A New Jersey mom is facing charges for leaving her kids, 8 and 10, in the car while she ran an errand. As it happens,while she was doing the shopping, a man hopped into the SUV, which was still running, and drove off with the kids. He crashed the thing, and everyone ended up bruised but okay. Except the mom, who is being treated as if she’s a criminal, too. Possibly that’s because of the nature of her errand: She was at a liquor store, at night. But! 1 – There’s no evidence she was going to drink and drive.…
Author: lskenazy
Remember the mom put on Illinois Child Abuse Registry for letting her kids, 11, 9 and 5, play at the park outside her window? The state’s Appellate Court has thrown out the “child neglect citation” against her, after her mere two and half year fight against the Department of Child and Family Services. She was helped by the scrappy, brilliant Family Defense Center in Chicago. As Bonnie Miller Rubin in the Chicago Tribune Reports: “I’m just relieved this is over,”‘ said Natasha Felix, a 27-year-old single mother…”I knew that I didn’t do anything wrong.” In July 2013, the three children…
Well, I sure feel safer now! This snapshot of American hysteria comes to us Lisa Lightner, a special education advocate, lobbyist and blogger who can be found at ADayInOurShoes.com. Dear Free-Range Kids: I have my child abuse/background clearances to volunteer at my son’s school (1st grade). Next Friday I am signed up to be the Mystery Reader–to visit the class and read a book. I specifically chose that date with the intent of having my mother-in-law go with me, because she is in town visiting from Arizona. . Our school used to have a policy that even if you do…
Here’s my theory: One reason parents/teachers/adults are spending so much time hovering over kids is that they are spending so much time hovering over kids. What I mean is: It’s a vicious circle. (Or cycle. Never figured that out.) Anyway, when we spend a lot of time watching our kids, inevitably we will see how often they do something dumb, mean, or slightly dangerous. Which makes us feel we have to watch them even more. But if we WEREN’T spending so much time scrutinizing them — if we gave them decent dollop of old-fashioned, unsupervised time — we would see…
Cool story! A boy, 8, veers off track and ends up running a 10K race, instead of the 5K one he was signed up for. Of course, if he’d been in Connecticut, perhaps the police would have arrested his parents for not keeping him safe at home. This story appears on NJ.com, by Lindsay Rittenhouse. – L. Nicholas Vandenberg was not much of a runner before November’s Trenton Double Cross Half Marathon event. Most of the 8-year-old’s running came from soccer and a few one-mile fun runs. Nicholas’s father John Hatch signed himself and his son up for the 5K…
Today when Pres. Obama signs the Every Student Succeeds Act, he will be signing into law the first federal Free-Range Kids legislation. An amendment added by Sen. Mike Lee (R., Utah) states that: “…nothing in this Act shall…prohibit a child from traveling to and from school on foot or by car, bus, or bike when the parents of the child have given permission; or expose parents to civil or criminal charges for allowing their child to responsibly and safely travel to and from school by a means the parents believe is age appropriate.” A caveat adds, “…nothing in this section…
As you read this, note that the mom who wrote this, Alisha, is herself a retired “paramedic/firefighter is very aware of what is truly dangerous and is tired of EVERYTHING being treated as such.” Me too. Not tired of precautions. Not tired of safety. Tired of seeing all of childhood through the lens of the worst possible thing that could happen in ANY everyday, normally pretty darn safe situation. – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: So there is a big story going around all the mommy websites about kids choking to death on grapes. Apparently you are supposed to cut grapes…
All animals play. It is how they learn. Young gazelles chase each other in what looks like a game of tag, even though by doing so, they are putting themselves at real risk: First, they are using up calories that they will have to replenish. Second, they are running around where predators can see them. Why would Mother Nature program them to do such a dangerous activity? Why is the need for play an INSTINCT? Because it must be even MORE valuable to the continuation of the species than simply staying “safe.” What gazelles — and ants, and bats, and…
Here is a cry for help — this dad’s and my own. I’m looking for someone to write a post or booklet on “How to Fight CPS” that is not a snarling screed (however cathartic), but filled with relevant laws, websites, and even phone numbers/emails that people can contact for legal help. Let me know if that’s something any of you feel up to producing, for zero monetary recompense. (The same way I write this blog!) — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m really at the end of my rope and I was hoping you could help. My family was contacted…
. In the wake of the San Bernardino shootings, the New York Times ran an article titled, “Fear in the Air, Americans Look Over Their Shoulders.” Really? Have we truly become convinced, as a country, that we are in CONSTANT danger? The writer culled his quotes from the NY Times’ query to the public: “How often, if ever, do you think about the possibility of a shooting in your daily life?” Naturally, the people who answered are those for whom this question resonates — many of them crippled by an all-consuming fear of random violence. But by running this piece,…