I like to point out some of my Philosophy and beliefs in some of my blog postings. In regards to
treehouses, the biggest value they can have for children is the sense of independence and experience managing potentially dangerous situations in order to achieve some goal. Granted, building a small
treehouse a few feet off the ground will involve danger on the scale of a few possible bruises and a hammered thumb, but still, this enough for kids to learn extremely valuable lessons from and build their character.
I have a problem with the excessive safety oriented structures of modern society. I have a problem with laws and regulations that make it illegal to possibly hurt ones self while engaging in unstructured play such as building a secret
treehouse in the woods. Over protectionism of children in the name of safety results in very inhibited and fearful children.
"The problem with this everything-is-dangerous outlook is that over-protectiveness is a danger in and of itself. A child who thinks he can't do anything on his own eventually can't."
I found an
article today by Lenore
Skenazy in the New York Sun (
via boingboing) titled "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone" and she does a great job describing this very issue.
Lenore
describes why she dropped her 9 year old son off in downtown New York and let him navigate his way home via public transit all by himself. He'd been begging her to let him do this for some time -- and eventually she did --
despite all the public fear mongering and personal reservations a loving mother has about releasing her son to his own devices and allowing him to make his own way home.
" ... for weeks my boy had been begging for me to please leave him somewhere, anywhere, and let him try to figure out how to get home on his own. So on that sunny Sunday I gave him a subway map, a MetroCard, a $20 bill, and several quarters, just in case he had to make a call.
No, I did not give him a cell phone. Didn't want to lose it. And no, I didn't trail him, like a mommy private eye. I trusted him to figure out that he should take the Lexington Avenue subway down, and the 34th Street crosstown bus home. If he couldn't do that, I trusted him to ask a stranger. And then I even trusted that stranger not to think, 'Gee, I was about to catch my train home, but now I think I'll abduct this adorable child instead.'
Long story short: My son got home, ecstatic with independence.
Long story longer, and analyzed, to boot: Half the people I've told this episode to now want to turn me in for child abuse. As if keeping kids under lock and key and helmet and cell phone and nanny and surveillance is the right way to rear kids. It's not. It's debilitating — for us and for them."
My hat off you you, Lenore Skenazy. I think we could do well by your lesson in trust.
And for those out there who don't live in an urban jungle, try letting you child attempt their own quest in whatever setting is available. And, if they're lucky enough to have access to some trees, and a private patch of nature, letting them build a treehouse is a good option.
For more info check out Lenore's blog: FreeRangeKids@wordpress.com
"Children, like chickens, deserve a life outside the cage. The overprotected life is stunting and stifling, not to mention boring for all concerned.
So here's to Free Range Kids, raised by Free Range Parents willing to take some heat. I hope this web site encourages us all to think outside the house."
