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'America's worst mom' comes to B.C.

'America's worst mom' comes to B.C.

A woman who has been dubbed "America's worst mom" is in the B.C. Interior this week spreading her free-range parenting message.

In 2008, Lenore Skenazy found herself in a media storm after she sent her nine-year-old son to ride the New York City subway by himself.

"I live in new York city and we're on the subways all the time. It's how we get around," said Skenazy to Daybreak South host, Chris Walker. "Our son had been asking my husband and me if we would take him someplace he had never been before and let him find his own way home. And we decided yes! We believe in our son and we believe in the subways."

Skenazy found herself being called "America's worst mom" as media outlets around the world quickly picked up her story.

Almost nine years later, "I'm still surprised by the reaction," she said.

Since that time, Skenazy has forged a career as an author, blogger and public speaker who encourages parents to let their kids do things on their own without constant adult supervision.

World no more dangerous today

Skenazy says that statistically speaking, the world today is no more dangerous for kids than it was 30 or 40 years ago. What has changed, is people's perception of danger.

"When I was growing up there wasn't the 24-hour news cycle. There wasn't a stack of books telling parents exactly how to raise their kids," she said.

"Somehow we've gotten to this weird point where if something bad happens to any child anywhere in the Western world we hear about it and we're told here's how to prevent it."

Skenazy says the constant exposure to negative news stories and parenting advice stokes parents fears and "the only thing that breaks the fear is reality."

She recommends parents try to break through the fear by sending their kids out to do something familiar by themselves, llike riding their bike to a friend's house or walking to school.

"These things that we've really stopped letting kids do because the what-ifs are so gigantic in our brains," she said. "If you do it just once, you're going to be so proud when the kid gets back."

Skenazy's is giving a talk in Kelowna on Tues. Jan. 24 in the UBC Okanagan ballroom at 7 p.m. Admission is free but registration is required.

She is also speaking at the Kelowna Rotary Centre for the Arts on the evening of Jan. 23 but that talk is sold out.

On Wed. Jan. 25, Skenazy is in Salmon Arm for a free talk at 6:30 p.m. at Salmon Arm Secondary, Sullivan Campus. Registration is required.

On Thurs. Jan. 26, she is in Kamloops, where she will give talks at the Henry Grube Centre at 12:30 p.m. and the Sandman Centre at 6:30 p.m.

With files from CBC Radio's Daybreak South

For more CBC stories from the Interior of British Columbia visit CBC Kelowna

To listen to to the full interview, click on the audio labeled:'America's worst mom' comes to Kelowna