I wanted to relate a story that happened to me, Jenn, and Ansley Wednesday at the zoo. In the end, I'm gonna relate this to free range parenting.
We were all hanging around the hot dog stand, waiting in line to get some lunch. Ansley spoke to Charlie (who is 3), reached into her purse to get her wallet, and when she looked up, Charlie was gone. We all looked around for him, and when we didn't see him immediately, we started to get a little worried.
Now, let me be clear, Ansley was not letting a 3 year old have the run of the zoo. That wouldn't be free range; that would be stupid. And yet, children sometimes get lost. It happens A LOT, according to the zoo peopleguys.
So, we split up to look for him and to alert security that he was missing. He was gone for nearly 30 minutes, and let me tell you, we were pretty scared. In the end, a security peopleguy found him near the zoo train and brought him to us.
What I wanted to say was not that it is good and free range to let a 3 year old go all over the place in the zoo alone. We would never let that happen on purpose; we will be even more vigilant now, with Charlie and with our other babies. What I want to say is that the premise of free range parenting is right. The world is not a pit of evil pedophiles lurking behind every giraffe, waiting to grab up a cute little blond 3 year old. The world is filled with worried moms who helped us look and zoo employees who radioed his description and helped him get back to us.
It's not that a tragedy never happens. It's that a tragedy usually doesn't happen. I hope we never lose a child again, but if we do, I know that there is a nearly 100% chance that he will be safely found and returned to us by the decent people who populate the zoo and the rest of our neighborhoods.
