If this doesn’t convince lawmakers that they had better start revising the child neglect laws — and convince politicians that supporting Free-Range legislation would be a great, vote-getting platform — I’m not sure what will. I got this letter a week ago and was waiting for the mom’s permission to run it. Got it. Boldface mine: My ikhiriksfs children are not free range children. The younger one has always had a baby sitter. The older one who just turned 11 a couple of weeks ago always had a baby sitter as well. This school year that changed.…
Author: lskenazy
This story is upsetting, but also reassuring. I put it here to remind us all that just because some authorities are too quick to investigate fine parents — and those are the stories I often highlight, because this must change — plenty of cops and child protective workers can recognize hysteria when they see it. Dear Free-Range Kids: I have two kids, 10 and 6. I grew up “Free-Range” in the ’70s and ’80s (known as “just a normal childhood” back then), and I want to raise my kids the same way. The thing I worry about more than anything…
Here’s an idea I wish I thought of …and sort of did: Bracelets kids can wear that explain they are ALLOWED to be outside, they are FREE-RANGE KIDS! They were created by a reader named Pat who was inspired by the Free-Range Kids membership card on the side of my blog (which, in itself, was inspired by a letter TO this blog), but I think they are better, because they ‘re so easy for kids to wear. I do worry that they cost about $10 each, but Pat agreed to put $2 each toward maintenance of my site (monthly bills…
The signs at every playground in my city, New York, say this: Playground rules prohibit adults except in the company of children.” Apparently, any adult who simply wants to sit on a bench and watch kids play could be a creep, so just ban ’em all. The idea that children and adults go naturally together has been replaced by distrust and disgust. There was a case here a few years ago when seven men who always played chess in the park were fined for…wait for it…playing chess in the park. Their chess tables — concrete ones, placed there by the…
Yes, indeed, this was on The Daily Show last night. All hail Jordan Klepper! THE DAILY SHOW 06 03 15 THE KID STAYS IN THE ENCLOSURE FEATURING LENORE SKENAZY from LENORE S. on Vimeo.
A Chicago mom who let her three kids play for half an hour, literally across the street, WHILE SHE PEEKED OUT AT THEM every 10 minutes was found guilty of child neglect. She has lost her job in home health care because, of course, if you look her up, she looks like the last person you’d want around your family. Now her case is being appealed by Chicago’s Family Defense Center. The Center exists to aid parents in just such cases. It was founded by Stanford Law graduate Diane Redleaf in 1984 to fight for the rights of parents to…
Last week’s New York Times had a huge piece by Jan Hoffman on how the sheer number of college students experiencing anxiety is overwhelming the campus mental health centers. Why are young people so very anxious? Anxiety has become emblematic of the current generation of college students, said Dan Jones, the director of counseling and psychological services at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C. Because of escalating pressures during high school, he and other experts say, students arrive at college preloaded with stress. Accustomed to extreme parental oversight, many seem unable to steer themselves. And with parents so accessible, students…
UPDATE: THE FACEBOOK STORY NOW HAS 124,000 SHARES. FEAR SPREADS FASTER THAN THE SNIFFLES IN A PRE-SCHOOL. . This Facebook post has 13, 000 likes. (Because what’s not to like about a story of a kid sold into sex slavery on her first day of kindergarten?) A reader sent it to me because two friends had just sent it to her. . And they didn’t send it ironically. . My heart was pounding as I read the post, too, in part because I get so frustrated, railing at a world which clearly wants — LOVES — to believe all…
UPDATE: Turns out this story took place in Mansfield, OH, not Mansfield, TX. Sorry, Texas! When you believe all kids are in constant danger, you get situations like this one, in Mansfield, OH: MANSFIELD — Stranger danger education saved one Butler Elementary School student from possible abduction Tuesday. The student was leaving the building after school Tuesday when a man described as wearing a backward ball cap and a scruffy beard came up to them. The student turned and immediately ran back into the building, where they notified staff of a stranger on campus, Clear Fork Valley Local Schools…
. This ad, just brought to my attention though it’s a year old, is completely shocking. I don’t think an ad could be more dystopian. Parents: You will spend your children’s entire childhood chauffeuring them from the day they’re born through their teen years. Enjoy! Kids: You will spend your entire childhood with your feet never touching pavement or grass. You will be confined to a space smaller than a bathroom and delivered like cargo. Your youth will be spent sitting. Your conversations will be eavesdropped. And you will know no sight as intimately as the back of your parent’s…