Let them play

"If you’re over 35, you probably remember playing outside till the streetlights came on. But today, a lot of parents worry that if they let their kids play the old-fashioned way – spontaneously, unsupervised, with whoever’s available in the neighbourhood — their children will be bullied by kids older than them.

Here are six ways you can help them (and you!) put those fears in perspective:

1. Mixed-age play reduces bullying ...
2 A little discomfort is a good thing ...
3. Not all meanness is bullying ...
4. Fight jerks with 'social jiu-jitsu' ...
5: Teach The Three R’s [Recognise, Resist, Report]...
6. Ask: What kind of childhood do you want for them?

"Finally, have other parents to try to remember how much they loved playing as a kid.

"Then ask: 'Do you wish your mum was watching you the whole time? Do you wish she was in the tree house with you? Do you wish she was there when you were talking to your friends? Do you wish you were kept ‘safe’ by never having any unsupervised play time, so you’d never possibly deal with a bully?

"'If so, then do the same for your kids. But if you think you got something out of your time with friends, outside, playing and dealing with the inevitable conflicts, why not give that same gift to your kids?'

"And then…open the door."

~ Lenore Skenazy from her post 'Six Truths about Bullies and Bullying'