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Safe Freedom
Giving Your Children Room to Grow By Shel Franco
Parents may blame the modern world for placing more dangers at their children's feet, but that same modern world has equipped parents with valuable tools to keep their children safe, like helmets, seat belts and fenced-in yards. Here are a few more things you might want on hand to help keep your child out of harm's way:
Alarms: A quick Internet search for child alarms will yield many options for outfitting your child with a device that can do everything from sending out a shrill alert to tracking his or her whereabouts. Most of these devices work by notifying the parental unit that something is wrong, whether it is that the child wandered too far, pressed a "panic button" or that the device is in danger of being removed.
Walkie-talkies: While yelling out the screen door may no longer be fashionable or effective, checking in with your child on a walkie-talkie or two-way radio is a great way to stay connected. You can purchase walkie-talkies with a several-mile range at discount stores, like Wal-Mart, or electronics stores, such as Best Buy. The rechargeable variety saves you the headache of batteries and start at about $49.99. (Regardless of the technology on hand, keep in mind that nothing should be used in place of true parental supervision.)
The next time you're daydreaming about the relative bliss of your childhood, don't fret. Your child will one day be doing the same, whether or not he or she ever knows the feeling of riding bikes in the street or running "wild" around the block.
"Kids today don't remember those times when kids roamed free among the neighborhoods, so their sense of freedom is relative," Crutcher says. "I think the point is to teach kids matter-of-factly to be careful, at the same time setting up situations that reduce the likelihood of some bad incident happening."
The bottom line: Fun is fun – no matter what the parameters.
