Pint-size Naylan Patel, age 4, runs in the middle of a street in Orlando, Fla., to chase his tiny dog, Ireland — after dark, and by himself. He goes to sleep in his parents’ bed after midnight and swears without repercussions — even when he uses the F-word. He’ll toss a log as big as himself into a blazing fire and slice a lemon with a sharp kitchen knife. Patel’s mom and dad are adherents of free-range parenting, where kids learn by doing practically anything: It’s the polar opposite of helicopter parenting. Cut wood with an adult-size handsaw? Check. Pound nails with a hammer? Check. Canoe independently? Check. Any of those things would leave most parents terrified. “We try to bring back what we had as kids. We could be outside. We could climb trees,” Naylan’s 38-year-old dad, Nimesh Patel, tells The Post. “We used to come back with bumps and bruises all the time. Those things teach you.” Nimesh and Teena, Naylan’s mom, didn’t set out to be free-range parents — just parents, modeling their style after their own childhoods. “As a kid in the ’80s and ’90s, we could go two to three miles away from home,” says Nimesh, who grew up in Fort Myers, Fla. “It’s not a new concept. This generation has forgotten about it.” “Free-range parenting” was coined by Lenore Skenazy, who was dubbed America’s worst mom in 2008 for letting her 9-year-old take the subway home alone. The Manhattan mother then published the book and blog, “Free-Range Kids.” At a grocery store, Naylan pushes his own cart around without his parents hovering — or fretting that he’ll get kidnapped. “There aren’t a million predators to take your kid every day,” Nimesh says. “It’s as rare as being struck by lightning.” Teena, 40, grew up in Kenya, where she didn’t have many boundaries, either. After earning a psychology degree, she wanted to find a place where children and dogs could feel safe while engaging in uninhibited play. “As a mammal, when you are born, you are equipped with everything you are supposed to have to survive,” Teena explains. That place is A Barefoot Village, also in Orlando, which Teena founded and describes as an “outdoor school, dirty school, play school and forest kindergarten.” There, kids can roughhouse, ride a zipline, cut a watermelon with a knife and bounce on a wooden seesaw, a rarity on American playgrounds, which favor splinter-free plastic. “Everyone is so worried the kids will break,” says Nimesh, who stays home with Naylan and helps run Doglando, a back-to-nature dog-training center Teena founded in 2003. “Kids have been around for thousands of years. They don’t break.” Nimesh says he’s appalled at the way many parents keep such tight reins on their kids — or literally put them on a leash. “All of these helicopter parents used to run and play,” he says. “The freedom they had as a kid, they aren’t giving that to their children.” But they aren’t out to judge or convert anyone. “We can’t parent for you,” says Nimesh. “Just do you.” And let kids
Free-range parents let 4-year-old play with fire and curse like a sailor
Pint-size Naylan Patel, age 4, runs in the middle of a street in Orlando, Fla., to chase his tiny dog, Ireland — after dark, and by himself. He goes to sleep in his parents’ bed after midnight and swears without repercussions — even when he uses the F-word. He’ll toss a log as big as himself into a blazing fire and slice a lemon with a sharp kitchen knife. Patel’s mom and dad are adherents of free-range parenting, where kids learn by doing practically anything: It’s the polar opposite of helicopter parenting. Cut wood with an adult-size handsaw? Check. Pound nails with a hammer? Check. Canoe independently? Check. Any of those things would leave most parents terrified. “We try to bring back what we had as kids. We could be outside. We could climb trees,” Naylan’s 38-year-old dad, Nimesh Patel, tells The Post. “We used to come back with bumps and bruises all the time. Those things teach you.” Nimesh and Teena, Naylan’s mom, didn’t set out to be free-range parents — just parents, modeling their style after their own childhoods. “As a kid in the ’80s and ’90s, we could go two to three miles away from home,” says Nimesh, who grew up in Fort Myers, Fla. “It’s not a new concept. This generation has forgotten about it.” “Free-range parenting” was coined by Lenore Skenazy, who was dubbed America’s worst mom in 2008 for letting her 9-year-old take the subway home alone. The Manhattan mother then published the book and blog, “Free-Range Kids.” At a grocery store, Naylan pushes his own cart around without his parents hovering — or fretting that he’ll get kidnapped. “There aren’t a million predators to take your kid every day,” Nimesh says. “It’s as rare as being struck by lightning.” Teena, 40, grew up in Kenya, where she didn’t have many boundaries, either. After earning a psychology degree, she wanted to find a place where children and dogs could feel safe while engaging in uninhibited play. “As a mammal, when you are born, you are equipped with everything you are supposed to have to survive,” Teena explains. That place is A Barefoot Village, also in Orlando, which Teena founded and describes as an “outdoor school, dirty school, play school and forest kindergarten.” There, kids can roughhouse, ride a zipline, cut a watermelon with a knife and bounce on a wooden seesaw, a rarity on American playgrounds, which favor splinter-free plastic. “Everyone is so worried the kids will break,” says Nimesh, who stays home with Naylan and helps run Doglando, a back-to-nature dog-training center Teena founded in 2003. “Kids have been around for thousands of years. They don’t break.” Nimesh says he’s appalled at the way many parents keep such tight reins on their kids — or literally put them on a leash. “All of these helicopter parents used to run and play,” he says. “The freedom they had as a kid, they aren’t giving that to their children.” But they aren’t out to judge or convert anyone. “We can’t parent for you,” says Nimesh. “Just do you.” And let kids
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