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NEW YORK — A woman is charging New York City parents to allow their children to play unsupervised in parks, bringing national attention — and scrutiny — to the free-range parenting method she developed.
Lenore Skenazy, author of "Free-Range Kids: How to Raise Safe, Self-Reliant Children," told ABC News she believes parents should give children more freedom to play outside and worry less about crime and other dangers.
Skenazy's latest free-range parenting idea involves charging parents $350 to drop their children off at Central Park for unsupervised play time. She will be there to say "Hi," she said, but will then leave for a coffee shop a couple blocks away, taking a cellphone in case of emergencies.
"I ... hope to make playing seem at least as as legit and important as any of the other classes parents sign their kids up for. Because it is," she wrote on her website. "Time spent with other kids with no agenda, coach or trophies, is something fantastic for kids. It's also increasingly rare, as children's "free" time is scheduled, or at least supervised (sometimes up the wazoo)."
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The class, called "I Won't Supervise Your Kids," is open to children ages 8–18, because Skenazy says children rarely get a chance to play with children who are not their age. The hour-and-a-half class runs on Wednesdays until Nov. 7.
Skenazy became known nationwide after writing a blog post about allowing her 9-year-old son to ride the New York City subway alone.
She said she gave him a map, MetroCard, quarters for the phone and $20 for emergencies, left him in Bloomingdales near a subway station, and went home. Her son arrived 45 minutes later.
"I believed he'd be safe. I believed he could figure out his way," she wrote on her website. "And if he needed to ask someone for directions — which it turns out he did — I even believed the person would not think, 'Gee, I was about to go home with my nice, new Bloomingdale's shirt. But now I think I'll abduct this adorable child instead.'"
After writing a column for the New York Sun about the experience, Skenazy found herself being called "America's worst mom" and making appearances on major media outlets. The furor has died down since 2008, but Skenazy has once again found herself in the spotlight because of "I Won't Supervise Your Kids," with reactions ranging from support to anger to mere disbelief.
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