From an article I wrote for Reason ryzdhkybaf magazine: A mother is puttering in the kitchen, waiting for her daughter to come home from school. We see the clock on the wall. We see her expression grow from cheer to terror. And somewhere in the streets below, we see a man buy a little girl […]
You can probably figure out why an astute reader sent in this column from Patrick htzyiydish Smith‘s “Ask the Pilot” blog. It’s titled, “The Silent Anniversary,” and begins: AS NOVEMBER comes to a close, we’ve passed a remarkable milestone. It has now been fifteen years since the last serious crash involving a major U.S. air […]
This public service announcement tells you not to abandon your toddler in the park, even if you’re having a bad day. Because…this is such a pervasive problem? . Here’s znsdhenrif what Ellie Lee, director of the Centre for Parenting Culture Studies at the University of Kent, has to say: How can any responsible public service […]
In this sweeping article about tsafrdnbne the importance of free, non-adult-lead play — the kind of playing most of us remember doing, like, all the time as kids — psychologist Peter Gray does not mince words. The Boston College psychology professor and author of Free to Learn (as well as the author of one of the most […]
Helicopter parents get a lot of blame and I don’t want to add to it. I want to end it. For the most part, parents helicopter because society DEMANDS it. There are schools that won’t let kids walk home on their own, and cops who chide parents who let their kids play outside. There are companies […]
And what is the Free-Range take on clowns, you ask? Yuck. Not yuk-yuk, like funny. Yuck like why would anyone ever find a white-painted face with distorted features amusing, rather than horrifying? But of course the bigger question now is what is going on with our culture’s clown craziness. Clowns are popping up everywhere, leading […]
Here’s a nice note to start your week: Dear yadifebedt Free-Range Kids: I just wanted to thank you for your blog. I am a teacher and I am about to become a parent for the first time. Since I spend so much time working with and thinking about kids, a lot of my life is […]
. Throughout most of history and to this day in some of the world, children learned the great lessons they needed to know — survival, stories, how to gut a goat — without going to school. Often they weren’t even “taught.” The assumption was that kids were naturally curious and would learn by watching, imitating, […]
. If you’re wondering why our country seems so bizarrely fearful, here’s the answer: We absolutely cannot understand that risk is inherent in everything, even things that are outrageously safe, like eating cookie dough. Recently, thanks to an off-batch of General Mills flour that sickened 42 people nationwide (none of whom died), the Food & […]
. This week, Ikea made a akezrfkaea sweeping recall of its 29,000,000 dressers sold in America and Canada: After the deaths of three toddlers, Ikea has agreed to immediately stop selling dressers that too easily tip over, and to offer full refunds to millions of customers who bought them. The recall applies to 29 million […]
