May 15 2008
Letting the Nine-Year-Old Off the Leash
There have been a lot of stories recently about letting kids have more freedom. There was this TED talk about letting kids do dangerous things, The Daring Book for Girls and this news story about a nine-year-old going on NYC public transit by himself.
So I’ve decided it is time to loosen the reigns a bit. And I have to admit that I’ve been holding the reigns pretty damn tightly. Rowen has never gone anywhere without some sort of supervision. I’m not as neurotic as some parents-Rowen has been to sleepovers and we have a babysitter come about every other week so Mia and I can have a date. But she doesn’t play outside without me there to watch. She doesn’t ride her bike around the neighborhood unless we’re riding together. And while I’m fine with her being at a friends house without me, I don’t let her walk there alone.
So starting this week I’m letting her out of the house without my overbearing presence. We have a small park just down the street, not even 1000 feet away, and with line of sight from the house. I let her ride her bike to the park and even go to a friends house to see if said friend could come to the park. And I didn’t watch her the entire time with the telescope. Honest. I got laundry done.
I don’t expect this to have any sort of immediate effect on my little girl. but I think it’s probably more healthy than keeping her under my thumb.