As most of you have heard by now, 7-year-old Sailor Gutzler survived the plane crash that killed her mother, father, sister and cousin Friday night. The small plane landed in the middle of a Kentucky forest. Bloodied and with a broken wrist, Sailor found her way to the cabin of Larry Wilkins. According to CNN: Even with the plane upside down, the 7-year-old made it out and trekked three-quarters of a mile in the dark through what Wilkins described as “very, very rough territory,” mired with fallen trees, creeks, ditches and blackberry briars. Sailor was barefoot except for one sock…
Author: lskenazy
“Flying has gotten safer since the 1980s, but the headlines about the fewer disasters are bigger,” reader Stacey Gordon writes in a note to us, which included a link to Ask the Pilot. The salient part: …Whatever caused the crash of flight 8501, the year appears to be closing on a tragic note. That’s a shame, seeing that 2013 was the safest year in the history of modern commercial aviation. Not to sound flip, but we can’t expect every year to be the safest, and it’s important to look at the broader context. This year will be something of a…
This was the year a second grade teacher learned never to bring carpentry tools to school, even as a high school student in a bathing suit was forced to stand outside in the Minnesota winter. And then there’s the kid who was crazy enough to share his lunch. 1. Student, 13, shares lunch, gets detention A 13-year-old boy at Weaverville Elementary School in California shared his school lunch (a chicken burrito) with a hungry friend. For this, he got detention. Superintendent Tom Barnett explained, “Because of safety and liability we cannot allow students to actually exchange meals.” 2. Sunscreen not…
Congratulations! It’s a bouncing bundle of paranoid fantasy! The first crazy fear of 2015 goes to three Virginia hospitals. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch: In a joint statement released Tuesday, Bon Secours Richmond Health System, HCA Virginia and VCU Medical Center have said they will not announce the first birth of 2015 as a safety precaution and to protect families’ privacy. It’s a trend, with more hospitals around the country declining to announce the first baby of the year for similar reasons. “The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has cautioned against these announcements due to potential risk…
Here’s a cool idea from regular commenter Papilio! Since we commenters live not just in the USA, but also in Europe and Australia and New Zealand (and that’s just that I know of), wouldn’t it be fun if we would all post a little ‘happy new year’ or whatever around our own midnight, so that we can see the new year arrive across the planet? Yes!! Feel free to add your wishes for the new year! This is a lovely connecting idea! Happy New Year (in advance) – L.
Ever wonder why most of the parents in children’s literature are far away or dead? Melinda Moore did. She’s a mother of three and “speculative fiction” author, who tweets @MelindaJMoore and is on Facebook here. She posted this story on her blog, Enchanted Spark. Children’s Lit: Call Social Services by Melinda J. Moore When I first started writing, my goal was to be a children’s and YA [Young Adult] author. I’m not sure what happened except that my ideas for protagonists became older and older. But this month, I’ve been working on a story for my two daughters for Christmas.…
When does it make sense for the cops to stop kids and make sure they’re safe? A mom in Maine writes: Dear Free-Range Kids: My daughter, 9, wanted to hang out with a friend of hers that lives about 2 miles away. Because neither set of parents could take them, the decided to walk to the middle and then come back here. Seems like a good way to get some exercise, doesn’t it? Well her friend was stopped TWICE by police in the less than a mile it took her to meet up with my daughter! Are you…
A similar sane pregnancy piece appeared here recently, but I just got this letter this morning and the message bears reiterating: micromanagement and martyrdom are not necessary to create perfect fetuses. Or children. — L. Dear Free-Range Kids: I just wanted to share my story for your readers of how I am going Free-Range before I’m actually a parent. After many years, miscarriages, and rounds of IVF, we have finally confirmed that we are pregnant again. Through the process, I had joined several trying to conceive and pregnancy forums to seek support, comfort and camaraderie. While I received all of…
This show sounds fantastic, as does the underlying message: What purpose is served in underestimating kids? We are alerted to it by North Carolina family farmer Stevie Taylor, who blogs here! Enjoy — and Merry Christmas, too! – L. Dear Free-Range Kids: Thought I’d share a real treasure my family discovered this month. We checked out The Human Planet DVDs from our local library. The Human Planet is a series by the BBC that explores humans living in remote areas of geographical extremes, using the same survival methods their ancestors used for hundreds of years. The series…
Have yourself a very scary Christmas… Dear Free-Range Kids: So I need some advice. I made up some postcard-style Christmas cards this year with our family photos on them. They have the pics on the front, and a greeting on the back that has all of our names. It also has our return address on it. I’m REALLY trying hard not to be paranoid about it by assuming that some perv at the post office is going to start stalking my family and steal one of my kids, but I just can’t seem to feel okay about mailing them without…