Mum says she lets 'free-range' children drink coffee and go barefoot in public
Mason Jones
Featured Image Credit: SWNS
While some parents like to run a tight ship with their kids, others let them figure it out for themselves a bit more.
Like this mum, who lets her 'free-range' youngsters shave their heads, go barefoot and eat sand:
Mara Doemland, 29, goes barefoot herself as much as she can and gives her children - Emmy, nine, Murphy, seven, Ripley, five, and Indy, two - the option to do the same if they wish.
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She also encourages her kids to play out in the rain and doesn’t dictate what they eat.
While it might seem a little chaotic to some, Mara and her partner, Christopher Mareth, 36, believe that their parenting style allows them to learn life lessons.
The mum, from Corpus Christi, Texas, US, said: “I’m a barefoot person and have strong feet.
“I let my kids go barefoot if they want unless the pavement is too hot.
“Emmy and Indy love to be barefoot.
“I let them drink coffee if they want to try it but they don’t drink it like adults do.
“They're not doing shots of espresso all day."
When it comes to sharing, Mara thinks it’s important for the kids to have time to themselves if they want to.
“If one of my kids is playing with something and another other wants to play too, we don’t make them share if they don’t want to.
“We have taught them phrases such as ‘give me space'.
“As adults we don’t always want to share things so I don’t think it’s something that kids should have to do.”
In what is probably a steep learning curve for her little ones, they're also not discouraged from munching on things like sand.
“Kids always put things in their mouth so I don’t stop them eating sand so they can work out for themselves that it’s not something to eat,” she said.
“They’ll spit it out again and say ‘yucky’.
“They’ll probably do it a few times before they learn.
“I’d rather they learn rather than be fearful and scared of it.”
Mara said she built her own 'free-range' style of parenting after having Emmy at just 19.
“I was mean and had no patience when I first had Emmy,” she said.
“I don’t agree with restricting food for my kids.
“I don’t want them to have a negative relationship with food.
“I make sure all food is available for them which doesn’t categorise certain food as ‘special’ or a treat.
“It actually stops them craving sweet things if it is all available to them.”
Mara and Christopher also encourage their children to dress how they want.
“We want them to be comfortable and wear what makes them happy,” Mara said.
“Emmy has her head shaved and is only wearing black and oversized clothes at the moment.
“We let our boys wear dresses if they want to.
“It’s what they like.”
While the free-range parenting style might not suit every household, this family looks to be having plenty of sand-eating barefooted fun together.