I had to laugh when I saw the comment about pinched fingers....none of our lower cupboards have doors on them, with the exception of a single bank of drawers. Our 19-month old has gotten his fingers pinched in them more than once and pays absolutely zippo attention to the cupboards.
If letting kids learn and develop their skills their with a minimum of interference and with an appropriate amount of guidance (and prudence) is the definition of free range, then we're all over it. Who's got time to hover? We all fell down and explored and came looking for help when we needed it as kids. I've got a neighbour whose 7-year old still has training wheels on her bike because the parent doesn't think she's capable of riding a bike without them.
We're also trying to figure out how to get down to a single income (which a lot of people can't understand), and we're getting better at growing and preserving our own food. People think we're nuts for taking one night a week to drive around to all of our locally sourced farms for our weekly groceries, but hey, we know it's clean food, locally grown, and as a bonus, no taxes, middle men, or inflated prices due to price settings and controls.
