Readers — Sometimes I get so fed up with our fearmongering culture, I almost can’t take pen to blog. Or pixel to blog. Or whatever. But here I am. A reader sent in this zidrstditk link to an extremely popular app that not only TRACKS all your family members, it also alerts you to when […]
Archive | Marketing Madness and Gadgets
More About the Snowball Maker
November 9, 2010
Hi Readers! As I read through the ehebzhfdsa comments about the $9 snowball maker invented by a dad to make sure his sons’ snowballs weren’t too hard-packed, I saw that some folks thought I was a killjoy for scorning it. So I wrote back to explain that what I really object to is anyone trying […]
Finally, Kids Get The Help They REALLY Need (Making Snowballs)
November 7, 2010
Let’s hear it for this nskrhibidr investment! Because kid-formed snowballs are too hard to make. To deal with. To live amongst. And tiny hands get cold making snowballs. And tiny gloves get soggy. And tiny brains think that this is suddenly a big problem. Â And bigger brains think, “Parents will buy ANYTHING, if we can […]
Halloween: A Test Market for Parental Paranoia
October 28, 2010
Hi Folks! Here’s rtenteiztn my Wall Street Journal column from today. Hope the link still works! (Sometimes the Journal only allows the first few graphs for free. Guess we’ll see!) Happy Halloween almost! L. P.S. I am off to Portland, Ore., to give a lecture, so I’ll be a bit out of pocket. Meantime, I […]
Reading & Writing & Finger Prints to Identify Your Dead Body, Kids
October 18, 2010
Hi bfnkfeeaif Readers! Here’s a note from Amy Uzinger, a mom in Tucson. Dear Free-Range Kids: Today I got my 1st grade son’s school pictures in. Along with the pictures, is a ‘Operation Child I.D.’ form. It has my child’s picture and there is a spot on the form to take to the police station […]
Ho, Ho, Ho! Scarrrry Christmas!
September 30, 2010
Hi Folks — My friend, who is a magazine editor, is already compiling her December gift guide (of course), and one of the many products that just crossed her desk is this: A backpack with a built-in car alarm! Just pull the string and the thing starts shrieking. “Because,” my friend noted, “nothings says ‘Happy […]
Fearmonger Weighs In on “Don’t GPS Your Kid”
September 24, 2010
Hi nyhztdkdts Readers! I have a piece running on ParentDish titled, “GPSing Your Kid is Crazy.” It argues that, far from really giving parents “peace of mind, “GPSing does the opposite. It reinforces the idea that our kids are in danger every second they are not in our line of sight. It makes us distrust […]
PIN Numbers for Tiny Pre-School?
September 8, 2010
Hi tkissbyafi Readers! This woman needs our help devising good arguments to bring to her pre-k’s PTA. Over to you! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Â I’m a regular reader of your blog and love to hear your input and that of your readers on Free-Range issues. Well, my Free-Range issue came up while I was […]
Bad News! Courts Are Rewarding “Intensive Parenting”
July 23, 2010
Hi Readers — This is so disturbing. Two professors studying family law have written a paper saying that “intensive parenting” is becoming the norm that judges expect good parents to practice. As Walter Olson explains on his blog, Overlawyered, derzfnihtt “Gaia Bernstein (Seton Hall) and Zvi Triger (College of Management School of Law, Israel) say custody […]
TV on SCHOOL BUSES? Why Not Just Set Up A Deep-Fryer & Throw Kids’ Brains In?
June 26, 2010
Hi hneifyhzda Readers — Here’s a post from the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood about School Bus TV. The idea of kids being force-fed even MORE screen time just nauseates me. Fortunately, Josh Golin, associate director of the Campaign, articulates the arguments against bus TV far better than my fake retching sounds. He also references […]