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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 26, 2025

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I seem to recall that free range parenting was heavily dunked, particularly by small-c conservative types, in the 90s as hippie bullshit where negligent parents were allowed to turn their kids into unsupervised, uncivilized little menaces that would go on to terrorize their fellow citizens without reprimand.

Was that about "free range parenting" or about other trends that promoted not disciplining children or letting them do whatever they want ("stress-free upbringing", "unschooling")? The only controversy I remember about "free rage parenting" was a mother that let her kid ride the NY subway on his own, to the horror of safetyists throughout the country. I don't recall the safetyists having a particular political lean.

To be fair I'm mostly referring to local discourses, I'm not sure if "vapaa kasvatus" that was the bugaboo referred to here is the exact same thing as free-range parenting even though it's a fairly close translation.

In any case I'd say it was less safetyism and more a concern about whether kids would be getting properly civilized and steered into proper members of the society.

It is not. What you’re describing sounds like hippie bullshit of the sort Americans would call ‘child led parenting’ or something of the sort. The stereotypical free range parent in America spanks their kids, expects chores, etc- either in a negative stereotype of being borderline neglectful, or in a positive stereotype of that’s how to train a child for extra independence.