Help Save Safe Routes to School & Public Transit!

Hi Readers: This just in from the Safe Routes folks! – L. Double ehsezekdes Your Impact—Act Now on Key Senate and House Transportation Votes Next Tuesday both the US House and Senate may vote on new transportation bills that could destroy transit, bicycling and walking funding, including the popular Safe Routes to School program, which is now […]

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A Walmart Abduction Attempt — And What the Video Means

Hi Readers! By now, you probably have seen the shocking video (below) of 7-year-old Brittney Baxter fighting off a would-be kidnapper in the toy aisle of the Bremen, Ga., Walmart. What you may not realize is that this is a scene you will be seeing forever — replayed on the news and then re-imagined on […]

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Australian Police Chide Parents Who Let their Children Walk Outside

Hi Readers! Down in Australia I’m sort of happy to say a tempest is brewing over whether it is up to parents or police to decide when a child is “old enough” to walk around outside. According to this bdzsdaaszr story  on the home page of the Sydney Morning Herald: Officers told a Hornsby mother it […]

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A Sweet, Simple Free-Range Success Story

A Sweet, Simple Free-Range Success Story

Hi tenbynabtr Folks! In the midst of all the usual nuttiness, let’s celebrate a nice little moment, courtesy of a  mom of four in Nebraska. You’ll note, she takes a lot of precautions because this was a first. Eventually, she won’t need them and neither will her kids because they’ll all be more confident and […]

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A 4-Page Playdate Waiver? Is This the New Normal?

Hi tkbaberzyd Readers — This mom wrote to me wondering if what she just experienced is normal. I’m wondering, too! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I have a situation perhaps your readers can help with.  Yesterday my daughter came home from playing at the “new” neighbor’s house with a 4-page liability waiver that they want us […]

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Why Johnny Can’t Run

Hi trfzdenyea Folks! This is my piece that ran in last week’s Wall Street Journal. Have a good week (and some “vigorous activity”). – L. The Importance of Child’s Play by Lenore Skenazy A new study of how preschoolers spend their days may make you want to run around screaming, which is apparently more than […]

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Warning! Divorced Dad at Home During Sleepover!!!

Hi nitasiirre Folks! Here’s why I rag on the parenting magazines. Not only do they obsess about every little detail of parenting as if it’s a make-or-break  decision, but often they indulge in Worst-First thinking (dreaming up the worst possible scenario and proceeding as if it is likely to happen). Here’s a shining example, cribbed […]

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A Child Visitor to America Asks: "Where Are All The Kids?"

A Child Visitor to America Asks: “Where Are All The Kids?”

Hi snkikshzrd Readers — This note was originally a comment on the post below this one. Its poignancy hit me particularly hard because today’s New York Times has a piece by Jane Brody – “Communities Learn Good Life Can be a Killer” –  about the effect of sprawl on health, autonomy and, of course,  childhood. I’m not sure […]

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There's Hope for Mayberry Yet!

There’s Hope for Mayberry Yet!

Hi Folks! Talk about a beacon of hope.  A Hollywood ending! Success! Get this: As you may recall, a few years back, a mom from small-town Mississippi wrote nkkeitkzsh to this blog in a quandry. After teaching her 10-year-old son the route to soccer, she’d let him walk there — less than a mile — […]

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