"People in Oregon must be poor."

[mimitabby]

Sorry about that, i couldn't resist. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. I tried very hard to raise my sons with freedom... and most people said to me; "welll, if they were girls you would have done it differently"

[Geonz]

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/

One of the things that I learned as a lifeguard was that there were lots of children being reared oh, rather differently that we'd been reared... and that in all probability this had been happening for generations and society was still plugging along.

[Crankin]

Mimi, I have had that said to me, too. And, it's not true. I raised my boys the way I was raised. If I had had girls, nothing would have changed. Two years later, my kids are still perfectly responsible adults who had a lot of freedom when they were kids!

From the bad working mother,

Robyn

[mimitabby]

Mimi, I have had that said to me, too. And, it's not true. I raised my boys the way I was raised. If I had had girls, nothing would have changed. Two years later, my kids are still perfectly responsible adults who had a lot of freedom when they were kids!

From the bad working mother,

Robyn

EXACTLY

[Jolt]

Maybe one possible solution for some working moms (those who work part-time would have the easiest time doing this) would be to have a sort of co-op with other moms from their neighborhood, church etc. where they work different days and switch off watching each others' kids on days they're not working. Then the kids can play together and have more freedom than they'd have in a regular day care, and parents wouldn't have to pay for child care because it would be a bartering type arrangement. Obviously this would be easier with some jobs than others (I could see it working very well for nurses, for example, but it would be harder with less flexible hours). What do you think?

[cyclinnewbie]

Sorry about that, i couldn't resist. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. I tried very hard to raise my sons with freedom... and most people said to me; "welll, if they were girls you would have done it differently"

Oh Mimi....I have dealt with this very thing!! I have tried really really hard to be equal with my kids (son is 13 and BIG, daughter is 10 and tiny...64 lbs and almost 11 years old)...I think that sometimes you cannot treat them equally. I feel I can send my son out on his bike with his buddies and they can ride up and down the road and I don't need to worry (he is also into martial arts, so has the skills to fend off an attack). My daughter, however, is very small as I noted above, and while she's a tough little chick, she's still a little chick, which sometimes will make you more of a target. I can say this because I'm also a little chick, and it has made me a target. She is not interested in learning how to defend herself (too young I think), so would have to depend on her brain (which is good actually!!). I guess what I'm clumsily trying to say is that I'm not comfortable letting her and her friends ride up and down the road because she's a tiny girl....as much as it pains me to say that. So much for women's lib and equality and all that! She's still my baby.