Daniel and Code Adam

Child Safety II

 

 The timing on this is very interesting for me personally.  Because while I agree with all my mind about the Free Range Kids movement, something happened on Saturday that made me question it in my heart.

So we were at Wal Mart picking up a toy for James' friend's birthday party.  Plus I was hoping I might see Daniel pick a small toy that might help fill out his stocking.  So there we were, in an aisle, and Daniel was at the end of the aisle, playing with the toys on the wall.  I was looking at something James was showing me, I looked up and Daniel was gone! So I spent a frantic couple of minutes running around the toy section before I enlisted the store staff.  Which eventually led to a Code Adam being called.  For those of you who aren't aware of what this means, when a Code Adam is called Wal Mart closes it's doors, no one is allowed to leave, and every available associate begins searching for the child in the store.  This is the second time this happened to Daniel, and they found him a few minutes later in the frozen foods section of the store.  I think this time he just got lost and started wandering, just missing me in the crowd.  

I again reminded him to stay with me in the future.  And I think this time it sunk in.  But, needless the say, the thought of all the horror stories crossed my mind as I thought of what new horrible thing had happened to the family.

Now a busy Wal Mart isn't the same as letting kids cross the street, or even letting them go to the neighborhood park.  But it certainly raised some cold shivers down my spine.  And caused me to question my thinking on the general ideas of Free Range Kids.

But this article brought back to my mind why I love the idea so much.  Because I myself had decided to implement some draconian policies for the kids over the holidays.  I decided to limit their TV and video game playing.  And this article reminds me of those changes.  Obviously with the weather it isn't as easy to send the kids outside.  But I can at least force them to play with their toys, interact, and not veg in front of the TV.  It wasn't easy on Saturday, particularly for Daniel.  But I know it will be better for them in the long run.  My hope is that I can fight my own internal laziness and keep the rules in force.  Because to be honest, much of what I can claim as just letting my kids be responsible is more my focus on something else, the same as my allowing them to destroy their play area.  

To sum up, it is scary as a parent to let your kids be independent and free.  It is harder work to teach them good habits like picking up after themselves than it is to just give them free reign.  But the rewards of both will become apparent as your kids get older.  James took to the shutting off of the TV and Playstation quite well, just creating a massive Star Wars battle.  The only problem being he didn't want to pick up when it was time, so while it is easier to let James be free to play on his own, it is hard work to teach him to clean up.  And while it is scary as hell when your kids disappears in a crowded store, he survived and it just turned out he was lost, which was a good teaching moment.