The Family Defense Center in Chicago defends families being torn apart by pointless yet devastating Child Protective Services investigations. Families like Natasha’s. Remember her story? Natasha let her kids, 11, 9 and 5, play in the park literally across the street from her home, where she could peer out at them every 10 minutes. But a pre-school teacher saw the kids unsupervised, worried, and called the cops. Natasha was found guilty of neglect by virtue of the fact her oldest boy has Attention Deficit Disorder and was therefore not considered responsible enough to watch his younger brothers. As if: 1…
Author: lskenazy
Here’s the latest “Parents, Please Commence Freaking Out” video. It reminds me of the Joey Salads video, obviously, but also of the parents who had their 6 year old snatched, blindfolded and led down into a basement where the “kidnapper” threatened to nail him to the wall — all to teach him not to talk to strangers. That boy’s mom and grandma wanted to keep their child safe, but I would not be surprised if any natural “gut instincts” of his have been shattered for life. (Not to mention his trust in his loved ones.) The same goes for the…
A question probably many of us have asked: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’m a fairly Free-Range parent, becoming more so due to my daily exposure to your blog, including the helpful and insightful comments from your readers. The issue I’m currently struggling with is freedom at the beach. I’m always afraid at the beach when I see how deep my children and husband go out. Now two of my sons (almost 16 and almost 13) want to go to the beach together. I am afraid to let them. I don’t know how rational my fear is, and would love to get…
. Following up on the Zach Anderson case — the 19 year old on the Sex Offender Registry for 25 years for having consensual sex with a girl who said she was 17 (but was really 14) — comes this grandma’s letter. The Sex Offender Registry is a Free-Range issue because it grows out of the belief our kids are in constant danger and it perpetuates that belief, by making many non-threatening people like Zach into scary dots on the “maps of local sex offenders.” These are the maps many parents consult when deciding if they can let their kids…
Remember the case of Zach Anderson, the young man whose case made national headlines (but you read here first) after a Michigan judge sentenced him to 25 years on the Sex Offender Registry? Here’s the latest, from Fox 28 yesterday: A Niles Judge has agreed to reconsider the sentencing of Elkhart teen Zach Anderson, whose case made national headlines when he was convicted as a sex offender. The judge did not make an immediate decision, but deferred a decision to a later date. Anderson met a girl on Facebook dating app. He says she told him she was 17. The…
This video was shot by a young man named Carl Paz who went into a Sprint store in Torrance, CA, to confront whoever let a baby wait in the car parked right in front of the store’s plate glass window. As Paz wrote on his Facebook page: Walk by a Sprint Retail store and spot a baby, alone in a car, while its 82 degrees outside. No shade, no A/C…nothing. And the mother has the nerve to have this attitude. No concern for her child’s well being until attention is called towards it. I wanna make this somewhat viral, to…
This perspective brought to us by psychologist Sarah Heavin in Tacoma, WA. Better Safe Than Sorry? Not if you care about fostering healthy child development, by Sarah Heavin As a forensic child psychologist, I am often hired to evaluate a child for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after an injury. Think: Car accidents, plane crashes, dog bites, ceilings caving in, and medical malpractice. I’m the mom of two young children, so these injuries haunt me. See that elevator? It could crash. That hillside could collapse. Open bodies of water? Don’t get me started. But despite this, my kids are encouraged…
Clayton and Kristopher Cadieux, 8 and 10, dig up worms to sell to local fishermen (or whoever desires worms), $2.50 a dozen. Unfortunately, the CBC reports, the boys are now criminals in the eyes of Cornwall, a town in Ontario, Canada, because they set up their business on their lawn, and even had the audacity to erect a sign: …after a complaint from a neighbour, the brothers received a note from the city saying they were breaking a bylaw and had to shut down their business. The mayor of Cornwall, Leslie O’Shaughnessy, explained that the bylaw requires all personal business…
What’s particularly wonderful about this outdoor field trip is how it gives kids who aren’t “good” or successful in the classroom another place to show who they are. It was sent to us by filmmaker Alastrair Humphreys, who writes: Two years ago, teacher Mrs Monaghan took her class on an overnight microadventure (video here). Now, for their “Leavers’ Treat”, the children asked if they could go on another microadventure. I went along again to film how they got on. \ School Microadventure from Alastair Humphreys on Vimeo. This school year, maybe some more teachers might consider doing something like this…
. This week sort of turns out to have a theme: Dealing with life’s vast unpredictability, and all the fear, guilt and blame that tag along with this daunting fact. So here’s a note from a mom who requests our help: Dear Free-Range Kids: I consider myself a fairly laid back mama, and I’m always of the opinion that bumps and bruises (and maybe broken bones) are part of growing up. But a few days ago I was holding my third child, a 9 month-old baby, as I was climbing some stairs, and I tripped and fell and she hit…