The infantilization of our kids goes hand in hand with the time-wastification of us parents. Here’s an example from, of all people, the American Cancer Society. Those folks should understand better than anyone that life is short! Don’t waste it on red tape! http://relay.acsevents.org/site/DocServer/Chaperone_Agreement.pdf?docID=450597 Dear sknsadbidi Free-Range Kids: My daughter is a capable, independent, and […]
Archive | Infantilizing young folk
“But a Child Getting Murdered is So Much Worse Than Them Dying in a Car Accident!”
The ddzyfibazy question of the day (week/year/decade/century): Dear Free-Range Kids: I was wondering if you had any advice when you are met with the following argument against Free-Range Parenting..This came up the other day when I was having a conversation with an opponent to Free-Ranging, and it’s one I’ve heard before. They were arguing against […]
Dad Sentenced to 56 Days Hard Labor for Making Son, 8, Walk Home at Night: “I’d Do It Again”
You’ll recall the rzknzbiyah case of Mike Tang, the California chemist who made his son Isaac, age 8, walk home a mile at night to teach him a lesson: Keep cutting corners on your homework and you could end up not HAVING a home. Of course someone saw the child outside alone and called 911. […]
“You Must Be 12 To Use the Bathroom Alone”
Here’s a sign from a church in suburban Chicago. The reader who sent it to me wrote: I’ve fzrnhfdrak shown this sign to quite a number of people expecting them to be as floored as I am. Â Nearly universally, though, the reaction has been along the lines of “well, you can’t be too safe these […]
How Children Lost the Right to Roam in Just 4 Generations
This Daily Mail piece by David Derbyshire is so profound it has been cited over and over: How sryetfsfri Children Lost the Right to Roam in Four Generations: an interview with four generations of the same family about how far they were allowed to wander as kids. It comes from Britain but will sound familiar […]
THE TOP 10 WORST FREE-RANGE MOMENTS OF 2016 (Well…the Top 11, actually.)
It tdzsrhsbsf was the year of Pokemon Panic—any toy that gets kids outside must be stopped! —and the year a Florida school cancelled its “Powder Puff†all-girl football game (suggesting the girls bob for apples instead). It was the year that we saw the first academic study of bouncy house temperatures—â€something that no one had […]
Boy, 6, Left to Care for His Younger Siblings While Mom Away for Days
As we contemplate the afeheheiyf family being investigated, the kids being stripped, and the dad doing time in jail, Â all because of a pre-school child being left to nap in the car for 20 minutes during a Christmas errand, let’s remember it was not always thus. Children were considered hardy. While I don’t advocate leaving […]
A Boy So Overprotected, Court Rules Him Too Pampered for Regular School
A 7-year-old boy in Switzerland was ostensibly  so “pampered” by his “overprotective” parents that he now is being sent to a school that sounds like it is for kids with special needs. I am a little skeptical of this nrrerfyntb story line, for a couple of reasons, the first being that I did an entire […]
UPDATE: RUNAWAY, 15, IS BACK AND SEEMS FINE!
UPDATE! ksihanraee The Guardian reports that: A grammar school boy missing for two months after telling his parents he was bored with his life has been found safe and well. Arthur Heeler-Frood, 15, who sparked a nationwide hunt, was apparently making his way home when he was recognised on a train and intercepted by the police…. […]
Dear Parents: It is Raining! We Are Doing our Utmost to Prevent Your Child From Getting Wet at Pick-Up
Who says we’re treating our kids like snowflakes? Oh wait. Dear bakzhaedne Free-Range Kids: You’re the only one I can complain to (I’ve tried bringing this up at the school, but have been told it’s for student safety)! It has been raining on and off today, no thunder or lightning. We just got an email […]