Wow! kfythnesyb A real-world example of how NOT IMPOSSIBLE it is to pop the parenting bubble of fear. Dear Free-Range Kids: When our kids were pre-school aged I noticed that our park visits were taken up with pushing kids on the swings, or helping them up things. One day I noticed that parents were in […]
Archive | 2016
Advice Needed: My Child is Scared to Go Outside Without Me
Here’s a question to crowdsource: Dear ktbybyzsst Free-Range Kids: My son makes a wonderful Free-Range Kid. His older sister not so much. In Grade 4 she still holds my hand walking to the school bus and is very upset that I have determined that they walk the last two blocks on their own. Daily she […]
Attempted Luring? Or Overreacting?
From my mailbox: Dear tskidtrzya Free-Range Kids:Â I’m currently being blasted in my local mom’s group for my questions about the events outlined in the police statement below. Yes, I agree that a 40 year old man asking a 13 year old out for coffee is weird, but are we really calling that luring now? It […]
I Live In Fear of My Kids Being Sent to Foster Care…Again
This powerful piece is reprinted by permission of Rise, fkhyasdnkb an extraordinary magazine written by and about those whose kids have been in the foster care/Child Protective Services system. We have heard so many stories here of parents investigated for letting their kids play outside or wait a few minutes in the car. Suddenly, they […]
Boy, 6, Left to Care for His Younger Siblings While Mom Away for Days
As we contemplate the afeheheiyf family being investigated, the kids being stripped, and the dad doing time in jail, Â all because of a pre-school child being left to nap in the car for 20 minutes during a Christmas errand, let’s remember it was not always thus. Children were considered hardy. While I don’t advocate leaving […]
The Shocking Airline Story Nobody Is Reporting, And Its Relevance to Free-Range Kids
You can probably figure out why an astute reader sent in this column from Patrick htzyiydish Smith‘s “Ask the Pilot” blog. It’s titled, “The Silent Anniversary,” and begins: AS NOVEMBER comes to a close, we’ve passed a remarkable milestone. It has now been fifteen years since the last serious crash involving a major U.S. air […]
More Wild Investigation of Family that Let Son Wait in Car 20 Minutes: Boy is Stripped Naked, Photographed
You’ll btdirinzfa recall that on Saturday, the Cheung family in Valley Stream, Long Island, let their 4-year-old son stay sleeping in the car while they went into a Home Depot to get some Christmas lights. They came out about 20 minutes later to find firefighters had smashed a window to extricate the boy, as if […]
European vs. American Parenting: You May Be Embarrassed
. Is tbkbshafsd all European parenting like this? Probably not. I hear of helicopter tendencies creeping in. Nor are all American children on leashes. And yet, there IS a cultural difference and this video — so simple, hence so powerful — packs a punch. It seems to be attracting another one million views each day. How […]
A School Decides to Keep its “Dangerous” Swing
Teacher tszeyyrbih Tom — “Teaching and learning from preschoolers” — is a joy to read, especially in this case, where we find him bravely confronting that modern day terror: A swing. You may recall that Richland and Spokane Washington school districts both phased out their swingsets. As a spokesman for the Richland district explained at […]
“Firefighters Smashed My Window to Pull My Napping Son Out of the Parked Car, as If It Was an Emergency”
fkfsikbkit A mom, dad and preschooler went to Home Depot in Valley Stream, Long Island, on Saturday to get some Christmas lights. The child ended up in the hospital and the dad ended up in jail. Here’s what happened. . When the family got to the store, their 4-year-old had fallen asleep. As the dad […]