Free Range Kids in Film

Remembering childhood as it should be now.

• • 1
  • Oct 22
  • Author

  A Christmas Story  (1983) is an American Christmas comedy film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author Jean Shepherd, including material from his books In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories. It was directed by Bob Clark. The film has since become a holiday classic and is known to be shown numerous times on television during the Christmas season, usually in a 24-hour marathon.

  The film is set in the city of Hammond, Indiana in the 1940s. Nine-year-old Ralphie Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: “an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time.” Between run-ins with his younger brother Randy and having to handle school bully Scut Farkus, and his “toadie” Grover Dill, Ralphie does not know how he will ever survive long enough to get the BB gun for Christmas.
  

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story

  This movie plays constantly on TV during the holiday season. Since it is obviously a favorite, let’s take some time to examine how is a free range kid film.  I love how Ralphie and his brother wait in line to see Santa by themselves while their parents shop in the store. Nowadays, people drag their children through the mall, wait in an endless line with their kids to see Santa only to be harassed to buy an over-priced picture to commemorate the “happy” experience. Malls have missed out on what the department stores of the past knew: Santa is an opportunity to trap parents in the store for more shopping. But I digress, Ralphie walks to school and back on his own. At recess, the kids are unsupervised in the freezing cold weather while their teacher takes a much-needed break. When a kid learns a lesson about cold flag pole and his tongue, the teacher is not fired for negligence. Furthermore, when Ralphie gets a low grade on an assignment, his parents do not step in to “right the injustice.” In the end when Ralphie gets the BB gun, he is allowed to play with it by himself despite a few risks.

  
  

  

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About

Inspired by the book Free Range Kids by Lenore Skenazy

http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/



This is my attempt to show the world that kids playing outside alone and doing things on their own, despite some small risks, was once the norm. It is my hope to recapture childhood from fear-mongering adults by showing different film depictions of childhood as it should be.

Why do this? I have a daughter. We live in Plano, Texas which was called the safest city in the US by Forbes magazine recently. I don’t want her to fear the world just because adults are too afraid to let her experience it.

Yes, I know bad stuff happens. 17 years ago, Ashely Estelle (age 7) was abducted and killed near our neighborhood. I used to babysit one of the girls murdered in the infamous Yogurt Store murders in Austin in the 1990s.

These stories are tragic and scary, but they are also over-reported in the media because it glues viewers to the TV which, in turn, sells products.

I don’t want to let fear guide my child’s life in the “safest city in America.”

I am not selling my daughter’s childhood to TV fear-mongering.

So take some time to remember what it was like for you to walk down your street by yourself, or go to the store, or ride your bike to the park. The world is safe despite what your TV tells you. The kids in the films are here to remind you.

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