Before you read this little piece, ask yourself, “Would I let an 11 year old babysit?” Most people today would probably say no. Perhaps this will have them reconsidering. The Birmingham Mail reports: An 11-year-old girl from Tamworth single-handedly delivered a baby — then calmly went to school for the day. Caitlin Burke sprang into action when mum Tara Knightley’s waters suddenly broke at her home in Dordon on Tuesday morning. With the help of ambulance staff on the phone, the cool schoolgirl delivered baby sister Elsa-Monet, even managing to unravel the cord which was wrapped around the baby. And…
Author: lskenazy
Here in my state, something wildly fair is about to happen: People who have been on the Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, who GOT ON the list for a “Level 1” non-violent sex crime like going to a prostitute, “public lewdness,” or peeing in public, are finally going to be allowed to get off it. This, of course, makes for a great news story, especially if you find a mom and interview her without explaining to her or the audience that “stranger danger” is the least likely danger her child will encounter, that the Sex Offender Registry is a…
. You don’t have to watch all 10 minutes of this video to realize how thoroughly we have forgotten what young children are capable of. (See yesterday’s post, which hinges on the idea that 4 year olds should never be outside near their own homes alone.) Such childhood independence is unusual today, but only because we overestimate danger and underestimate kids, to the point where we barely think of them as humans. We treat them like clueless, adorable, endangered pets. I’d like to see your puppy do THIS: . . Meantime, happy Thanksgiving! Be grateful we can change society by…
A mom who let her 4-year-old son play outside at the playground 120 feet from her home was arrested . Her neighbors had called 911 when they saw the kid outside. While many people might think four is too young for a boy to be outside on his own, the bigger question is: Is this a criminal offense? It should not be. The boy was in a gated apartment complex and on a playground. What’s more, if the neighbors were worried, why wouldn’t they just talk to the mom? And if the cops were worried, why didn’t they tell her…
How can you tell when a culture is changing? When something that was once normal suddenly seems wrong. This can be good — grown African-American men no longer called “boy,” grown women at the office no longer automatically called “girl” — or it can be ominous. The story below is silly, but ominous. Our culture has nurtured the knee-jerk suspicion that anytime a man is interested in young people, watch out. Dear Free-Range Kids: Something happened the other day that made me think of your blog. In honor of the 30th anniversary, I was re-watching “Back to the Future” with…
Jonathan Haidt, the NYU Professor who, with First Amendment firebrand Greg Lukianoff co-authored the explosive Atlantic piece,”The Coddling of the American Mind,” was asked how to prevent another wave of kids on campus who can’t handle reading a disturbing book, or sharing the campus with a visiting speaker whose views contrast with their own. He was interviewed for Firstthings, the journal of religion and public life, by Dominic Bouck, O.P, a Dominican brother of the Province of St. Joseph, in an article titled “Revenge of the Coddled”: BOUCK: So how do we move forward, out of this vindictive attack culture?…
Dear Free-Range Kids: I have been reading your blog and it is like a breath of fresh air in today’s world! My daughter is now 6 and I try to encourage her to walk on her own in our neighborhood, to the park, to the store, and EVERY time she is stopped by a well-meaning adult saying she should not be by herself, and one guy calling me (she knows my cell phone number) and then threatening to call 911! So now she is afraid to walk alone because of these well meaning adults, not because of fear of getting…
The Daily Mail is not known for its stunning objectivity and calm. And yet, most of this Free-Range Kids story by Lauren Libbert is great — except for the scourge of modern journalism, the inevitable “Yin/Yang.” So while the reporter describes two Free-Range families, along with a third that I would consider a bit beleaguered, the “expert” she quotes to provide the yang argument against Free-Ranging is way off. He confuses Free-Range Parents with parents who completely ignore their children and their safety. What really kills me is when an objective truth — school age kids CAN play pretty safely…
A blind girl in Britain has been told she cannot use her cane at school because it presents a tripping hazard. A tripping hazard, that is, to the people who can see her — and her cane. According to the Bristol Post: Lily-Grace Hooper, who is seven, suffered a stroke when she was just four days old, which left her virtually blind. But her school, Hambrook Primary School, has now told the youngster she can no longer use her walking cane, because it could trip up teachers and other pupils at the school. A risk assessment by Gary Learmonth from…
Okay, okay, the mom shouldn’t have left the keys in the car when she ran in to do something quick at work before taking her son, age 8, to school. But here’s what happened next, in Norfolk, VA: Two men who stole a car from outside a Norfolk post office discovered a young boy inside the vehicle… so they dropped him off at school! Norfolk Police say they responded to a call shortly after 8 am in the 400 block of W. 20th Street for a possible stolen vehicle. 13News Now has learned that two carjackers got into a car…