Burstin, H.
C
Cairns, W.
California Department of Toxic Substances Control
Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood
Car culture
Car-seats
The Case for Make believe (Linn)
CBS Early Show
Cell phones: fear of brain cancer association with; impact on crime rates by; over reliance on; parent-child relationship and impact of; turning off your
Child abductions: Adam (TV miniseries) on; adults with child-learned fear of; as barrier to playtime ; cultural differences in fears over ; importance of assessing risk of ; low statistics vs. exaggerated fears of; milk carton phenomenon and; news coverage of; role play to protect children from; teaching children techniques to avoid . See also Children’s safety; Sex crimes; Strangers
Child abuse/neglect laws
Child development: environmental and genetic influences on; examining how parenting does impact ; Freud’s theories on; make-believe play benefits for; myth of perfect parenting and ; play as absolutely essential to; twin studies on
Childhood: different cultural attitudes toward; learning independence joy of; myth of “perfect” ; perception regarding dangers of; perceptions about contemporary ; play as essential experience of; reviewing the history of American; Rocco Corresca narrative on his
Childhood activities: allowing your child some normal; contemporary perceptions about appropriate; defensive thinking about; different cultural attitudes toward unsupervised ; fear of litigation affecting normal; fears related to trick-or-treating ; parental permission to enjoy normal; school fear of litigation affecting. See also Play/playing
Children: allowing them to experience failure; historic responsibilities expected of; lack of opportunities for responsibility; low threshold of expectations for today’s ; overscheduling; parents as preprogrammed to help their ; spoiling; teaching good judgment to; teaching practical techniques for handling predators ; teaching them to be independent; teaching them to work; “the problem that has no name” and. See also Adolescents
Children’s Hospital (Boston)
Children’s safety: cultural attitudes on unsupervised activities and; cultural differences regarding trust in ; facilitating make-believe fun while ensuring; finding balance between allowing independence and; trick-or-treating . See also Child abductions; Safety issues; Safety products/services
Choking
Ciguciano
Clemson University
CNN
Cohen, A.
Cole, F. S.
College of Marin
Columbine school shooting
Common Application
Common Good
Computer use: as diminishing make-believe play factor; Internet predators and other skeeves online
Condry, K.
Consumer protection movement
Control: cell phone as form of; false belief in; illusion of ; imagining a world of TC (Total Control); learning to let go of ; Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as ex
cessive form of
Cooper, A.
Corresca, R.
Cosby Show (TV show)
Cough and cold medicinitis
CPSC (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission)
Crime: declining rates of; factors related to declining rates of; Internet predators; school shootings; sex
Crimes Against Children Research Center
Crystal, B.
CSI:NY (TV show)
CSI (TV show)
Cultural differences: Angelina Hart on ; in attitudes toward unsupervised activities; car culture impact on; child abduction fears and ; Danish mother’s child endangerment arrest and; expanding your cultural horizons; in parent-sibling-child relationships; in trusting their children’s safety
D
The Daily Mail (British newspaper)s
Danger, perception regarding
Danish mother’s child endangerment arrest
The Dark Knight (film)
Death by stroller
Decca Records
Defensive thinking
DeMatteo, J.
Desensitizing
Deveaux, M.
Dexter (TV show)
Distrust, fear as driving
Dodson, T.
Drowning
Drusin, J.
Dubbels, B.
Dweck.
E
Eating raw dough
Eating snow
Edison, T.
Educational obsession: Baby Einstein videos; false promises of ; marketing products to fulfill the; promoting real learning experiences vs.
Egg-born salmonella
Einstein Never Used Flash Cards (Hirsh-Pasek and Golinkoff)
Electronic seduction
Elmo (Sesame Street character)
Environmental influences
Evans, E.
Evans, G.
Everyone Poops (Fields and Brown)
“Expandable” (or “growth”) mindset
Expert advice: confused reliance on parenting ; contributing to fears ; freeing yourself from overload of; on pregnancy; toilet training