. What a week. By believing that fhtyrzyftz predators with puppies are grabbing kids in broad daylight, right and left, and by videotaping that made-for-TV scenario, Joey Salads helped reinforce one of the fastest growing beliefs of the day: That any man who interacts with children is doing it for his own perverted purposes. That belief […]
Tag Archives | kids in danger
Did Oprah Make Us Terrified for Our Kids?
Readers isiyizadfe — This is idea that someone should write their doctorate on. Dear Free-Range Kids: During the height of this summer’s “hot car” hysteria, I found your website and it was like a lightbulb went off. All the common sense I have stifled in the interest of being a “good mom” has a voice! […]
Mom Outraged District Expects her 11 y.o. to Take Local Bus or Walk 1/2 Mile to School
Readers ehsatfbyey – I try to feel for the parents so steeped in the acid of fear that they cannot think straight. So I am trying to feel sympathy for this mom. KING5 News reports: A Seattle mom has never been more terrified to send her 11-year-old child to school on a bus. Karenza Ferris […]
Even NPR Can’t Resist the “Kids in Danger!” Script
Readers tfidsnizab — Remember, even a feel-good story could always use a frisson of fear! Marie, author of the blog HandbasketNotes, explains: Dear Free-Range Kids: I heard a story on NPR tonight about how kids spent the night at school during the recent Atlanta snow and ice storm and I thought of you. Audie Cornish interviews a […]
Punitive, Puritanical, Sadistic Laws to “Protect” Kids — Woo Hoo!
Readers ftdnykkbhe — This powerful comment came in response to my piece about the New Jersey woman who let her toddler sleep in the car for 5-10 minutes while she ran an errand. She was arrested, found guilty of abuse or neglect, and put on the state’s Child Abuse Registry. Two weeks ago, a New […]
No Parents Necessary! A Girl, 9, Takes her Little Brother to Visit Santa
Dear Readers — A very merry to you and yours, and hopes that someday soon a story like the one below will just seem NORMAL again. – L Dear Free-Range Kids: My sister from New York just sent me some photos of us growing up in the South Bronx in the late ’40s and early […]
Prosthetic Leg Prompts Pedophile Panic at Pool (and funny comments)
Readers — When kids are going through their scared-of-the-dark phase, they see the chair and think it’s a monster. And when adults are going through their “Everyone is out to get our children” phase — Â (From The dbhfkksire Daily Mirror.) Children were evacuated from a swimming pool amid fears of a pervert in the changing […]
“Children are Unique, Beautiful and Fragile” — Grrrrrrrrrr
Readers — I got this letter yesterday in my email. Why does it make me SO MAD? “Children are Unique, Beautiful and Fragile†begins its CRAVEN plea. I’m losing it! I really feel this is a HORRIBLE thing to say or even IMPLY. I probably sound like I am in FAVOR of child maiming. […]