Readers — Spread this video! http://youtu.be/9OgP1zc5kZI Here are the facts about strangers dshdndbhry poisoning candy. And yet, TRY to find a TV station or newspaper that doesn’t tell parents: “Always check your child’s candy and throw out any unwrapped items.” Meantime, many, many thanks to Ezra Horne who edited this video for us! Here’s his […]
Search results for "halloween"
Best, Funniest (Which Sort of Means Saddest) Halloween Column I’ve Read So Far
Here sntynfhbyr it is, from Glenn Garvin at The Miami Herald, “Scared Out of Our Wits by Halloween,” detailing how we can make ANYTHING into a danger — candy, costumes, childhood, fun. An equal opportunity for all different factions to fight for the “safety” Â of our children!
Sex Offenders and Halloween
Hi kbfsttyenh Folks! This piece comes to us from a gal who uses the pseudonym Shelly Stow when she writes about sex offenders at her blog Justice for All, where this post comes from. Shelly is a member of Reform Sex Offender Laws, a group that tries to keep our fears for our kids from corroding […]
A Halloween / Sandy Story You’ll Love
Hi rtzienybyt Readers. Have a great weekend. Here’s to letting our kids go out in the neighborhood.- L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Well here in N.J., Halloween, as per governor’s orders, is postponed till Monday and on Halloween itself I told my kids, who took the news with amazing grace. Our friends had lost their homes, […]
“What If You’re Not There and Your Child Gets Hurt?” A Halloween Mis-hap…and A Halloween Revolution!
Hi zeaebstnib Folks! Two stories for you. Here’s the one to remember when folks start “What If”- ing your decision to send your kids outside to play or walk to school or do pretty much anything without you. One question I always get is, “Well what if they get HURT and you’re not there?” Here’s […]
Happy Halloween and a Note from New York
Hi Folks! I am at a friend’s apartment, borrowing her internet connection. I live in New York City — Queens — which was hit hard by Sandy, but my neighborhood was not severely affected. I wish everyone could say the same. Anyway, for those  not dodging downed power lines,  it’s a great day for the […]
Let’s Kill the “Kids Get Poisoned on Halloween!” Myth
Hi Readers! I don’t know about you, but I let my kids eat their Halloween candy without my inspecting it. In fact, they can eat any homemade treats or apples they get, too. (Ha! Like they’d ever eat an apple on Halloween.) If you also happen to trust the world not to be poisoning your […]
Halloween: The Day We Test-Market New Parental Fears
Hi ntdbttraif Readers! Here’s my Wall Street Journal column from last year, slightly edited, about today’s holiday. Boo! — L STRANGER-DANGER AND THE DECLINE OF HALLOWEEN, by Me! Halloween is the day when America market-tests parental paranoia. If a new fear flies on Halloween, it’s probably going to catch on the rest of the year, […]
Occupy Halloween! Hand Out HOMEMADE Treats This Year!
Hi Readers — It occurs to me that maybe the best way to fight Halloween paranoia is with cookies. Start with the fact that there hbhhsfitba has NEVER been a case of children poisoned by a stranger’s candy on Halloween. That’s according to University of Delaware sociologist Joel Best, who has studied the urban myth […]
Making Up Halloween Fears
Hi rkyashykhy Readers! Sometimes I think that in our uber-safe society, poor scribes are locked in a room and told they can’t come out until they dream up some new worry — no matter how far-fetched — to caution folks about. (My current fave is the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s apple bobbing cautions, below.) […]