Free-Range Kids

Lenore Skenazy, author of "Free-Range Kids," has proposed this upcoming Saturday as "Take Our Children to the Park...and Leave Them There Day." The idea is that we take our school-aged children to the park with other similarly-aged playmates and leave them there (with instructions not to leave with any strangers...duh) for a set period of time, whether half an hour or an entire morning. What a brilliant idea!

While I may not practice this exercise on Saturday, I am already giving my 6 and 8 year olds more freedom to roam, and anticipate giving them even more freedom when summer vacation begins next week (yes, next week!). For a couple of years, they have been free to run down the alleyway behind our home to the neighbor's home at the other end of the alleyway to see if their friends are available to play. And they have roamed and explored the backyards of the vacant home next door and the mostly vacant triplex on the other side of us for years, as well. (If this doesn't sound that daring, keep in mind that we live in an urban neighborhood with tons of cut-through car traffic, as in 3,000 cars drive past our home each day, and we're a short walk from the nearest subway station. For years, we have also had a homeless guy, "Jake," living in one of our neighborhood parks. Because of this car and pedestrian traffic, I have friends who won't let their children play in their backyard alone unless it is fully fenced.)

Last summer, in the kid/dog/mom paradise that is Monteagle Assembly, TN (speed limit 14), my then 7 year old was allowed to pretty much free-range the entire gated community during our three week stay. He would bike himself from my parents' cottage to morning "games" (think dodgeball, kickball, and capture the flag, with youth staff to coordinate and oversee) and bike himself home two hours later for lunch. He was allowed to bike around the neighborhood in the afternoons with his friends and cousin. And get this -- the neighborhood pool allows children ages 6 and up to swim without their parents in attendance at the pool as long as the child passes a basic swimming test! I didn't send my son to the pool unattended last summer, but I may consider it this year. Think of the confidence this age and neighborhood-appropriate freedom builds.

With the addition of a super energetic puppy to our family this past fall, I have had to leave the kids unattended at home and the park out of necessity. One of our wonderful neighborhood parks is particularly hilly, with a playground perched at the top of a hill, unofficial dog park below, and ponds and Japanese garden on the far end (a 3-5 minute walk from the playground). I have left the kids at the playground while I let the dog off leash down the hill and walked him to the pond end of the park for exercise and swim time.

There is another less-manicured park in our neighborhood called "The Dell." It is a linear, secluded park with grass on one side, a creek in the middle, and hilly trails on the other side. I routinely leave the kids playing in the creek or swinging on the rope swing while I walk the puppy on the trails above. If you cross a street from one end of "The Dell," you enter a third neighborhood park, with grassy area on one end and a playground and tennis courts at the opposite end. I can easily see myself leaving the kids on the playground this summer while I walk the puppy across the street and into The Dell for off-leash fun.

At home, I make a point to exercise the puppy twice while the kids are at school -- typically a long walk that includes off-leash time in a neighborhood park or a drive to a nearby nature preserve for hiking and swimming, right after the kids leave for school, and a less strenuous but still substantial walk after lunch. I need to walk the dog a third time in the late afternoon/early evening when the kids are home, and -- please don't flame me -- I typically walk him around our long hilly block while I leave the kids at home playing happily or watching tv. (Waiting 'til hubby gets home isn't an option since he either gets home close to 7 when we're sitting down to eat, or is traveling for work during the week.) I leave a key in the front door lock for the kids so they can let themselves out in case of emergency, and they know where my cell phone number is written down, and can dial it. I can do the walk in 10-12 minutes, or less time if I jog.

As I head out for yet another dog walk...

here's to giving our kids more of the freedom we enjoyed as kids!

Attention Walmart shoppers

Yesterday I shopped in a Walmart for the first time in YEARS. I needed white t-shirts for the kids' classmates to sign on autograph day, and it occurred to me while passing by the store on the way home from the auto repair shop that I could likely pick up a multi-pack for cheap ($6.45 for 5, in fact.) It was an alternate universe where no one I saw in the parking lot brought their own bags (except me). And the nail salon I spied from the checkout line prominently advertised their "gel" and "fill" prices. (I guess no one gets a regular mani/pedi there?)

The last time I shopped Walmart I was completely repulsed by their grocery offerings. This time, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find some of my favorite Kashi, Cascadian Farm, and Stonyfield Farm products, with good prices to boot. But no organic produce, at least not in the Chamblee, GA location. (Query whether the urban Walmart closer to my home stocks organic produce.) I may now add Walmart to my regular shopping rotation to buy things I normally buy elsewhere, at low prices.

I still refuse to shop Costco or Sam's Club. I'm just not a "buy in bulk" type of gal. My short-lived experiment with bulk shopping ended tragically years ago, when I bought cat food in bulk, stored it in our furnace room, and attracted every rat in the 'hood to our home for a feast.

On that lovely closing note, are you a Walmart shopper? What do you buy there?

Kid Graffiti

Last week I took the Parsons chair that we use as a desk chair to the upholstery store for reupholstering. I needed a replacement desk chair so I grabbed a slipcovered chair from the dining room. When I took the slipcover off, I found this little stick figure drawn on the seat cover underneath:




I think it was drawn in pencil. I wonder what was going through my child's mind when he/she decided to draw on the fabric? Probably the same thing that was going through my mind when I was a child and drew on the side of my mattress in marker and then signed the drawing with my sister's name.

Along the same lines, a year or so ago, I found this bit of kid graffiti on the painted wood siding on the rear of our home. It must have been done in black Sharpie since it has not washed off and is immune to the Magic Eraser. I call this piece "The Planter's Peanut Guy." Bears a resemblance, no?

My Dog Has His Own Apartment

We bought our 1920 Colonial Revival seven years ago, when our son was a toddler. His sister was born the next year. We live on the top two floors of our home, and the terrace level contains two small apartments, which we have used for overflow housing for out-of-town guests (we also have a separate carriage house for guests) and have occasionally rented to law student interns in the summertime and other grad students during the school year.

We always intended to gut the apartments to make more living space for our family of four. In a variation on "if you build it they will come," we have begun to empty out the apartment spaces in the hopes that empty apartments will equal first step to terrace level renovation. After Christmas, the power company hauled off the energy inefficient apartment refrigerators and sent us a nice rebate check. A couple of weeks ago, we donated most of the furniture to the refugee ministry at our church. As a result, we now have two mostly empty spaces.

We also have a super high energy eight month old Boykin Spaniel, who is gated into the kitchen when I am not out spending hours every day walking him. My ongoing dilemma when friends and playdates come over is what to do with the puppy. Last week when I was making plans for my daughter's 6th birthday party at our home, it occurred to me that the larger, one-bedroom apartment was the perfect place to put puppy. I moved his crate, cot, toys, and food and water bowls down there, and he had plenty of space to rest and play while the party took place upstairs. If he trashes the carpet or gnaws on the baseboards, who cares? If the apartment is dirty, dated, and devoid of furniture, he certainly doesn't care! It worked out well, and I used it again yesterday morning when I met with our architect, which was a vast improvement over the prior week's meeting, when puppy sat under the kitchen table gnawing on some sort of Himalayan yak cheese thing, and pooting on a very regular and smelly basis. (I later thought, "You know you've chosen the right architect when you can meet with him while your dog poots under the table without being 100% completely mortified.")

P.S. Stay tuned for the next installment in the series, My Pets' Real Estate: My Cat has Her Own Screened Porch.

It's What's for Dinner (or Breakfast)

Spotted this pretty rooster in a Midtown parking lot recently. And then I saw these two chickens strolling down my neighbor's driveway yesterday.

Bear in mind that I live in the Urban Deep South, spitting distance from the Midtown skyline.

Fresh eggs, anyone?