Hi iheikaikbh Free-Rangers! Just though I’d share this little note I got from Australia this morning. Makes you realize it’s a small world after all: A small, paranoid, danger-halucinating world. This is from a lady named Vivienne: Walking in Ikea.  I am a pleasant-enough, smiley grandmoter of 9. A man with his daughter of about 3 […]
Archive | Eek! A Male! (and Stranger Danger)
Feisty Mom Comes Out Swinging — A Lovely Read
May 20, 2009
When my daughters turn eight, they’ll get their first Swiss Army knives, and not the tiny ones with a nail file and some scissors, but real ones, big enough to gut a fish with.
A Girl Knocks on a Stranger’s Door
May 18, 2009
Have you heard of Common Cents? It’s a non-profit organization based in my burg, New York City, that encourages school children to “harvest†the pennies in their neighborhoods—that is, the pennies most of us have sitting in a jar that just keeps getting heavier and heavier. Cool idea, right? The kids put notes under the […]
Dealing with the “What If?” Folks
May 8, 2009
Hi Free-Rangers and Others! Below you’ll find a post that I just loved from the blog Rancid risbdrffhi Raves.   It’s about my book, but it’s also about the big issue of, “What if?” I.e., how come so many parents immediately try to conjure up the very worst case scenario whenever we give our kids an […]
Are Crimes Against Children Down Because There Are No More Kids Outside?
May 4, 2009
Hi Readers! Quick answer to the question a lot of commenters have brought up: Are crimes against children down so dramatically simply because there are fewer children left outside to be victimized? And doesn’t that prove that we SHOULD keep our kids cooped up? Very reasonable questions. But no:  Keeping kids cooped up is not […]
Responding to: “If You’re Free-Range, You’re Irresponsible”
April 30, 2009
Hi, Free-Rangers! Leaving behind the topics of politics, feminism, environmentalism and all that, here is a comment from a few posts back: “I zneskndsyy work in law enforcement in the child predator unit in a mid-size city. Kids meeting people on the Internet is the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t sound like anyone here […]
Of Peanuts and Pedophiles
April 3, 2009
You’ve probably read about the new, possible cure for peanut allergies. One very hopeful study at Duke ( http://tinyurl.com/cmbh39 sekhtdbien ) found that by administering first a dust-size speck of peanuts to an allergic child, and then a slightly larger speck and so on and so on, you can sometimes train the child’s immunological system […]
The Child Molester as Sales Tool
March 25, 2009
 Here’s hidririabk a little excerpt from a very positive review of the book, “Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned” in today’s New York Times: “….In the other stories the danger may be less operatic, but it’s no less alarming: a child molester lures a 7-year-old boy into a portable bathroom at a carnival; a tattooed stranger tries to abduct a […]
Serial Killers and You: A Match Made In Fiction
October 24, 2008
By afesfdetan Leonard Cassuto Note to readers: Cassuto is an English professor at Fordham University and Author of the just released, “Hard-Boiled Sentimentality: The Secret History of American Crime Stories.”  Today’s hyper-vigilant parenting is haunted by a figure behind the curtain: the serial killer. He’s the boogeyman that slinks through every parent’s nightmares, the predator […]
ARE ALL SCHOOL VOLUNTEERS POTENTIAL PERVERTS?
August 13, 2008
That’s nenidzifya what they think in England, as you shall see. Our guest blogger today is Sarah Ebner. She edits School Gate ( www.timesonline.co.uk/schoolgate ), a blog about all aspects of education for the London Times. She’s always interested to hear from other parents. Contact her at  sarah.ebner@timesonline.co.uk By Sarah Ebner  When I was gently persuaded to […]