Introduction - Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy

Introduction - Free-Range Kids, How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry) by Lenore Skenazy - #metropolitana #telefoninocollare #mediaterror #felicitàselfselfself

IntroductionRead more at location 102

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Now there are all sorts of reasons for being super protective, and for the most part, they’re totally legit. Maybe you yourself were hurt as a child. Maybe your parents just barely survived the Holocaust. Maybe you’re African American and worried about the world treating your child like a criminal. Or maybe, like my friend Gigi, you are so addicted to anxiety that worrying actually feels good. Like going to the gym. No pain, no gain.Read more at location 113

Note: RAGIONI PER AMARE L ANSIA. IL BELLO DEL SACRIFICIO Edit

After all, our moms sent us outside and said, “Come home when the street lights turn on.”Read more at location 119

Note: C ERA UNA VOLTA Edit

cell phones—though I love them dearly—are a great example of how everything has gotten so mixed up. We give them to our kids because we don’t want to worry.Read more at location 123

Note: TELEFONINO Edit

So now the phone—the very device that was supposed to reassure you—is making you freak out when you never would have freaked before.Read more at location 127

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About a year ago, I let my nine-year-old ride the subway alone for the first time.Read more at location 134

Note: AVVENTURA IN METRO Edit

Then I wrote a column about it for the New York Sun. Big deal, right? Well, the night the column ran, someone from the Today Show called me at home to ask, Did I really let my son take the subway by himself?Read more at location 136

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By way of introduction, she turned to the camera and asked, “Is she an enlightened mom or a really bad one?”Read more at location 149

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You let him WHAT? The more polite said things like, “Well that’s fine, and I’ll let my son do that, too . . . when he’s in college.”Read more at location 168

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Parenting Expert—aRead more at location 171

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She says that I could have given my son the exact same experience of independence, but in a much “safer” way—ifRead more at location 174

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And suddenly, weirdly, I found myself at that place you always hear about: the center of a media storm.Read more at location 184

Note: MEDIA STORM Edit

The media dubbed me “America’s Worst Mom.”Read more at location 192

Note: LA PEGGIORE MAMMA AMERICANA Edit

my point is: we got to explore the world on our own; we got to do things without adult assistance and make mistakes and even play on teeter-totters.Read more at location 209

Note: SENZA L ADULTO Edit

Google something as ridiculous as “Kid drowns in ketchup,” and you can usually find a terrible story about just that.Read more at location 217

Note: I MEDIA Edit

Literally, that’s the statistic: 1 in 1.5 million children is abducted and murdered by strangers. We have to put those crimes in context, or we’ll end up locking up all our kids like Rapunzel. (And look how well that worked.)Read more at location 229

Note: UNO SU UN MILIONE Edit

Note: SINDROME DI RAPUNTZEL Edit

it’s here to help tease out the real dangers from the hype, to show you (and me) the things that are worth guarding against, as opposed to all the parental warningsRead more at location 242

Note: LO SCOPO DEL LIBRO. I PERICOLI VERI Edit

a whole bunch of other issues I wanted to get to, from how to ignore media hysteria to how to stop worrying about every little parenting decision, to how to get our kids to actually put down the Wii and go outsideRead more at location 247

Note: ALTRE ED EVENTUALI Edit

My friends’ daughter Carrie is a special needs kid. She goes to a special school, a special camp, special therapists. But recently she asked her mother, out of the blue, if she could go get a slice of pizza on her own, here in Manhattan. Her shocked mother said, “Uh . . . OK, but why not get the pizza and bring it home to eat?” “NO!” said Carrie, who’s sixteen. “Other people eat at the pizza place, and I want to, too!” So, bless her, my friend said OK, and Carrie went off by herself a block or two away.Read more at location 254

Note: LA STORIA DI CARRIE Edit

“What made you want to do this?” her mother asked. Carrie had seen her friend Izzy on TV, talking about his subway ride. “I thought if he could do it, I could do it too.”Read more at location 261

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my own primal fear: the Concussion on Wheels. Or, as kids call it, the skateboard. My boys had been begging for one for five years, but I only finally gave in because after yakking about it on the Free-Range blog, I had to buy one or lose all credibility. Long story short: they played with it a few times and got bored. (Hooray!)Read more at location 273

Note: SKATEBOARD Edit

But the whole new thinking about happiness (and maturity) is that these qualities come from actually doing things. Creating. Exploring. Being independent. The catch phrase is self-mastery, and you’ll note that this term and self-confidence and self-esteem all start with self, not parent-assisted.Read more at location 278

Note: FELICITÀ

Commandment 1 - Know When to Worry 
Commandment 2 - Turn Off the News 
Commandment 3 - Avoid Experts 
Commandment 4 - Boycott Baby Knee Pads 
Commandment 5 - Don’t Think Like a Lawyer 
Commandment 6 - Ignore the Blamers 
Commandment 7 - Eat Chocolate 
Commandment 8 - Study History 
Commandment 9 - Be Worldly 
Commandment 10 - Get Braver 
Commandment 11 - Relax 
Commandment 12 - Fail! 
Commandment 13 - Lock Them Out 
Commandment 14 - Listen to Your Kids