Hi Readers! Over at the Huffington Post today you can read about a bunch of 2012 Free-Range Kids FAILS, including the stories of  parents in two different states arrested for letting their kids play outside unsupervised. (Only one did jail time.) Thanks to Lisa Belkin for requesting the round up! Meantime, a few weeks back [...]

Filed under: Creating Community, Insurance repercussions, Miscellaneous, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies | 17 Comments »

Just how dangerous is the library when it comes to kids? Apparently too dangerous to have any of them under the age of 12 anywhere on the premises unsupervised — even if their parents are just a room away. Or so goes the reasoning at the Boulder, CO, public library, which sent this letter, in [...]

Filed under: Bad Laws, Rules and Verdicts, Infantilizing young folk, Miscellaneous, Stupid Advice, Uber Safety, Walk to School / Stay Home Alone / Wait in Car, Worst-First Thinking | 127 Comments »

Hi Readers — I don’t pretend that these parents are anything other than off-the-charts weird. But they do give a glimpse at the furthest reaches of helicopter-dom,  in that they sent their daughter off to college but continued to drop in on her unannounced — despite the 600 miles that should have separated them — even [...]

Filed under: Crazy Parents, Miscellaneous | 66 Comments »

Hi Readers — A few posts back, I asked you to send in the changes, if any, your schools were making in the wake of Sandy Hook. This one is the strangest. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: I heard from a friend today who went to her first grader’s holiday concert. Not only were they [...]

Filed under: Bad Laws, Rules and Verdicts, Breaking news, Media Madness, Miscellaneous, School and Zero Tolerance and Bullies, Uber Safety | 56 Comments »

Hi Readers! Normally I write about how we should avoid Worst-First Thinking — thinking up the WORST case scenario FIRST and proceeding as if it’s likely to happen, immediately. But in this case, I was wrong! Look at what happened to this reader’s family just last night! Dear Free-Range Kids: There’s a jolly stranger sneaking in [...]

Filed under: Eek! A Male! (and Stranger Danger), Fun, Miscellaneous | 29 Comments »

Hi Folks! Here are some thoughts, culled from your comments, that resonated for me. – L. My sympathies go out to the parents and families. I cannot imagine what they must be going through. On the other hand, I have heard as much as I want to hear about it. Evil exists in this world [...]

Filed under: Breaking news | 61 Comments »

Hi Folks! This cartoon comes to us from Russia, which apparently has some similar issues to the United States, when it comes to authorities deciding whether parents are “good” enough. Small world! – L.   Knock knock.  

Filed under: Bad Laws, Rules and Verdicts, Child Protective Services, Fun, Miscellaneous, Other Places Other Eras | 19 Comments »

Hi Readers — Believe it or not, this isn’t even a post about Sandy Hook. It’s about Tony Hawks and a photo he posted of himself skateboarding as he swung his 4-year-old daughter, who was not wearing a helmet. I believe in helmets. I love them. I make my kids wear them. But I do [...]

Filed under: Crazy Parents, Miscellaneous, Stupid Advice, Uber Safety | 57 Comments »

Hi Readers — I found myself nodding along with almost every word of this post, by Jennifer Murch, a homeschooling mom of four  on five acres near Harrisonburg, VA.  You can find more of her musings and lots of recipes at her blog, Mama’s Minutia. - L Self-Care I first started writing this post in my [...]

Filed under: Breaking news, Creating Community, Miscellaneous, Worst-First Thinking | 39 Comments »

Readers — This is PRECISELY and I mean PRECISELY what I feared might happen, post Sandy. First of all, there is the way we are almost ENCOURAGED to believe that if some children are hurt, somewhere, sometime, now all children are in danger, everywhere, all the time. Second, there is the ease with which some [...]

Filed under: Breaking news, Creating Community, Media Madness, Miscellaneous, Stupid Advice, Uber Safety | 66 Comments »