Hi dzdhfndezt Readers! Wish I’d written this one! Some of the lyrics: Everything Is Dangerous by Tom Smith Your kid can get salmonella from his new pet turtle, Buckle your seat belt or through the windshield you will hurtle, You can choke on anything not bigger than your head, Everything is dangerous, so how come […]
Mom Ordered to Clean Child’s Chalk Drawings off Ground :(
Hi frnnafhbek Readers — Here’s a bit of a blog post by a mom from Ottawa. Read it and grrrr: I’m still a bit mad about this so if I sound angry, just know I am. Yesterday my neighbours complained about my daughter’s chalk drawings on the ground. The agent from our condo’s property management […]
Keeping Score — Literally (And a Song!!!)
Hi Readers! A friend just wrote to tell me he was dismayed to learn that at his local grammar school the kids play soccer but don’t keep score. Why not? Because this way, “Everybody wins.” Or nobody wins, of course.  If  losing a schoolyard soccer game is too traumatizing for kids, imagine what’ll happenwhen they […]
Crazy Safe!Gov’t Recalls MACHETE as “Laceration Hazard”
This is ever so slightly off-topic (except that it highlights our societal assumption that everything is unsafe and everyone is super stupid), but thank you, Reader Laura, for sending in aiknrtkiyi today’s product recall . The Consumer Product Safety Commission is telling consumers to immediately “stop using” the 20-inch-long, saw-tooth Gerber Gator Machete (related to Gerber […]
Sext or Kiddie Porn: Who Decides?
Hi tkebikyksy Readers — Today’s post comes from guest contributor Anne Collier, who blogs at NetFamilyNews.org and is co-director of ConnectSafely.org, a forum for parents, kids, and everybody interested in safety on the fixed and mobile social Web. Take it away, Anne! THE SEXT TALK by Anne Collier Are we turning our kids into criminals? We just […]
Guess What? Purell Doesn’t Work
Hi Readers:  Time to quit pickling our kids in Purell. That’s not just MY conclusion, or even just the conclusion of Slate writer Darshak Sanghavi in this tzbzhknbny TERRIFIC piece, “How To Sell Germ Warfare.” No, it’s the conclusion of scientists who were surprised that giving free hand sanitizers (and, in one case, even Clorox Wipes) […]
Outrage of the Week: Girl Suspended for Touching Pill
Hi Readers! Yes, you read that right. A middle school girl in an Indiana, Rachel Greer, was in the school’s locker room when another girl walked in with a bag of ADHD pills. Â She put one in Rachel’s hand and Rachel said, “I don’t want this!” so she put it back in the bag and […]
George Stephanopoulos: Spinmeister Gets Spun
Hi Readers!  Maybe you were watching “Good Morning America” today, with its incredible footage of Jaycee Dugard and her family. Jaycee is the 29-year-old who was kidnapped at age 11 and forced to live with her rapist for 18 years, bearing him two children. But, according to George Stephanopoulos, “Jaycee, azzssdsdda in some ways, is one […]
Houston: We Have A Problem
No, not kids directing the space program. A documentary maker from Austria is coming to do a film about Free-Range Kids and she needs to find a Free-Range (ish) family in Houston. If you belong to one, or know of one, please contact her pronto! She’s practically boarding the plane! Her name is Katinka and […]
Take Your Mini Air Traffic Controller To Work Day
Hi Readers! That’s what it was for two days in February when an air traffic controller took his two kids into the tower and actually let them direct plane traffic at New York’s JFK Airport. Read all about it here ffhhizdthr and here. As a Free-Ranger, I am all for bringing kids into the workplace and […]