Local 'free-range' parents reveal why they give their children such extraordinary freedom
COVINGTON, Washington -- Are you a helicopter mom? Or would you consider yourself a “free-range parent”?
The concept of free-range parenting is making headlines after a family in Maryland let their 6 and 10-year-old kids go to the park alone. A “concerned citizen” called the police, getting CPS involved and separating kids from their parents for hours.
In Maryland you can leave your child home alone at 8-years-old. In the state of Washington, there’s no law about children being left alone. The only guideline from DSHS is that they shouldn’t be younger than 10.
Scott Sciuchetti, from Covington, Washington, says he doesn’t love the label, but he says he’s been a free-range parent for years.
“It sounds like chickens, but more on the free-range side. I figure you need to give the kids responsibility when they’ve earned it. It’s part of parenting to teach them to be responsible adults.”
His oldest daughter, Gabi Sciuchetti, says this freedom is what encouraged her to start college at 13-years-old. Now she is a 15-year-old Sophomore at the University of Washington.
“I don’t think I would have been able to achieve anything, like I have, without very much freedom.”
Freedom for Gabi started at a young age. She was allowed to go the store, the park and the playground without her parents. Often with her little brother in tow.
When she was thirteen she began riding the light rail, train and bus alone, commuting up to an hour and a half by herself.
Her dad, Scott, says if he had been a helicopter parent, she wouldn’t have been so successful.
“Getting her and my son to learn what the world’s really like, how to make good decisions, and if I’m there hovering over them all the time, then they won’t figure things out for themselves.”
Critics say kids are snatched up, raped or hurt by strangers every day, which is why someone might call the cops on a child or a teen who is alone.
Scott says, “You might get struck down by lightening tomorrow, come down with some sort of disease, whatever, there’s those sorts of risks everywhere.”
Gabi admits that independence can be scary at times and she has run into trouble on her commutes.
“There have been lots of scenarios where people have tried to talk to me on the train, or talk to me on the bus, that I’m not completely comfortable with.”
But she says her parents have prepared her for the unexpected.
“Part of the really great things about the way my parents raised me is that I’m self-sufficient enough to say, ‘okay, I’m uncomfortable, here’s a way I can deal with this’ or ‘I can go talk to the bus driver.’ Or move away. Or switch buses.”
But she does agree, she isn’t ready for anything.
“Well I don’t know that my parents would agree with that, and I don’t know if I would agree with that universally to any situation, but I think in most situations, I have a way that I could get help if I needed to.”
Tracy Cutchlow, a parent and local Seattleite, answered viewers’ free-range parenting questions on Q13 Fox This Morning. She wrote an article for the Washington Post, “Would you call 911 on other parents?”. Her approach brings family and community to the forefront of how to handle a situation where you, as a parent, might feel uncomfortable, and how to help.
For more parenting advice, Tracy check out her website ZeroToFive.net