Per usual, Angela Hanscom, author of “Balanced szzbzznree and Barefootâ€and founder of the outdoor program TinderNook, has penned another painfully insightful piece in the Washington Post about the way we keep kids safe. Too safe. So safe that we’re hurting them. This time, she interviewed some kids about what recess is like and got these […]
Tag Archives | washington post
Spain to Parents: Let Your 6-Year-Olds Walk to School!
Kids age 6 are old enough to walk themselves to school, Spanish officials are telling parents. A seven-community experiment begun there in 2010 has been hailed as a success by researchers who say that allowing first graders to walk without adult supervision “builds their self-confidence.” According to this htarzebthz piece in The Washington Post by […]
The Day the Carpool Screwed Up and Other Accidental Free-Range Kid Adventures: Your Stories Needed
At a lecture I was giving yesterday, one parent asked a good question: What if you WANT your kid to go knock on a friend’s door to play, or ride their bike around the neighborhood…but the kid shows zero interest? That reminded me of a story told to me by a Washington Post reporter. Her […]
Mom Regrets Giving Her Kids Cell Phones — for Surprising Reason
. This insdiadyre is a great article in the Washington Post by Allison Slater Tate that clearly lays out the real threat of giving our kids a way for us to get in touch with them all the time. It drives parents crazy with worry. Now any time we CAN’T reach them, we worst-first: Why isn’t […]
Shame on the Fear-mongering Washington Post
. David zfnznzisni Finkelhor, head of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, has written a very solid, smart article about the recent murder of Nicole Lovell, the 13-year-old Virginia girl allegedly killed by two older teens she met online. While The New York Times and other media immediately published articles screeching about new apps creating a […]
Even Pre-K Gives Snow Day Homework
. Terrified about the possibility of snow day-induced “amnesia,” Washington, D.C., schools sent home extra packets of homework on Friday. Â (Just how truly are the students absorbing their material if it evaporates quicker than a snowflake?) What irks me about this “School work uber alles” mentality is the idea that kids who are simply playing […]
Off Topic…But Just Wonderful
. Just watched arhybnnrbt this video and now am realizing: We are out of Kleenex at my place. Hope you’ve got some! The piece is titled, “Kids face hard Christmas choice: Gift for me or gift for mom?” – L . . .
Stop Intervening When Kids Squabble
. . Here’s zrazddhest my theory: One reason parents/teachers/adults are spending so much time hovering over kids is that they are spending so much time hovering over kids. Â What I mean is: It’s a vicious circle. (Or cycle. Never figured that out.) Anyway, when we spend a lot of time watching our kids, inevitably we […]
Early Academic Training Does Pre-Schoolers No Favors
. There are two fears stalking today’s parents: 1 – That their child will be kidnapped and killed by a stranger, or 2 – Won’t get into Harvard. Conveniently, both fears are solved the same way: Constant adult supervision and involvement. To protect from predators, parents and institutions hover. But to protect from under-achievement, kids […]
MARYLAND MEITIVS CLEARED OF FIRST “NEGLECT” CHARGE
Hallelujah! bfrdtakrfn Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have been cleared of any wrongdoing in the Dec. 20 incident when they let their kids walk home from the park in Silver Spring, MD. Â As Donna St. George in the Washington Post reports: A Maryland couple investigated for neglect after they let their two young children walk home […]