Jessie Thompson’s kids, ages 9, 10 and 11, would like to walk home together, but Spann Elementary School in Summerville, South Carolina, won’t let them leave without an adult. When Thompson asked if she could sign some sort of waiver, the school said no. If an adult does not pick the kids up, they must […]
Why is there a Free-Range Kids movement? Why does Let Grow, the nonprofit promoting childhood independence, even exist? Here’s why: “Children Walking Alone,” warned an alert I received from the social media site nextdoor just as I sat down to write this piece. “Dear Parents,” it went on. “Please have an adult accompany children ‘taking […]
It had better be Chasing Childhood, which premieres at the DOCNYC film festival on Nov. 11. Click here to read my Q and A with the movie’s co-director, Eden Wurmfeld, who was inspired to make it after noticing the stark disconnect between her “Free-Range” childhood and the way she was raising her own sons. Where […]
Thanks to a year that has grown increasingly Dali-esque, kids are noodling around, finding interests and learning life lessons they may never have been exposed to in normal school times. It stinks that this year is so jumbled and upsetting. But when we look back, the pandemic may prove to have been a time of […]
This week there’s a lively discussion on Let Grow’s Facebook group page where a mom asked: At what age do you let your kids stay home alone for short times (not date night, but maybe a few errands)? What benchmarks do you require first? Like knowing how to call 911, or anything else? My kids […]
You’ve probably seen those Facebook memes, “We survived the ___s!” Fill in any decade: whoever survived it is proud. But ’80s kids did survive something many kids are no longer faced with. That may have been the last era when it was truly taboo for children to interrupt grownups talking. This and other well-aged parenting […]
Attending kids sports practices can be a chore or a treat. For me, I loved meeting up with my fellow moms. Our kids weren’t doing anything too serious — it was a local baseball club, the kids were 9 or 10, I’m not sure if there were actually teams — so we gabbed the whole […]
What happens when something safe is seen through the eyes of cultural prejudice, and thus declared dangerous and depraved? Well, in the olden days, a woman who seemed powerful or spooky might be considered dangerous and depraved: a witch. That sometimes ended in stoning. More recently, a black man looking at a white woman might […]
This story by Carol Nestikis, the mom of a 30something, intellectually disabled “sex offender,” is eye-opening and heart-wrenching. The sex offense laws much change. They are not making kids safer. They are just a simple, slimy way for politicians to sound like they are doing something “for the sake of our precious children.” Well the […]
THIS HEADLINE STINKS: “Bergen Boy, 13, Says Men In Landscaping Truck Tried To Abduct Him” You will note from the article that it turned out to be a misunderstanding (the boy didn’t understand the landscapers, who were speaking Spanish) and police determined there was NO ABDUCTION ATTEMPT. But if you glanced at the […]
