Pay Someone To NOT Watch My Kids?
I Don't Think So!
Posted by Kristi Gilbert
I'm all for fostering independent children with self esteem. But when it comes with a price tag of $350 and involves play with no adult supervision?? No way, hell no. I don't think so.
A former journalist from NYC, Lenore Skenazy, is charging $350 to NOT watch your child play in Central Park. An activist who wants to revive free play, she wrote "Free Range Kids," and keeps a blog of the same name. She's concerned that children have become overly confined due to parental fears, and was saddened when her own kids wanted to play unwatched. From her research as a journalist she feels this is actually one of the safest times to be a kid, not the most dangerous, as the evening news would have us believe.
But still, even though this after-school program is for older children ages 8 through 18, no one has signed up yet.
"I'm always trying to figure out ways to get kids back outside playing with each other," the mother of two told ABC News. "It's a great thing that has sort of evaporated from the American landscape."
I get this desire to want your kids feeling it's OK to play outside, but nowadays, it does feel like everywhere you turn another child has been kidnapped or worse. As a parent, where do you draw the line between giving them freedom and keeping them as safe as possible? All parents struggle with this, no matter the child's age.
But charging $350 to NOT be watching nearby, but to be across the street at a café sipping lattes with a cell phone nearby in case of emergency?
Not my child, no way.
3 back to baby
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