We Were All Neglected!

All of sudden "free range children"  is a topic on the news.  Free range children refers to kids who are allowed to be off and play by themselves! In Silver Springs, Maryland such "free range children " were picked up by police and turned over to child protective services. Their parents were charged with neglect.  Those of us who grew up with such "neglect" can only shake our heads! We all went out and played out of range of the hovering protection of our parents.  We learned independence,creativity, and all kinds of survival skills.  Unlike the current generation that lives at home until they launch in their late twenties or thirties, we left home at 18 to go to school or to work and forged a future built on resilience and the enduring belief that we could take care of ourselves.

It has been apparent for a long time now that our country's children are in trouble. They are lost! Forced to compete for overpriced college slots that lead to disappointing jobs and massive debt,these kids do not demonstrate the ability to land on their own two feet.  We are reaping the rewards of day care parenting and helicopter parenting. We are seeing  what happens when children are programmed with hourly activities from an early age. I applaud those parents who are trying to free their children from the brain deadening routines of over programming.  Yes we were "neglected" and were "free range children" but we took our independence and hard won creativity and built lives we could be proud of!