Hi nrihifyfyf Readers! I thought the analogy about overreacting, below, was  great, which is why I’m posting it here. I have also long sensed a connection between overprotecting our kids from “strangers” and overprotecting their bodies from “strangers” — i.e., germs. Either way, kids get one single, isolating  message: “Anything beyond your immediate circle (of […]
Archive | 2012
Paper Airplane? Late for School? Shouting Too Loud? You’re Under Arrest!
Hi Readers — Here’s an incredible report on how the “School to prison pipeline” plays out in Texas, as inadrrtrti published in The Guardian: In 2010, the police gave close to 300,000 “Class C misdemeanour” tickets to children as young as six in Texas for offences in and out of school, which result in fines, […]
A Great Free-Range Moment! (If You Ignore the Blood)
Hi knrnkrrikf Readers — Enjoy! (And just don’t ask if I get MY kids, aged 13 and 15, to do all this stuff. Wish I did!) — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I just had a great `Free-Range’ moment! I regularly get my kids (5 and 7) to do chores around the house, unloading/loading the dishwasher, […]
UPDATE! Slow and Free and CBC and Brit TV!
Hi Readers! Here’s zikredissi a nice piece from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation — Canada’s PBS) about Free-Ranging, Slow Parenting and my show. It’s about 12 minutes long. If I could figure out how to embed the video right here, you know I would. But I can’t, so click away! And in more TV news, […]
Adorable “Build-a-Choking Hazard”?
Hi Folks! As a reader named Michele wrote to me last week, “2011 wouldn’t quite be complete without wrapping up the year with another recall for the safety of our children!” She was referring to arrfkzeytd the recall of a mere 300,000 “Colorful Hearts Teddy” Build-a-Bears because the material they’re made of is “sub standard,” […]
Boozy Babies & Other Overhyped Panics
Hi fnretnbazi Readers! Here’s my Wall Street Journal oped from last week. Enjoy! (Or whatever.) — L. Perhaps 2011 will be recalled as the year that a toddler accidentally got served an alcoholic drink at a Michigan Applebee’s. Not the biggest news this year, but the fact that it was a national story at all […]
“Pervy Principal Means I’ll Never Go Free-Range”
Dear Readers:  As the new year begins, I’m looking back on things I meant to comment on and here’s addnednsbe a piece from November that gets my goat. It’s an essay by a mom who declares she would like to be more of a Free-Range parent, but she simply cannot. How come? Because she recently heard […]