Free Range Mothering?

I'm watching Dr.Phil. I hate Dr Phil. However, I was totally sucked in by this topic. I'll probably fall into the "helicopter mom" style but maybe not that extreme. But this whole movement is about giving your children freedom and trusting their judgement.One mom lets her children walk by themselves to a friends house and she doesn't worry if she doesn't hear from them. No news is good news to her...REALLY?!?! Are you kidding me? You're going to let your 10 year old son leave the house and not check in? How long would she let that go before she got worried? One hour? One day?! I think at the least make them call you when they get to the friends house. I feel the world isn't as safe as it used to be. I feel uneasy with the idea of children walking the streets with out supervision. I believe in educating children on how to protect themselves.I don't think you should terrify your child. However, I also believe my child's safety is a top priority. Maybe I watch too much CNN or HLN. When I think about all the children that have gone missing over the past year, it breaks my heart. Their mothers probably thought they were safe and nothing would happen.

I would much rather be slightly over-protective than so under protective that I don't know where my ten old year is or let my 9 year old ride the subway or more locally the DART bus alone.

I'm all for teaching and giving idependence but there's a line. Maybe I'm just scared.



If you guys want to read about Free-Range Kids heres a website about it
http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/