|
Free-Range Kids: Giving Our Children the Freedom We Had Without Going Nuts with Worry |  | Author: Lenore Skenazy
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $13.95
as of 3/16/2010 06:41 CDT details
You Save: $11.00 (44%)
New (32) Used (11) from $13.95
Seller: indoobestsellers
Rating:  80 reviews
Sales Rank: 8394
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 0470471948
Dewey Decimal Number: 649.1
EAN: 9780470471944
ASIN: 0470471948
Publication Date: April 20, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780470471944 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
FREE RANGE KIDS has become a national movement, sparked by the incredible response to Lenore Skenazy?s piece about allowing her 9-year-old ride the subway alone in NYC. Parent groups argued about it, bloggers, blogged, spouses became uncivil with each other, and the media jumped all over it. A lot of parents today, Skenazy says, see no difference between letting their kids walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. Any risk is seen as too much risk. But if you try to prevent every possible danger or difficult in your child?s everyday life, that child never gets a chance to grow up. We parents have to realize that the greatest risk of all just might be trying to raise a child who never encounters choice or independence.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
 A much needed antidote to today's pervasive fear-mongering March 14, 2010
James Huff (Los Angeles, CA United States)
This book is a much-needed antidote to the pervasive fear-mongering that assaults today's parents (at least in the U.S.A.). Skenazy uses the tried-and-true combination of biting humor and pertinent facts to skewer the biggest myths about the dangers American children face today. Did you know for example that there has never been a single recorded, verified case of a child poisoned or injured by Halloween candy? (No, the infamous razorblade-in-an-apple never happened.) Along the way, she presents a compelling case for critical thinking about the role the media plays in shaping our perceptions of the world. This last comes almost as an aside, as she seeks to explain the source of parents' irrational fears, but is a valuable lesson many would do well to heed.
I would say that the parenting suggestions Skenazy presents here represent a good, healthy dose of common sense, except that such sense is all too uncommon in the American parenting landscape today.
If you're a parent who worries that your child will be abducted by a stranger if you let him or her play in the front yard unattended for 15 minutes, do yourself a favor: turn off CNN, Nancy Grace, or whatever it is you've been watching and read this book.
Totally on board March 9, 2010
Molly Doherty (Massachusetts, USA)
I am totally on board with the whole Free Range Kids concept. My son is only 2 years old but I already give him freedom to run and play, and I look forward to teaching him to be self-sufficient and street-smart so he can have the freedom to explore as he gets older.
America's worst mom makes good! February 14, 2010
Dr. Margaret Cochran (Los Gatos, CA USA)
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Lenore Skenazy on my show. She is one thoughtful, intelligent and very funny lady. Her book is full of very thought provoking ideas and suggestions, a must read for every parent
Hits the nail on the head February 10, 2010
J. Murphy (Portland, OR)
First of all, this book is EXCELLENT and all parents should read it. For that matter, all adults (parents or not) should read it. It truly captures the alarmist, too-much-information age we are living in and gives a helpul, much needed message about how we have gone too far trying to control our uncontrollable world. As a result, we tend to live in fear instead of living life to its fullest. The author has a wonderful, honest style that is hilarious and entertaining, while still very much on point and so very, very true. I have to confess, I have had some trouble finishing the book, only because it rings too true for me and I find some of the observations difficult to face (for example, the way our media bombards us with negative stories that perpetuate our paranoia and fear of the perceived "evil" in the world, and the lawsuit-crazy society we have created which has taken so many simple pleasures away from us). But I appreciate the author's strength in identifying these issues and pointing out the areas where we can lighten up. I highly recommend this book!
A Great Resource for ANY Parent (Especially Me!) February 10, 2010
Karie Hoskins (Everett, WA USA)
Clicking on the fifth of the five stars of the rating for this book was a no-brainer. This was a fabulous book...not only very informative but a very entertaining read. I took SO much from author Lenore Skenazy. She backs up all of her suggestions and presents her material in a very interesting a humorous way.
I do need to stress the humor - because she is incredibly effective at getting the reader to take a step back from the crazy-making new world of parenting. I am the ultimate helicopter parent - even allowing my 9 and 6 year old children to cross the street to get the mail seems like a dangerous endeavor. This is me:
"...a lot of parents are really bad at assessing risk. They see no difference between letting their children walk to school and letting them walk through a firing range. When they picture their kids riding their bikes to a birthday party, they seem them dodging Mack trucks with brake problems. To let their children play unsupervised in a park at age eight or ten or even thirteen seems about as responsible as throwing them in the shark tank at Sea World with their pockets full of meatballs."
She using the very successful technique of presenting a situation, describing the way parents used to deal with it and comparing to how some parents deal with it now, and then gives the facts. Using the example of letting children walk to school (which now only 10% of children do) - she points out that children are about 40 times more likely to die in a car trip home from school than a walk home from school. That by making choices (based on fear) that we think are making our children safer - are actually making them less safe. Again and again, she points out that, "Mostly, the world is safe. Mostly, people are good. To emphasize the opposite is to live in the world of tabloid TV. A world where the weirdest, worst, least likely events are given the most play. A world filled with worst case scenarios, not the world we actually live in, which is factually, statistically, and, lucky for us, one of the safest periods for children in the history of the world."
Her explanation of where this societal fear comes from is very well laid out and makes complete sense. She doesn't blame any one person or organization in particular but points out the individual pieces of the puzzle that make up the world of exploitation and misinformation we live in now.
I would recommend this to ANY parent or parent-to-be. Having these facts at hand (she even provides a sheet called "I Am a Free-Range Parent" to keep with you when other parents react negatively to choices you make for your child. (And the mere fact that this is needed, and it is, is pretty sad...)
I checked this book out from the library but will be buying my own copy this weekend. I will be reading this again soon, and have recommended it to all of my friends with children.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 80
|
|
|
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. Powered by Associate-O-Matic
| |
