. What a fantastic myth-debunking piece in the Washington Post by Christopher Ingraham about the FACT that kids are SAFER today than…ever. First of all, there’s the decline in child mortality that we almost take for granted: In 1935 there 450 deaths for every 100,000 kids age 1-4. Today? Less than 30. Our jaws should drop. But it’s not like we have to look THAT far back to see gains. Among children of all ages, he writes, mortality rates have fallen by nearly half since 1990 and — Part of that decline is a drop in child homicides. As…
Author: lskenazy
Hi Folks! Free-Range Kids still needs a logo that looks as good on a billboard as it does on an app. Prize is $100 and bragging rights. I’m extending the deadline to June 1 (my mom’s birthday) to allow more folks to enter. As for ideas, one thing I’ve realized is that depicting children in the logo ends up making it seem as if the movement is geared toward whatever age the kids in the logo are. Since the movement is about all ages (and is really about rejecting the idea that our kids are in constant danger), it’s a…
Here’s what is happening. Social historians take note: People are realizing that they WANT to be able to let their kids play outside, walk to the store, ride their bikes without fear of legal repercussions. And so they are starting to talk about this, in living rooms, on social media, and at city hall. Below is just ONE of about four or five letters I’ve gotten in the past few weeks about a town moving toward going “officially” Free-Range: Dear Free-Range Kds: I finally bit the bullet and did something that has been on my mind for ages. Your website,…
So it’s not Silver Spring, Maryland. It’s on the other side of D.C., in suburban Virginia. Still, Tom Jackman at The Washington Post reports: With zero fanfare, Fairfax County quietly released crime statistics showing that in 2014, the Washington region’s largest jurisdiction recorded its lowest crime rate in its statistical history, dating to 1970. Zero fanfare? What — are they ashamed? Isn’t this the kind of great information that makes NEWS? Apparently not. If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead. If it’s hunky-dory, there is no story. If all is terrific, let’s not get specific. It all is fine, we…
This came over the transom this morning: A homemade video of kids growing up Free-Range in Raleigh, NC. It’s by Tina Govan, an architect and mom of two of the kids in the piece. The video not only gave me hope, at one point I had to blink back tears. (Possibly because it’s mostly about boys, and seeing them go from sort of puppies to young men, well…emotional.) L Dear Free-Range Kids: The topic of free roaming kids has been in the news for a while, but especially lately, it seems, and it is one close to my heart.…
For the past five years Free-Range Kids has been sponsoring Take Our Children to the Park…and Leave Them There Day. This year, in honor of the Meitivs of Maryland, we are encouraging kids to walk home on their own — if you feel they are ready — too. The way the day works is this: At 10 in the morning on Saturday, May 9, we take our kids to the local park (or they go by themselves). That way, with any luck, kids in the neighborhood who might not even know each other — different schools, different grades, different soccer…
Of course, I’d love an official sponsor, too. But in the meantime, I’m licking…er…liking this KFC ad a lot!
Lovely editorial in the Las-Vegas Review-Journal, which is, of course, weighing in on the Meitiv case in Maryland. Who isn’t? After denouncing the idea of investigating parents who let their kids walk around the neighborhood, the paper adds — Other questions to ponder: Do parents who never leave their kids’ side have the authority to set standards for your kids? Do you have the right to decide whether your kids are safe to explore their neighborhoods, or must you defer to the values of adults who’ll call the cops if you do? [LENORE HERE: This should also apply to letting…
This week felt, I’ll admit, like a victory lap for Free-Range Kids. All over the country — world! — people were outraged that kids are not allowed to walk in their own neighborhoods, and that parents aren’t allowed to let them. “Free-Range” became a familiar phrase far beyond this blog. And so today, after I was on the Michael Smerconish show talking about how we can give kids the freedom most of us remember so fondly, I got this letter with the subject line: “I was impressed by your interview.” Ah — click bait! But… Let’s just say that our…
Folks, I am working on my mobile app with the help of Tanya Ruttenberg at Blue Door Apps and Holly Hamper at SmartyPantsMobileApps.com . And what do we need first and foremost? A logo! A great, fun, easy-to-read logo that works on everything from the top of this blog, to a bumper sticker, to a tiny icon on a crowded mobile phone screen. ESPECIALLY as a tiny icon on a crowded mobile phone screen. Look at the apps on your phone. Small, small, small. Yet bold! So that’s the contest: Please design our logo. It would be such a help!…