Hi kkestkbrtk Readers and yowza. I hope this letter is a prank. If it’s not, how sad, how icky and how nuts. And for once I pretty much agree with Dear “Start Worrying NOW!” Abby. DEAR ABBY: I’m a 15-year-old girl whose parents treat me like an 8-year-old. They not only refuse to let me […]
Archive | 2010
Prisoner of the Playdate: Let’s Help This Mom!
Hi rfnztdrrtf Readers — Here’s today’s yelp for help from the frontiers of modern parenting. Got any great ideas? Share ’em! Â Meantime, as to her plea, “How can I find other Free-Range parents in the neighborhood?” I really do hope to be revamping this site soon, with a feature to help like-minded folks connect where […]
Quote of the Day (Even Though Quotee is Dead)
Here’s what Gertrude Stein had to say even BEFORE the Internet and parenting books and product warning labels and cable news. Even before Twitter! “Everybody ndidedztbe gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense.” True that!
Over the Moon Over “Over the Hedge”
Hey Readers! Check out today’s “Over nibkhdybfh the Hedge” comic — so wonderful on every level (even though reading it makes my tongue hurt). Thank you, oh Michael Fry and T Lewis!
For The (Lobotomized) New Parent Who Has Everything
Hi Folks and look! It’s the Itzbeen sfrdhdafah Baby Care Timer! How long has it been since you changed your baby? Don’t go by smell or wailing — so old hat. Simply check your batttery operated, Â pocket-size “Itzbeen.” It’ll tell you how long! Speaking of which: How long since you fed the little bugger? Don’t […]
The Bicycle/Three Sleeping Children Thief
Hi Readers! How the Danes must be puzzled by our abduction obsession. Here’s hzatbiazet what happened when a thief  in Copenhagen found a cargo bike outside a store and stole it — not realizing three kids were sleeping inside the big container-thing attached to the front.  Thanks to all of you who sent in this […]
Gym Class Humiliation Can Cause a Lifetime of Inactivity
Hi Readers! Bad gym teacher = bad life. I KNEW it. And now, that’s what this fykbteinsy cool study by Billy Strean, a professor in the University of Alberta’s  Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, has just confirmed: “A lifelong negative attitude toward physical activity can be determined by either a good or bad experience, […]
Mini Outrage of the Week: Kid Suspended for Bringing Peppermint Oil to School
Hi Readers! What in tarnation? A 10-year-old girl brings peppermint oil to school, gives a few drops to her friends to flavor their water, and the next thing you know, she receives a whole, big in-school suspension, according to this ayfshibktz article in The Boston Post (by way of Newsday). Now, danger-wise, peppermint oil is […]
Does This Library WANT to Make Kids Feel Unwelcome?
Hi terinrkkzf Readers! Here’s a note from a Free-Ranger named Cari Noga. Let’s give her some ideas! — Lenore Dear Free-Range Kids: I just posted this in the “ideas†section on your blog, but thought I’d send it direct, too. On your blog you ask, “Do you ever let your kid ride a bike to […]
Dr. Phil Going Free-Range!
Or rhkyhyytey at least his show is looking into it tomorrow (Tuesday). Check it out! He even gets the capitalization and punctuation of “Free-Range” right! Of course, the idea that Free-Rangers may be “under-involved” in their children’s lives is something we heartily dispute, but  I have a feeling Dr. Phil will, too. When I was […]