If you Google the phrase "America's worst mom," the first hit is Lenore Skenazy '81, who in 2008 let her nine-year-old son, Izzy, take the subway in Manhattan by himself. Skenazy wrote about the decision in her column for the New York Sun -- and then found herself on the Today show, parrying criticism from a clinical psychologist. After she let Izzy ride the Long Island Rail Road alone this year -- and a conductor who noticed him called the police -- she drew on the experiences for a book about her parenting philosophy. Emily Bazelon '93, '00JD, an editor at the web magazines Slate and DoubleX, interviewed Skenazy.

Y: Why did you call your book Free-Range Kids?

S: We are so consumed with making sure kids are safe that we are keeping them cooped up like chickens. We're preventing them from enjoying their lives. Of course, people ask me what a free-range kid tastes like. ...

Y: One reason parents are loath to take small risks with their children, I think, is that when a child gets hurt, the assumption is that the parents are to blame.

S: Yes, yes, the guilt and the blame! The child of a friend of mine broke her arm on a swing. Other parents asked, "Why weren't you there?" In fact, my friend was pushing her daughter on the swing. Her child fell because sometimes bad things just happen, and it's no one's fault. But we don't believe in accidents anymore.

Labels: childhood, culture, motherhood, parenting

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