If fiyftfiizn you’re wondering how far our fears of  accidents, predators and insurance claims can take us from sane to nutty, read on:  . Dear Free-Range Kids: Since all three kids are now back from the various camps they’ve attended this summer, I’ve been doing some reflection. I don’t recall summer camps being nearly as […]
Tag Archives | bathroom
“3 Rules I Made My Daughter Swear to Obey at College” — Do Any of Them Make Sense?
This piece, “The ndytrrkkrs Three Rules I made My Daughter Swear to Obey in College,” has been getting some attention in the mom-o-sphere. Rule #1: 1. Leave no-one behind What the writer means is, when you go out with your friends to a bar or party, no one should get left behind. That sounds pretty […]
Dear Annie: Boys Age 7 Are Old Enough to Use the Men’s Room
Yes, yes, we must support our fellow parents as they grope — sorry, bad word choice! — their way through this whole child-rearing thing. I don’t recommend scolding them in public. But when a pop culture advice dispenser actually recommends tseikreksb worst-first thinking (dream up the worst-case scenario FIRST, no matter how unlikely, and […]
“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 […]
The Buddy System is So Last Century! Now at Camp It’s the “Rule of Three”
. From ynifnhyiba Camp Insurance-in-the-Woods comes this tale: . Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m not sure if you’ve written anything recently on sleepaway summer camp becoming less and less Free-Range, but I wanted to share the experiences of my 12-year-old daughter, who just returned from a one-week camp run in a partnership with the YMCA. . […]
Big Boys in the Little Girls Room: The Never-Ending Controversy
Everyone else has posted about this Oklahoma City bathroom sign, so I guess it’s time for me to weigh in, too: Are 6-year-old boys too old to be dragged into the ladies room? I don’t come down hard and fast because of course there can always be extenuating circumstances — a boy with special needs, […]
“I Will NOT Let My Son Go Into the Men’s Room”
It feels almost like reading, “Thou art a wicked wench!”so archaic does this ietsazrktk Facebook comment sound, at least to me. Â Suddenly obsessive worry seems so over. Anyway, this was posted below a column of mine that ran in the Chicago Tribune: Call me a Helicopter Mom all you want, but my child will never […]