Most nauseating pitch of the day (boldface mine): Hello! Ready or not…here I come! Little ones love all of the extra playtime that comes with summer; unfortunately, that also means there is more dirt and bacteria to keep at bay. California Baby’s Hand Sanitizer is the perfect product to have on hand– a quick spritz, and the lemon and lime essential oils will protect your children from any germs lurking on the playground. Keep it in your purse or diaper bag and continue with your fun uninterrupted by summer germs! You know whose summer was interrupted by germs? Kids growing…
Author: lskenazy
The commercial below makes my heart sink, and not because I am so thrilled when my son goes driving off. It shows a teen girl driving like a maniac, playing hooky to go to the beach in a bikini, and sitting on the couch alone with her boyfriend about to…whatever. Then it shows how Verizon’s “Hum,” an electronic device you plug into your car that alerts you when the teen goes too fast, or beyond the boundaries that you get to set, or isn’t where she is supposed to be. You get the tracking info, you get to set the…
Pope Francis’ “Statement on the Family,” released April 8, runs 200+ pages. I cannot claim to have read them all. But here’s the part I’d call the Free-Range Passage (page 196-7): Parents need to be involved and “consider what they want their children to be exposed to,” wrote the Pope. “Vigilance is always necessary.” But, he added, “vigilance” is not to be mistaken for constant supervision! “If parents are obsessed with always knowing where their children are and controlling all their movements…this is no way to educate, strengthen and prepare their children to face challenges. What is most important…
Readers, I get about five stories a day that just flabbergast me. Here’s one. I’m not the only one slackjawed at the insanity of the concern afforded this “incident,” am I? I mean, just look at the headline! Potentially Suspicious Man Asks Girls about Buying Girl Scout Cookies Is “potentially suspicious” even English? Aren’t we all potentially suspicious? And here’s the story, from Wisconsin: Caledonia Police Department notified residents that a man suspiciously was asking two girls if they were selling Girl Scout cookies on Tuesday. “As the intentions of the male are not known, and may in fact be…
Let’s hear it for Mallory Ortberg, who, like her “Dear Prudence” predecessor Emily Yoffe, is a wonderful advice giver. In fact, she’s so wonderful that I have to include the entire Free-Range question she just got, and her wise — restrained — answer. Also, let me put in a pitch for Mallory’s book, “Texts from Jane Eyre,” which I could NOT stop reading aloud, even to people I barely knew, it is SO FUNNY. Anyway, I don’t know Mallory and never met her. I’m just a fan. Dear Prudence, I have a 4-year-old daughter who attends a neighborhood preschool. My…
Fox 26 Reporter Andrea Watkins wrote what I consider a masterful letter to the school district that has forbidden parents from coming onto school property to pick up their children and walk them home. (It does seem to allow them to wait until all the car and bus children have left — a lengthy process — and then take their kids by foot.) Here’s the update and her letter, from the Fox 26 Faceook page: My followup story about Magnolia ISD had to air in our 5pm newscast without any comment from the school district. I got no response about…
A mom in Albuquerque had her 12-year-old and their dog wait in the car, sun roof open, while she hit the gym for half an hour. The gym manager called the cops to report a “child” and dog locked in the car, and the police came zooming. The fact that the “child” is 12 didn’t matter to the cops. The fact that he told them he normally reads or naps during these waits doesn’t seem to have mattered either. Apparently the cops took the mom to jail, and apparently she was kept there for two days, because KOB reports she…
Happy Birthday to the woman who gave us Henry Huggins, Ramona, Beezus, the Mouse and the Motorcycle (my God, how I loved that book), and three generations’ worth of joy. As you might guess, Cleary grew up with what sounds like lots of freedom, and chores, since she lived on a farm in rural Oregon. She also didn’t read till third grade. Got that? Did not read till third grade. She loved stories — her mother read aloud each night to her father and her (no one had TVs!). But words on a page didn’t mean much until she picked…
I figured I’d get your weekly dose of head-exploding insanity out of the way on Monday. Then we can talk about other ideas the rest of the week: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m contacting you because I need a voice of reason in the insanity that are the local mothers in Columbus, Ohio. Recently, a mother was at the play place at the local mall when she felt that a man was following her. She then states that he was taking photos of her and her child but disguising said photos as “selfies.” I’ve copied and pasted her entire account of…
Saw this “ad” at the US Play Coalition Conference where I was speaking last week. I couldn’t wait to hear Justin Bogardus’ session, “Does Nature Have a Marketing Problem?” Maybe you’ve already seen his hilarious answer: And here’s the next one. Now go outside! L.