Would you let a nine-year-old travel alone on a train or on the London Underground? If you are a parent or grandparent, you will instantly have a view on this.
One American mother let her nine-year-old son travel alone on the New York subway and has now been branded ‘America’s Worst Mom’.
Lenore Skenazy is a journalist for the New York Sun newspaper. Her son, Izzy, begged her to let him travel home on the subway on his own. He wanted to do this to prove he could, to build on his independence and to show he was responsible.
His mum agreed and gave him a subway map, a travel card, 20 dollars and some coins in case he needed to make a phone call.
Izzy undertook his adventure and one subway ride, one bus ride and one hour later he returned home safely, in time for his dinner and with his chest swollen with pride.
A few weeks later Lenore wrote about this in her newspaper column and all hell broke loose.
Within hours of publication she was receiving emails from across New York questioning her parenting skills.
The following day TV and radio stations across the globe were furiously debating her decision to let Izzy travel alone.
One of America’s biggest TV programmes, The Today Show, invited Lenore and Izzy to appear. The host’s opening gambit was: “Is this woman an enlightened Mom, or a really bad one?”
A parenting expert also appeared; brought in to determine whether or not Izzy had been ‘damaged’ by his experience.
Since this TV show aired, America has become divided on Lenore’s decision. She has also received hundreds of emails from around the world. Many of these have been highly critical and vitriolic.
Some of these emails also posed the inevitable ‘what if?’ question. What if he had been snatched... fallen under a train... been attacked? As Lenore points out, if we lived our lives by ‘what if?’ we probably wouldn’t even get out of bed.
Equally she has received plenty of support from parents who believe we are over-protective of our children and that we risk hindering their personal development. Lenore herself argues overly-protective parents allow fear to cloud reality.
One of the biggest criticisms was she let her son travel without a mobile phone or without someone following him to make sure he was safe.
Her story is fascinating. It clearly demonstrates parents are more scared than ever of letting children out of their sight. Is this fear justified? Is the world a less safe place than ever before? Would you let your nine-year-old travel alone on a train or tube?
As a parent I am keen to ensure my daughter grows up as rounded a person as possible, and this includes trusting her to make her way around the world alone, without fear but with a good deal of common sense.
As a result of Lenore’s experience, she has set up a website which you can access at www.freerangekids.com . I would be interested to hear your views as to whether or not you think she was right to let Izzy travel alone.
I would like to think I would allow my daughter at that age to make a similar trip. Hand on my heart, I don’t know if I could.
If the credit crunch and the state of the world in general is getting you down, may I suggest you visit a website I recently stumbled upon in the course of research for a radio show?
The site in question is www.relentlessly-positive.com and is exactly that and offers a chipper boost when your spirit needs it. Go on, get on line and think positive.
