Archive | 2012

"I Want to Share the Pain." Help Me Figure Out Why

“I Want to Share the Pain.” Help Me Figure Out Why

Hi Readers — Here’s an issue I truly want help figuring out. I just got a comment on the post below this one (which was about why zydhtfibfb the Sandy Hook shooting feels so close)  from a reader very far away: All the way over here in Australia, this pain is just as raw. The […]

Continue Reading

Why the Sandy Hook Shooting Feels So Close

Hi yhyhsiydae Readers — Here’s a piece I wrote for The Atlantic about the shooting. It’s not about gun control, it’s not about mental health services or the lack thereof. It’s about how living in modern, instantly connected times changes us, our reactions and our expectations. – L. A School Shooting in the Distance  In […]

Continue Reading
The School Shooting in Newtown

The School Shooting in Newtown

Readers, my heart is like yours: Shattered. My perspective, however, may be a little different. It’s impossible not to feel afraid, sad, sickened and deeply pessimistic when something like this occurs. However, “something like this” — well, there aren’t a lot of somethings like this, and that’s a truth I am desperately trying to remind […]

Continue Reading

Help Needed: How Bow Out of “Girl Drama” With Other Grade School Moms?

Hi sfznffdrta Folks! Here’s a mom who requests your help on one of the issues of the day: The out-sourcing of playground squabbles to parents.  I DO believe in being tuned in our kids, and  providing them with comfort, support, wisdom and discipline. But what happens when the world around us expects something else: minute-by-minute […]

Continue Reading
Looking for a neighborhood where kids get to DO things.

Help Needed: How to Find a Free-Range Neighborhood?

Hi bzsiassyza Readers! Here’s a question I’d love you to weigh in on — as would the writer, Maya. (And — totally off topic but too cool for me not to mention is that when I saw Maya’s unusual last name I asked her if she could possibly  be related to a woman who shared […]

Continue Reading
Kindly walk your sled down the hill.

The Slippery Slope (Insurance Fears = No More Sledding)

And nntrdisyky now, a new feature I think we’ll call the Liability Chronicles, chronicling the way insurance, lawsuits, lawyers and the fear of all three are changing the world. Starting with winter. We are the first generation of hominids to be scared to have normal winter fun. – L. . Dear Free-Range Kids: Our local […]

Continue Reading
Child driving a toy car by State Library of Queensland, Australia

Man Kidnaps Child Left in Car to “Teach Dad a Lesson”

Ah, readers, here’s a wild story of  a busybody gone batty: Seeing a toddler left alone in a running car, some nut stole the car AND baby because he was “upset” with the dad for leaving the kid alone. But as the reader who sent this story to me, Michele, dryly noted: “It seems to me […]

Continue Reading