Free-range parenting

What It Means

Free-range parenting is an approach in which parents give children freedom, matched to their age and maturity, to do everyday things on their own, such as walking to school, playing outside without an adult watching or running an errand. The term comes from writer Lenore Skenazy, whose Free-Range Kids work grew into the organization Let Grow. It's a parenting philosophy with its own advocates, not a clinical term, and neither the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) nor CDC defines it.

How Parents Say It

• "We let her walk to school on her own this year."
• "He's allowed to ride to the park if he's back by five."
• "Call it free-range, I call it how we grew up."

The Breakdown

How freedom often grows by stage. These are examples of the kind of steps free-range families describe, not an official schedule. Every child and neighborhood is different.

What the law says, using Utah as the example. In 2018 Utah passed S.B. 65, "Child Neglect Amendments," which changed the state's definition of neglect. Let Grow describes it as making clear that letting children play outside, walk to school, wait briefly in a car in some circumstances or come home alone isn't neglect by itself, unless something else seriously wrong is going on. The group also reports that other states have passed similar laws since. Wording and conditions differ from state to state, so read your own state's law before deciding.

Starting the conversation. "You've walked to the corner store with me a lot. Want to try it on your own on Saturday, and call me when you get there?"

Where It Comes From

Lenore Skenazy wrote the 2008 column "Why I Let My 9-Year-Old Ride the Subway Alone." The reaction to it launched what she called Free-Range Kids, a book and blog of the same name, and later Let Grow, which campaigns for what it calls reasonable childhood independence laws.

Good to Know

Rules on leaving children alone, in cars or at home, differ by state. Check your own state's law or its child welfare agency before you act, and keep the steps matched to your child, your route and your neighborhood. Water and busy roads need extra care at every age.

Related Terms and Categories

• Helicopter parenting

  A style of parenting where a parent stays overly involved in a child's life, hovering close to manage problems, choices and schoolwork, sometimes into adulthood.

• Risky play

  Thrilling play with a real chance of a small injury, like climbing high, going fast or rough-and-tumble games, where the child judges the risk for themselves.

• Latchkey kid

  A school-age child who comes home to an empty house and spends time there without an adult, usually while parents work.

• Unstructured play

  Play a child chooses and directs, with no adult-set rules, lesson or goal, like making up a game in the yard or building whatever comes to mind.

Parenting and child development