Free-Range Parenting

When I heard my dad wasn’t going to be here on Monday (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day #Noschool), I immediately thought about all the video games we would play. But knowing my dad, I quickly thought about how he could make it just the opposite! He suggested that we try “going out” to Hudson’s by ourselves. Now I personally thought that was a great idea. 

He showed us a clip (below) of a news channel talking about free-range parenting. He told us to remember a lot of the things people said, how they looked at us, and overall how it felt. On top of that, he also suggested that we get haircuts because our mom was coming home from a trip. That gave me brief hesitation. But our dad booked our appointments and we went to bed, knowing the next day would be fantastic. 

As we were walking to Hudson’s people just thought we were taking a stroll. When we entered people didn’t give us weird looks. I assumed this was because they had all grown up going with friends or siblings to the arcade or any other place. We were treated like normal people who were buying a hamburger. I was glad it didn’t get weird. 

As we were exiting I remember someone saying, “Oh, are you guys having a brother lunch? That’s so cool!” Later, we walked to The Innovation Den to get our hair cut at Maverick’s Mens Hair. This was interesting because haircuts cost a lot of money whereas burgers are cheaper. We told them that our dad had sent us and they obviously wanted to get paid, so they did our haircuts. If there is one thing that I’ll say about free-range parenting, It’s that it’s awesome! 

-Alex (11)