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…
Author: lskenazy
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.
The principal of an elementary school in Magnolia, TX, has forbidden parents from picking up their kids to walk them home. No matter how close the children live to the school, they are required to take the bus or be picked up by car, Fox 26 in Houston is reporting. If not, the local authorities are ready to enforce the rule with arrests for trespassing. The ostensible reason for this step at Bear Branch Elementary is “safety.” It always is, right? What I couldn’t glean from the story is whether kids are allowed to leave the school, by foot, without…
A South Carolina mom who let her 9-year-old nephew walk her 3-year-old son to the McDonald’s less than a quarter mile away has been — I’m sure you can finish this sentence in your sleep by now — arrested and charged with child neglect. The reason? According to WSPA News 7: . The officer says the boys had to cross a street and pass several businesses and homes to get to the eatery, putting their safety at risk. Oh if only the kids had passed something less inherently dangerous than a home! Or business! The mom, Tiesha Mesha Hillstock,…