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Nothing sparks a debate like children/parental responsibilty. Having read several strong opinions(different forum) on the parents who were kicked off the Jetblue flight due to the tantrums of a 2-year old and several stories similar, I'm curious to know.....
Are you a parent or do you know a parent who allow their children to have "free range" in public? More and more we read about public places wanting to have a seperate area for children because parents allow children to 'behave' with little or no correction! There is nothing new about this topic but I am personally trying to understand.....Why?
Why allow a child to continually kick the occupied seat in front of them? why allow them to lean over the booth disturbing the patrons at a restaurant? why allow them to run up and down the aisles of a store, climb inside of carts, play with those heavy metal doors at the laundromat?
Certainly this does not apply to all. But for those who may be able to offer a different perspective(from my own) and some insight...please explain.......
I think you're misunderstanding the concept of free range parenting. I consider myself a free range parent...mostly. It means I don't freak out about leaving my kids in the car for 3 minutes while I pick up my dry cleaning. It means I let them play outside without constant supervision. It means I let my 7yr old use the stove with direction and my 5yr old cut his own food with a knife. It means I look at safety statistics before panicking and consider my job as a parent to raise competent adults.
It DOES NOT in any form mean that I allow my children to misbehave in public (or private). I would be considered a strict parent by most standards. I actually find most free range parents are "stricter" because we consider our children more capable than society in general considers kids. If you want freedom in my house you had better act mature enough to earn it.
Some people are self-absorbed jerks. They don't teach their children to recognize the feelings of people around them because they don't recognize them either. Sometimes you might also be catching somebody on a really bad day, so what you witness might not be a testament to that person's character--it depends on what you see.
Nothing sparks a debate like children/parental responsibilty. Having read several strong opinions(different forum) on the parents who were kicked off the Jetblue flight due to the tantrums of a 2-year old and several stories similar, I'm curious to know.....
Are you a parent or do you know a parent who allow their children to have "free range" in public? More and more we read about public places wanting to have a seperate area for children because parents allow children to 'behave' with little or no correction! There is nothing new about this topic but I am personally trying to understand.....Why?
Why allow a child to continually kick the occupied seat in front of them? why allow them to lean over the booth disturbing the patrons at a restaurant? why allow them to run up and down the aisles of a store, climb inside of carts, play with those heavy metal doors at the laundromat?
Certainly this does not apply to all. But for those who may be able to offer a different perspective(from my own) and some insight...please explain.......
You are totally misinterpreting the concept of "Free-range parenting". It is not about no rules or no discipline at all, it is about giving children the tools to make decisions for themselves instead of continually making those decisions for them. Discipline would be a completely different topic.
Tell-the-Truth....I used to think like you did...I thought "free range" equaled unrully, and poorly behaved...Now I realize that's not so....now I know that allowing your children to express themselves more, and make more of their own decisions at a younger age...has nothing to do with being undisciplined...as are the children you describe....I have indeed encountered many children such as the ones you talk of....I'm usually aghast..and feel VERY sorry for them....but not their parents.
I didn't know "free-range" was an actual, used phrase with "real" meaning! Please forgive my ignorance. Wow, I thought I was being creative with my thread title............
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Could some parents be concerned that disciplining or correcting or even spanking an unruly child in public may lead to authorities being involved? and that is why some won't correct?
Some won't correct, because some aren't qualified to be parents, but chose to have children anyway.
Some -try- to correct, and they totally deserve credit for trying, even if their methods fall short of success.
Some succeed in correcting, and they get the accolades.
And then there are the rare families, whose children don't really need much correction, because they don't do anything outrageous (like trying to set Fluffy's tail on fire) or dangerous (previously mentioned fire, while in the garage next to an open, full gas can).
My parents fell solidly in the second category. They really did try. But I was demon-spawn. Attempts at discipline resulted in me, hands on my hips, challenging them "oh yeah? And you and what army are gonna make me?"
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, anywhoo....
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