Hi Readers! This fsiatzkhhs is such a disturbing story. A Scottish boy who was 10 was painting scenery on the ground for a school play back in 2003 when one of the other painters got up, bumping into him. This caused him to fall on another student’s paintbrush, which — this is so horrible — pierced […]
Archive | 2010
Nov. 21: World Hello Day! (And I Missed It!)
Hi Readers: Or rather, a belated HELLO! I am so sorry I totally missed alerting us all to World enkhedfhzt Hello Day on the 21st– a day when we are all exhorted to greet 10 different people. This reminds them and ourselves that most  people are pretty good, and that talking beats fighting. Also that […]
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 […]
That’s the Spirit!
To be filed under: Coming To, What the World Is:
OTHER Outrage of the Week: Funeral for a Swing Set
Hi Readers — Those clever folks at KaBoom, the playground people, have created a iytabdnnzd “virtual funeral” for the swingsets of West Virginia’s Cabell County. The sets died an unnatural death, after a painful lawsuit brought by the parents of a boy who broke his arm jumping off a swing. In a response worthy of […]
Outrage of the Week: Chess Players Ticketed for Being Near Playground
Hi Readers — I’m sorry to say, this itftbasrsy is happening in MY town, New York City: Seven chess players have to appear in court for playing the game of kings on the stone chess tables close to a playground — a playground where adults are forbidden unless they are accompanied by a child. Because, […]
Progress. And a Carjacking
Hey Readers: Here’s bkfhtknrir an odd story of a Texas mom who took her 2-year-old son fishing, early in the morn, with her boyfriend. The mom decided it was too cold, and put the boy back in the car while she went to retrieve the gear. In that window of time, a guy came, stole […]
(Public) Bathroom Humor
Or really, just public bathroom stories. That’s what I’m looking for, readers. As I start pondering the idea of writing another book (and, more to the point, FILLING it), I’m going to be asking for anecdotes from the real world, from YOU. And what I need first, believe it or not, is bathroom lore! Specifically: […]
How Do You Change a Lily-Livered School?
Hi aaaebnehkk Readers — Here’s another plea from a Free-Ranger trapped in a helicoptering vise. Do you have any suggestions that have worked at your school? Please share them! — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Something terrible has happened at our school. I wrote to you a while ago about how wonderfully free our village kids […]