Hi zrkfesyabi Readers!  Here’s a note from a doctor, Par Donahue. He’s author of the book and blog, Messengers in Denim, all about the things we can learn from teens (and life). Here’s one lesson he got from kids that he did not like. (Nor I.) — L Dear Free-Range Kids: I am a retired pediatrician who […]
Tag Archives | worst-first
Children’s Sidewalk Chalk Drawing Outlawed
Hi Readers! Get a load of this dnhsrtibfb — little kids in Australia have been found guilty of violating graffiti laws with their chalk drawings on a sidewalk outside a cafe. This might not be such a Free-Range issue except for this: Mayor Ben Stennett visited the cafe yesterday as anger mounted. Almost 200 people […]
SANITY! England Recovers from Background Check Mania!
Hi Readers! This ffiyrbyikf story is almost too exciting in its implications. England had been requiring background checks for anyone who had any contact with kids once week. (And the original proposal over there would have covered folks having any contact with kids once a MONTH. Sheesh!) The assumption, of course, was that predators are […]
The “Stranger” at the Mall
Hi kydfrfdndn Readers: Just got this note. Read on! Dear Free-Range Kids: I swear, I could just cry at the stranger-danger hysteria these days. I have the good fortune to be self-employed. As such, I can work whenever and wherever I want, so today I chose to work at the mall. (I know, right?) Did a […]
“Law & Order” & Its Special Victims: Us
Hi hsnizyffhf Readers — I wholeheartedly endorse this note! Dear Free-Range Kids:Â Recently I started watching hours of “Law and Order SVU” (streaming live on Netflix for graduate students wanting to procrastinate!) and it’s really quite absurd to watch after a year of following your blog. The episodes where there is a child abduction or attempted […]
Spread the Joy of the Season with “Toothprints!”
Good zbabykrsyd Morning, Readers: Wondering what to get those parents on your list? Dear Free-Range Kids: I thought you might be interested to see this. A local dentist was advertising this service. http://www.yoursafechild.com/parents-toothprintsr.html Now if your child’s body is found but so decomposed that it can’t be identified visually, you can use “toothprints” to record his/her […]
Man Enters School, Uses John, Leaves: “We Decided NOT to Put School in Lockdown.” Gee: Why Not?
Oh Readers —  I can’t take it. Look at this crazy “news” trbfzyazni story from the Cortez Journal in Colorado: An unidentified man entered a high school. He used the bathroom, left and asked some students to give him a ride, which they did. Said the paper:  No weapons were visible on the man, who […]
Men as Babysitters: What’s So Scary?
Hi Readers! Over at Lisa Belkin’s Motherlode at the NY Times, there’s a really frank sftzfyieff and nicely written piece by a woman who came to the exact opposite conclusion I did. She was mulling whether or not to hire a male babysitter for her child. On the one hand, the young man she interviewed […]
Needed from YOU: Worst-First Thinking
Hi Readers! Well, it’s not that I want to see MORE Worst-First thinking out there. I’m just looking for examples of it — examples of incidents when people, confronted by normal behavior (like the kindergarteners in the post below this one) AUTOMATICALLY interpret it in the WORST way FIRST. E.g, “This is perverted!” rather than, […]
Perverted Kindergarteners?
Hi tssyrrnaen Readers — Got this note and had to vent. I am SO SICK of everyone thinking of everything in terms of perversion. It is a perverted way to think!! Here goes. — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: This isn’t strictly a Free-Range issue perhaps, but it illustrates the nonsensical trend of treating inappropriate but […]