As a follow-on to the Free Range parenting post

[rainsinger]

When I was 11, I was living in Holland with my mum. Neither of us spoke Dutch and we didn't have any family there, or any social network to speak of except for three friends. My mum was doing a great job of looking after me and helping me to settle in, right up to the point when she badly sprained her ankle and could not walk

Comments

[chiller]

Richard Branson's mother would famously dump him out of the family car a few miles from home at a very young age and tell him to find his own way, and he turned out OK (and always did find his way

[rmc28]

Aren't independence and capability the greatest gifts a parent can give their child?

Well, I think so. I think of our jobs as parents as teaching and supporting and then gradually getting out of the way - until we reach the point where we aren't needed at all. The relationships starts full of dependence and slowly you turn it into capability.

For example the continuum that runs from pregnancy to feeding a baby to a self-feeding child to a child that can cook a meal, to a person that can earn their own means of buying food to cook.

[cherade9]

Everything you've said on free range parenting is precisely the kind of thing we're doing with Adam. It's a wee bit scary letting him go explore the world, but he's so happy and turning out to be a wonderful human being. I'm very lucky to be his Mum.

[trinity_gal]

I can imagine how terryfying it's to talk to grown-up strangers as child...it can be greatest gift - the confidence to deal with strangers and be assertive when they are disagreeable. Have you noticed how many peopl were goaded into dispensing with their cash because they were too nice and didnt want conflict?