Love this video that I snagged from The Atlantic (thanks to old pal Peter Rabinowitz!). As I like to point out at talks I give: In my day, there was “arrival” at school, and “dismissal.” Now it’s “drop off” and “pick up” — as if the kids have become FedEx packages. – L
Author: lskenazy
One reason we believe in giving kids back their freedom to roam is that not every lifelong interest is spurred by an extracurricular class or educational video. Many ideas, even careers, begin in the woods, the weedy lot, the streets of downtown — or sometimes in buckets, as this lovely essay in Science Magazine illustrates: My Metamorphosis, by Elizabeth Marchio I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, in a lower-middle-class suburban neighborhood on the outskirts of Columbus. Our home didn’t have air conditioning or cable television, so there was little reason to ever be inside. At 10 years old,…
A DC couple who left their toddlers wait in the car while they went to a wine tasting for an hour (and I’m not sure the wine tasting detail is relevant) have had their kids taken away from them, according to The Washington Post. While I don’t think any of us believe it’s a good idea to have two very young kids stuck alone in a car for that long, on a 35 degree day, strapped into their seats, parents Christopher (Christophe) Daniel Lucas and Jennie Teresa Chang did keep a cell phone line open, in a rather misguided attempt…
Yo, Nationwide. That ad you just ran on the Super Bowl? What is it proposing? Parents of dead children just weren’t careful enough? Way to twist the knife! One of my favorite comments to this site ever was this: “Most of the time, when something bad happens to a kid, it isn’t because of bad parents, it’s because of bad luck.” Nationwide seems to suggest that any parent who lets a kid ride a trike to the corner is asking for tragedy. Maybe it should call itself Damnationwide. Because if anything happens to your child it’s your own damned fault.…
Free-Range just keeps looking more and more normal, healthy and smart, thanks to stories like this, from East Texas: KYTX CBS19.tv – News, Weather,
Nightline sums up the whole Free-Range Kids idea pretty darn nicely, I’d say, as do the Meitivs. Let me know what you think of the shrink! I feel like she’s almost from the bygone era of 2014, before America woke up from its media-induced nightmare. World News Videos | ABC World News
A dad’s comment about over-emphasizing the chances of the cops questioning Free-Range Parents strikes me as worth printing here: Something we should all keep in mind is that kids who walk to the park without adults and are *NOT* stopped don’t make the news. Just like the millions of kids who are not abducted by strangers don’t make the news.My just-turned-14-year-old has been walking (alone) to our local downtown (with bookstores and a library, amount other things) since he was about 10. We’ve never had an incident. But this isn’t news.So, what the Meitiv’s are going through…
Why am I the last to see this video? I guess that because my kids aren’t babies, I’m not on the sites where it must be running. Anyway, I love this and would like to know who wrote it. Meantime: Have fun. What a great message!
Update on Danielle and Alexander Meitiv in suburban Maryland who are being investigated for negligence because they let their kids, 10 and 6, walk home from the park unsupervised. (I don’t write “walk home alone” because they weren’t — the had each other!) The parents had their hearing with Child Protective Services yesterday. Writes Donna St. George in the Washington Post: The neglect investigation that started after a Silver Spring couple allowed their children to walk home a mile from a park could continue for another couple of weeks, despite the parents’ hopes that authorities would drop the case at…
The idea of arresting parents who let their kids play outside unsupervised just took another hit. Yoo-hoo, CPS! According to The Globe and Mail: A new Canadian study suggests there could be added health benefits for kids who play outdoors on their own or with their friends. Researchers analyzed data from a survey of more than 1,000 parents of Grade 5 and 6 students at 16 public schools across Toronto. Kids had to wear an activity measurement unit for seven days and parents were asked to self-report how often they allowed their kids to go out on their own….Kids who…