Tag Archives | neighbors

HI NEIGHBOR! WAKE UP! I GOT IN BY CLIMBING THE FENCE. LET ME PET YOUR DOG! WHY ARE YOU SO GRUMPY? WAAAAAKE UP!

What Happens When Happy Free-Range Kids are Also Rude and Loud?

. Here’s ibfdyrdysn a letter that had me wondering what to do, too: Dear Free-Range Kids: Curious as to how to best handle this. I have no children of my own, but I do have three dogs. My neighbors (row house neighborhood), let their three young children out to play alone, regularly. This is AWESOME. […]

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A Girl and Her Lemonade Stand (And the Cops)

A Girl and Her Lemonade Stand (And the Cops)

Readers kbkznbzbnh — The idea that our kids are only safe if they are under literally constant supervision is one that subtly but surely keeps changing childhood. Watch it at work in suburban Seattle: Dear Free-Range Kids: Hello! I want to share, but I really feel the need to stay anonymous, because clearly Free-Range children […]

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Backdoor Neighbors Have to Drive 7 Miles to Shake Hands

Backdoor Neighbors Have to Drive 7 Miles to Shake Hands

Readers – I just had a great time in Vancouver, where I gave a speech inaugurating the International Children’s Festival’s new “PEP bkhzfzbrtb Talk Series.” While there I met a lot of Free-Rangers who were very inspiring, including journalist/”urban experimentalist” Charles Montgomery, whose Happy City book will be coming out this fall. Among other things, it […]

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Why Fear of Crime Matters

Why Fear of Crime Matters

Hi Readers! You know how you can go to one site to look something up and a few clicks later you end up someplace else completely different? (I was trying to find the percentage of parents who worry their kids will be kidnapped — a London study found 98%, but I couldn’t find a figure […]

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Two Stories You Won't Hear on the News

Two Stories You Won’t Hear on the News

Hi stsiynznyh Readers! Here you go! — L Dear Free-Range Kids: I live in a small town (less than 300 residents) in Southwest Pennsylvania,  and regardless of the image the local-ish news channels portray, it is VERY safe. I grew up in the house I am living in, my  parents live next door. The other […]

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Time for a Block Party! (Yes. Right Now.)

Hi frzihddrzd Readers! The other day I got a note from a reader saying, “We need more GOOD news about Free-Raning.” And so, here we go! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: A few weeks ago you posted something that another reader did to create a sense of community.  I’ve been meaning to follow up, but things in Wisconsin […]

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(Bad) Advice from “All You” Magazine

Hi etbsaasibs Readers — This note is RIGHT ON! Dear Free-Range Kids:  Just thought I’d let you know of this snippet from the most recent All You Magazine. It incensed me to the point of writing an email to the author scolding her for her “professional advice” (this column is written by “Relationship Expert” Nancy […]

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Happy About a Lost Kid

Hi reriiztren Readers! This nice note just in: Dear Free-Range Kids: I couldn’t be happier! Tonight my 7-year-old daughter got lost in our neighborhood while riding her bike. She had two out-of-town cousins with her, and they wandered about one block further than she recognized (we’re new to the neighborhood). And then she did a […]

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Goodbye Halloween, Hello “Safety”

Can we think up some great trick to play on  the town supervisors in quaint and quaking Bobtown, Pennsylvania, who are  nkedfabkad OUTLAWING HALLOWEEN in order to “keep kids safe”? Perhaps they missed Chapter 7 in the book Free-Range Kids, “Eat Chocolate! Give Halloween Back to the Trick-or-Treaters.” Allow me to quote myself a little bit: Was there ever […]

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Wonder of Wonders: Kids Play Outside, Other Kids Join ‘Em

This fiefrabhbb is the kind of letter Free-Range Kids loves to see! It comes from a mom in New Mexico. Voila: You know what I noticed in my neighborhood which really makes me so happy? We’ve been here for 6 years and in the summer, there was one (and I mean that) one kid that […]

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