In a world where we are now aware what “generational trauma” is and “helicopter parenting,” a growing number of parents are opting for something a little more…chill. Enter: free-range parenting, and yes, that’s what Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are embracing.
The celebrity couple, known for their unconventional parenting tips, recently shared that they are fans of this talked-about approach. But what exactly does it mean to raise kids “free-range?” (Chickens do come to mind when we hear this term.) Is it a fancy term for letting your children run wild? Not quite.
What is Free-Range Parenting?
In an episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast (via USA Today), he shared that he and Bell employ free-range parenting. He said, “Do whatever you want. I trust you, you know how to get home. You know how to flag a stranger. They’ve had really a ton of autonomy, I think, relative to other kids.”
During the episode, Shepard has social psychologist Jonathan Haidt as a guest. Haidt, who is the author of The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, lauded the couple’s parenting style. He explained that as parents, “The gut response is why should you take any risk. Whereas, if you think about it, you realize, ‘Wait, If I don’t train my child how to take risk … I’m creating a child who won’t be able to deal with the world’, and that’s what we’ve done.”
PsychCentral defined this parenting style as teaching your child the essential skills and allowing them “freedom based on their developmental level.” Parents who practice free-range parenting expose their children “to the world without direct supervision, forcing them to make their own choices and solve their problems.”
The term originated from a 2008 New York Sun article by Lenore Skenazy, who let her then-9-year-old son take public transit home. Skenazy, who wrote the book Free-Range Kids: How Parents and Teachers Can Let Go and Let Grow, and guested on Shepard’s podcast in 2020, said that “constant parental intervention is a ‘disempowering, distressing, demoralizing way to live.’”
She added, “There’s something lost to the kids when they are constantly under surveillance and constantly helped and assisted and supervised.”
Similar to other parenting styles, free-range parenting is not a “one size fits all” approach. It depends on the child’s personality, the environment (some states like Illinois and Oregon are not allowing children under the age of 10 to be left alone), and let’s face it, the parents’ anxiety level.
In the end, it’s not about raising little rebels and more about raising kids who know how to fend for themselves if and when a situation calls for it.
