The Free Range Child

You don't have to be an expert to recognize generalizations and stereotypes, which is where this thread began.

And even if you have kids, what makes anyone an expert on what other people should do with theirs? Raise your own, let other people raise theirs. If Liesl has issues about kids standing at the bus stop, and she has personal experience with that, it's a valid concern to her...why does someone else have to judge her as hysterical? Or the 'idiot' moms lined up in the SUVs picking up the kids at the 'ritzy' school....why is that a problem? They should put their kids on the bus because someone else thinks it's the best way?

What I do know about parenting is that it's personal and individual, and I don't know anyone who does it so perfectly that he/she can judge others.

 

My daughter goes to a ritzy school (scholarship) and doesn't like it when we drive her. I keep telling her that she should tell her friends that my '95 Cherokee Sport is a "classic" that I'm restoring.

 

Nothing makes parents feel better than spotting parents even worse than them.

 

Because they back up traffic on the state maintained roads when school is letting out.

They also create a very unsafe situation. Having 40-50 adults who are not school employees loitering outside a school when 900 children are inside is a breading ground for the wrong people to slip into the building or school grounds.

We have also had students killed in Virginia trying to drive to school in bad weather (rain, snow)when the buses were running.

Students will also just walk into the car and drive off with the parents without signing out. I know signing out does not seem like a big deal, but when you get 902 students every morning, you better be darn sure 902 go home and you know how each one goes home.

 

93--I hear your point, but isn't that the school's fault for not regulating a better system?

I can think of a hundred reasons parents might want/need to pick up their kids...I can't see how it makes them idiots, unless they're breaking rules and jeopardizing the safety of other kids.

 

Once in a while is not a big deal, but of the 50 cars in the front of the school, it's the same 38-40 everyday. Everyday. Not an exaggeration.

I'm not even going to mention the ones that pick their kids up 15 minutes late everyday.

They are the problem.

It's also very hard to tell someone that they are not allowed to get their child from school whenever they want.

Truancy does not carry any weight in this day and age.

 

Again, whatever works.

BTW, I've found I'm generally too busy trying to find something that works that I don't worry about how other people raise their kids. One size don't fit all.

 

Only in your mind.

You decided at the outset that this was just about an author flogging his book.

"Oh, what's he know, Bubba? He's just trying to sell his book"

The issue is: micromanaging kids to such an extent that you rob them of their independence, initiative and ability to make adult decisions when they grow up. And that's a widespread phenomena, not a figment of some person's imagination.

To quote the author:

Deep demographic shifts have also redrawn the family. Smaller families mean we have more time to invest in each child; the demise of the extended family means that we are often parenting alone, and therefore more anxious and unsure. We have children older now too which creates a different mindset. A woman having her first baby at 39.5 years of age is liable to be more anxious about maximizing her genetic investment than a 20 year old. Also as older mums and dads we arrive at family life after long years in the workplace and we bring the office ethos home. So how do we parent better? Well, we do what we would at work: we bring in the experts, we spend lots of money and we put in long, hard hours. We professionalize parenting.

Much of this, however, starts from a noble and natural place: the instinct to do the best for our children. The problem is that in the current cultural climate this impulse tipped into caricature so that we push, polish and protect our kids with superhuman zeal.

Universities are dealing with the helicopoter parents now: parents phoning profs about their kids' grades; sitting in on classes when the kid is sick, complaining to the hockey coach about playing time.

 

Duh. Is any of that news to anyone, parent or not?

 

Oh, so if you don't deem it newsworthy, we shouldn't be discussing it?

You using Boom's brain today?

Let me share something.

Parenting's a secret cult. We really don't care for non-members' opinions.

 

As a parent I care and I think 21 makes valid points.

 

Put the baby out on the side of the mountain. If it makes its way back home, it is strong and smart, worthy of the valuable resources necessary tot its rearing and fit to breed when able.