Group 5 (5)

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Fiona Lumi Harshraj Pandya Jacob Amaral Anita Osamede February 6th, 2024 REC 200 Tutorial: SEC 103, Group 5 Unleashed Chaos: The Pitfalls of Free-Range Parenting Over 40,000 children are abducted and reported missing each year from Canada alone, and even more across North America(RCMP, 2020). Many parents may see Free-Range parenting as a positive influence on their children, allowing them to develop life skills on their own, however, these parents would be wrong. Free-range parenting styles can lead to various environmental dangers, such as their children being abducted by strangers, it can have major long-term side effects such as the decline in a child's overall physical activity, and it can have sociological dangers such as a child feeling neglected and unheard by their parents. Throughout this debate, we will argue not only that Free Range parenting is dangerous, but we will show you how it can lead to negative long-term effects on children. In a perfect world, leaving your child to learn life skills would be reasonable and understandable. However, we are far from a perfect world. With children being abducted, inexplicable crimes being committed across the world, people speeding and ignoring signs and drugs becoming more and more prevalent, it is clear that we are far from a perfect world. Children are vulnerable to the world and can be easily manipulated, abducted or harmed by strangers in public. Not only was it mentioned earlier that over 40,000 children go missing every year (RCMP, 2020), but over 20% of children get physically bullied (NCES, 2019) and there are over 500,000 active child predators to this day (Kraut, 2022). These statistics show that although parents may think the world is a safe place where their children can roam free and learn independence, it truly is not. Children need their parents to learn life skills in a safe manner, they need their parents to help guide them and show them the dangers of the world, and most importantly they need their parents to help guide them to keep them on a positive path in life. Without this guidance, there are many risks to what could happen, including an overall decrease in their long-term physical activity.

The next we want to discuss revolves around the increased risk of safety concerns when children are not under adult supervision, particularly in the context of biking. The article discusses the prevalent issue of children riding bikes alone, highlighting the potential risks associated with the imperative need for helmet usage (E. Sharpe et al., 2021). As a shared experience from our own childhoods, the narrative underscores the tendency to avoid helmet-wearing due to embarrassment. This is, when left unsupervised, children are more prone to disregard safety measures, specifically the use of helmets. A study conducted by Dr. J. Todd Lawrence, of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia revealed that among 1 million cases of bicycle head traumas in the United States over the past two decades, a staggering 87% involved children not wearing helmets, emphasizing the elevated risk in the absence of adequate safety precautions( C. Murez., 2022 ). This absence of parental guidance and regulations makes children more likely to act recklessly, thereby increasing the overall risk to their safety. A disadvantage of free-range parenting is child neglect. Free-range parenting refers to parents giving their kids the freedom to a certain extent, however, this goes overboard sometimes when the parent gives the child a little too much privilege and neglects their responsibilities as parents. There was a shift in the play landscape as the freedom that parents gave to children went from unstructured and relaxed to structured and anxious (Baker, 5, slide 18). There was a shift because parents realized the risks that come from urban environments, they understood that if they continue to neglect their child by giving too much freedom then one day or another there will be consequences that they as parents will have to face. These dangers developed concepts such as “Helicopter parents”, Leisure in the home, Parent-child closeness, etc. All of these concepts are for the betterment of the child as they will contribute to improving the relationship a child has with its parents. Along with this, there is a new child-saving movement that is implemented to ensure that children are not neglected in any activities they are participating in such as introducing children’s zoos, nature studies and organized camping. All of these strategies are to make sure that children can enjoy activities without feeling left out. For centuries, children's play has been characterized by freedom, and self-choice, and marked by creativity, imagination, and deep emotional engagement, with the great outdoors serving as its ultimate stage – a boundless playground where children could open up and explore the world around them, providing them with more flexibility in their emotions and thoughts (Frost, 2010, p.198). However, it's important to note that this approach may not be universally applicable to all children. In some instances, the unrestricted freedom in play might lead to a sense of entitlement regarding their emotions. For instance, if a child experiences the freedom to roam and express independence, this might not seamlessly translate to other

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