Reply to Parenting limits different now than in the 90s?

Forum Index » Tweens and Teens

Reply to "Parenting limits different now than in the 90s?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Your teen will find their people — which will include parents that parent like you.

For example, my daughter is friends with the girls whose parents are generally pretty strict on tech, but fairly free range. The girls did generally have Apple Watches in 6th grade. Some didn’t have actual phones until 8th grade. None of them have social media as 8th graders.

But these friends were allowed to come to our beach house for long weekends when the parents barely knew us. They did likely check behind the scenes with parents who had known us since elementary, but they were cool with us taking their kids three hours away for three nights. I was super clear with them before the kid came for the first time, that we let kids be pretty free range at the beach. They can swim without an adult, but no one swims alone. They don’t swim without a red flag warning. They can walk the beach on their own and get up early and go get breakfast by themselves. These are all girls who could go to the mall together on a Saturday afternoon with no parent starting in 6th grade. These are girls who have gone to the pool with no parents since 6th grade. Not my kid, but two of them go on long runs by themselves (they are into track). No one freaks out if these girls are hanging out at one house and the parents leave the girls at the house while the parents go out to dinner.

Middle school is where relationships are built on common interests. Your free range kid with find other free range kids because they will want to do similar things together — beach, mall, whatever the activity of their choice is without having some random parent hanging out all the time.

[/quote]

OP here- see and I wouldn't even consider any of this stuff "free range" except maybe the swimming in the ocean without an adult present as a middle schooler- I don't think I'd allow that one personally.  But a few 13 year old girls going for a walk on the beach together without mom?  Walking down the boardwalk to get breakfast together without mom? Staying home alone together for a couple hours without mom?  This stuff to me seems pretty basic!! i'd say free range would be if they were alone all weekend and also in charge of an 8 year old or something.  Or they leave the house all day with no watch or phone and parents don't know where they are all day (as opposed to having an apple watch to check in with mom, and telling mom at lunchtime, hey i'm walking to the pool with Larla and i'll be back around 5). [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics